AGENCIES
MUMBAI
Murali Vijay hit an unbeaten fifty as India fought back on day two of the fourth Test in Mumbai, closing on 146-1, in reply to England's 400 all out.
Vijay (70 not out) and Cheteshwar Pujara (47 not out) batted the whole of the evening session, sharing an unbroken 107-run partnership for the second wicket. Moeen Ali (1-44) took the only wicket, beautifully bowling Lokesh Rahul through the gate, but India generally targeted England's spinners to great effect, with Adil Rashid's 13 wicketless overs costing 49 runs.
By way of contrast, Indian off-spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin (6-112), claimed a 23rd five-wicket haul in 43 Tests and shared all 10 England wickets with slow-left-armer, Ravindra Jadeja (4-109). Jos Buttler (76) cracked a sixth Test fifty for England, putting on 54 runs for the ninth wicket with Jake Ball (31) to lift England up to the 400-run mark.
Resuming the day on 288-5, England signalled an aggressive approach with the bat early on, as Ben Stokes almost fell in the first over of the day to a top-edged sweep off Ashwin that landed just short of deep backward square-leg. Stokes (31) would fall, however, in controversial fashion in Ashwin's next over -- India were convinced the England left-hander had edged to slip, though Stokes was confident his bat had connected only with the ground. Given not out on field, the decision was overturned despite Ultra Edge appearing not to conclusively confirm the noise shown was bat on ball as opposed to bat brushing the pitch; although the ball did seem to deviate off Stokes' outside edge.
There were no doubts about Jadeja's dismissal of Chris Woakes (11), as he edged behind, while Adil Rashid (4) was bowled leaving a straight one that he expected to turn like Woakes' delivery did. That reduced England to 334-8, but Buttler found a willing partner in Ball -- although he was dropped on nought by Virat Kohli; an admittedly tough chance to his left at second slip.
It prompted Ball to start playing some shots, and he sweetly struck four boundaries during his 60-ball stay at the crease, while Buttler went through to his half century just before lunch. The innings ended shortly after the interval with Ball edging Ashwin behind, and Buttler being bowled by Jadeja when skipping down the pitch looking for a repeat of the six he had hit in Ashwin's previous over.
In reply, England's seamers tried unsuccessfully to unsettle Vijay with some short-pitched bowling, and though the introduction of spin brought a wicket with Moeen's dismissal of Rahul, Rashid proved particularly costly early on. Vijay signalled his intent by smashing 10 runs from Rashid's fifth over, including the first of two straight sixes down the ground against the spinners.
England wasted a review against Pujara when Rashid thought he had him lbw on 11 shortly after tea, while Vijay offered a stumping chance when on 45 but Jonny Bairstow failed to cling on to the sharp chance. Other than those slight scares, Vijay breezed through to his fifty, off 126 balls, and brought up a century stand with Pujara before the close.
