Incessant rain forced the play to an end without even the toss on day 1 of the second test at Lord”s. The stadium was believed to be the lucky charm for the Indians in this tour after their success in 2014 at the very venue.
However, after a series of stoppages England opted to bowl first in day 2 and India managed to make two changes to the squad. Dhawan who hasn”t created an impact got an axe while Umesh who couldn”t replicate his IPL heroics was kept aside. Kuldeep and Pujara made sure to grab their spots.
The openers fell in a short span of time as Anderson came to all guns blazing on a greenish track. In fact, Vijay registered a duck and a “mixed” tour continues for Rahul as he fell for just 8 runs. While all eyes were on Cheteswar Arvind Pujara, he managed to keep his cool as he started showing his “solidity” in the middle.
Just when he and Kohli were on their way to show their batting prowess in the middle, a series of events unfolded. He was run out by Virat Kohli and returned to hut scoring a single run off 25 deliveries. This dismantled the batting line-up as the scoreboard read 15/3 before rain took over the game.
Pujara has now been involved on eight of the last 13 runouts by the Indian side in the longest format of the game. The team is really in a puzzled state now and the focus now shifts to the leadership group of Kohli and Rahane to rebuild the innings.
watch the dramatic dismissal of Pujara here :
https://twitter.com/videos_shots/status/1027911412713177088