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India vs England: James Anderson gets breakthrough on his return from injury but hosts survive early wobble

India 92-2: Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara help India recover after losing two early wickets in the second Test

David Clough
Vizag
Thursday 17 November 2016 08:02 GMT
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England celebrate after James Anderson takes a wicket during the opening session of the second Test against India
England celebrate after James Anderson takes a wicket during the opening session of the second Test against India (AP)

England failed to make further progress after two early breakthroughs on the first morning of the second Test against India.

Stuart Broad and James Anderson, back after his shoulder injury for the first time since August, took advantage of unexpected early life in the pitch to bag an opener each with the new ball.

But England's bowlers were often short of the wonderfully-disciplined standards they set in the drawn first Test in Rajkot, offering more scoring opportunities, and Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara were able to steer the hosts from 22 for two to 92 without further loss by lunchtime.

There were universal predictions that the surface, for Vizag's maiden Test, would offer turn almost from the outset - and both teams duly picked three spinners.

Yet it was England's two frontline seamers who put them in the game, Broad seeing off KL Rahul and Anderson then marking his return with the wicket of Murali Vijay - with India captain Kohli required sooner than he must have hoped after winning the toss.

There was good carry for Broad when he had Rahul poking an edge at a length ball to be well-caught by Ben Stokes at third slip.

But that comparative assistance from the pitch was nothing compared to the steepling bounce Anderson extracted to account for Vijay.

A centurion in the drawn first Test in Rajkot, Vijay had caressed two boundaries through the covers among his four fours but was not ready for the Anderson bouncer and gloved a routine catch to Stokes again.

Stuart Broad took the wicket of KL Rahul (Reuters)

India therefore needed their two banker batsmen to dig in - and while England did not help themselves with too many loose deliveries, Pujara and Kohli were impressive in an unbroken stand of 70.

Broad was the pick of England's bowlers, in a spell at either end of the session.

Virat Kohli frustrated Anderson as he helped India build their first innings score (AP)

Even so, the nearest the tourists came to another wicket was via a run-out as India's third-wicket pair regularly got their wires crossed - but not yet terminally.

PA

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