It’s an opening assault at Lord’s

Rohit Sharma (right) and KL Rahul during their 126-run opening stand at Lord’s yesterday. Pic/Bipin Patel

Openers KL Rahul (103 not out) and Rohit Sharma (83) gave India a solid start on Day One of the second Test against England here on Thursday.

Put in to bat at the Lord's, the Indian openers negated the overcast conditions on a good batting surface as the visiting team posted a century-run opening stand for the first time since 2007 tour.

The duo added 126 for the opening stand to set up a solid foundation for India.

At the time of going to press, India were 247-2 with skipper Virat Kohli batting on 38 alongside Rahul in the post-tea session.

Earlier, Rohit hit 11 boundaries and a six off 145 balls.

Rohit falls to Jimmy

It needed a magic delivery from veteran James Anderson, who got a 43-over old Dukes to jag back viciously and literally cut the batsman into half, ending Rohit's dreams of a maiden Test hundred in a SENA country. The out-of-form Cheteshwar Pujara (9) was also snuffed out by Anderson before tea to bring some cheer in the English camp.

The art of defending in bowler-friendly Test match conditions is not something one would have associated with Rohit even a few years back but here is a man obsessed about doing well in whites in all conditions.

He is ready to shed his ego that any talented batter with such a wide array of strokes would have, and just play the game his team needs him to play.

Defensive game

There is something about his defensive game that is breathtakingly beautiful. There are players if they defend, the dressing room starts shivering that there could be demons in the track but when Rohit defends he brings in a sense of calmness.

It was an enticing first hour but the Indian openers displayed impressive technique and, more than anything else, appreciable temperament to tackle Anderson and Ollie Robinson's testing new ball spells.

Anderson bowls two different inswingers without any apparent change of wrist position. The first one with a wobbly seam and other with an upright seam and fingers widened which looks to be shaping away but nips back in.

Both Rohit and Rahul battled their minds to leave most of the deliveries on the ‘fourth off-stump' channel. Both didn't fiddle much with those incoming deliveries and knew where their off-stump was and covered the swing.

If Rohit left it alone at times not offering any stroke, Rahul would present a dead bat but keep it close to his body, which ensured that he negated the maximum chance of getting a nick.

The first 10 overs yielded only 11 runs but not for one moment did one feel bored or bogged down.

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83
No. of runs scored by Rohit Sharma; his highest overseas Test score

03
No. of 50-plus scores by KL Rahul in three consecutive Tests in England

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