Cheteshwar Pujara neared his first double century in only his ninth Test innings as he took India to 502 for six at Tea on Day Two. Pujara (196* off 367 balls) punished England’s hapless attack, including off-spinner Graeme Swann who was involved in all six wickets India lost, after the visitors started the second session brightly.
Following a wicketless first session which saw Pujara and Yuvraj Singh (74) plunder the England attack, India lost two quick wickets to the spin of Graeme Swann (five for 143) and Samit Patel (one for 96). In only the fourth over after the lunch break, Yuvraj almost lethargically plunked a huge Patel full-toss right down the throat of Swann at long-on. Patel was almost embarrassed with his vital wicket, as the crowd that had flocked to watch the southpaw at work perhaps wondered what he had had for lunch.
That brought captain MS Dhoni to the crease sporting a cap, but he wasn’t to last long. After a watchful and patient five off 37 balls, Dhoni lost his concentration and went to pull Swann outside off-stump, only to be bowled around the legs after clipping his gloves and thigh pad along the way. It was the fourth time Swann found timber in this innings and his 14th five-wicket haul in Tests; he's now taken 113 wickets overseas compared to 84 at home.
Pujara’s innings was a treat to watch for the old-school Test purists as he utilised every shot in the book on his way to . The 24-year-old Saurashtra lad used the depth of the crease to perfection as he punched deliveries off the backfoot through the covers and whipped the other down mid-wicket. He was rock-solid as ever with the spinners, sweeping and driving them down the ground, and thoroughly living up to his billing of the “New Wall”, as the original watched from the commentary box. For all of Swann’s prowess in the game, Pujara hit him for 61 runs including six boundaries.
R Ashwin (21*), who is rather handy with the bat, accompanied Pujara into the Tea break.
Earlier in the first session, Pujara got to his second Test century while Yuvraj scored a fifty on his return to Test cricket as India piled on the misery on England to reach 410 for four at Lunch.
Resuming his innings on 98 this morning, Pujara was watchful at first as England tried to crank up the pressure on him by bowling Swann with three close-in fielders. There was a slip, a short leg and short mid-wicket for him as Swann continued to reap benefits from a pitch that was turning and still holding up. Kevin Pietersen, at short mid-wicket was keeping the chatting going and motivating his teammates. The pressure was on right from go. But after playing out one Swann over for a maiden, Pujara drove him wide of mid-on on the first ball of his next to reach a well-deserved century.
Pujara then gave the strike to Yuvraj and the southpaw hit Swann’s away-going delivery for a six over mid-off before sweeping him for a boundary two balls later.
Earlier, Swann, who opened the bowling on Day Two, was getting plenty of turn right from the start and was troubling the Indian batsmen. Yuvraj survived a few lbw shouts early on, one on just his second ball faced as he tried to sweep Swann. But he shed his nerves and went on to reach his 50 off 98 deliveries with a smack over mid-wicket off Patel. This included six hits to the fence in the ‘V’ region.
It was smooth sailing from there on as the duo brought on their century partnership and took India past the 400 mark in 117 overs. Any hopes the England team had of getting India bowled out for below 450 were evaporating away in the Ahmedabad heat as Pietersen was brought on to bowl to his pie-chucker.
But the part-timer could not do much as Pujara and Yuvraj went into Lunch scoring 87 runs in the session and kept their partnership unbeaten on 127.
Brief Scores: India 502 for 6 (Cheteshwar Pujara 196*, Yuvraj Singh 74; Graeme Swann 5 for 143) vs England.
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