Daijiworld Media Network

Mumbai, Nov 24 :  Get ready for some turn. Not something you would hear on Day 2 but after what we saw yesterday, it looks like there will be plenty on offer for the spinners throughout the day. The ball is fairly new and the Indians in Ashwin and Pujara will be looking to pile up as many runs as possible in the first session. At one stage, India were in trouble but the unbeaten 97 run partnership between these two has steadied their innings and taken them to a position of strength. How quickly can the English spinners rattle the Indian tail? How will their batsmen fare today? Will the Test match go in to Day 5? Most of these questions will be answered today.

Aleem Dar and Tony Hill, the umpires for this game, make their way out to the middle. Panesar is seen handing over his cap to Tony. He will be starting off. Not something we didn't expect. Will England find a way to dismiss Pujara? Ashwin on strike, a slip and a short leg in place.

Run-making isn't easy on this difficult wicket and every run from here on in will put tremendous pressure on the English batsmen. It has been a fab first day and we hopefully expect the same tomorrow. Do join us then, until then have a great evening and an even better night.

India's day definitely and this partnership has tilted the game in their favor. What can one say about Pujara? He looks to be the perfect replacement to Rahul Dravid, batting with the same qualities that made Dravid such a great player. He didn't look in any trouble and bar that dropped catch, has proved to be an insurmountable hurdle for the English to cross. Ashwin has given him terrific company and has played a fluent innings. Panesar was the pick of the England bowlers, but needs support. Swann was off-colour today which made life even more difficult.

Brief report - Day 1

The first day of the second Test between India and England saw both sides get the better of the other in patches. After Panesar and co reduced India to 119/5, No.3 batsman Cheteshwar Pujara led a fight back and helped the home side to 266/6 at the end of day’s play. In the process the Saurashtra batsman brought up his third Test ton. He also continues to be unbeaten in this particular series. In fact, it’s been 361 runs (and counting) since the last time he was dismissed.

Here are these and some more stats highlights from today’s play:

Virender Sehwag became the ninth Indian to appear in 100 Tests, after Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. It may, however, be noted that Sehwag’s tally includes one match for the ICC World XI (vs Australia in 2005-06).

Cheteshwar Pujara has now batted for about 15 hours in the series without being dismissed even once! His scores in the series: 206*, 41* and 114*.

Pujara’s 361 runs are the third most by any Indian batsman between two dismissals. Only Sachin Tendulkar (497 runs in 2004) and Rahul Dravid (473 runs in 2000) have aggregated more runs than Pujara between two dismissals.

Gautam Gambhir (4) has now not scored a hundred in 42 innings, since January 2010 – his longest streak without a hundred. He has aggregated 1,127 runs in this period at an average of 28.17

When Monty Panesar dismissed Sachin Tendulkar, it was the 24th time in his Test career that Tendulkar got out to a left-arm spinner. The left-arm spinners to dismiss Tendulkar most often are New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori (5), South Africa’s Paul Harris,

Zimbabwe’s Ray Price and England’s Monty Panesar (3 each).

Sachin Tendulkar (8) has not scored a hundred in 27 innings since January 2011 – his longest streak without scoring a ton. Sachin has aggregated 876 runs in this period at an average of 33.69.

Cheteshwar Pujara (114*) scored his third Test hundred; his second in consecutive Tests against England.

Pujara is only the third Indian to score hundreds in his first two Tests against England, after Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly. Both Azharuddin and Ganguly did so in first two Tests of their careers. Azharuddin, in fact, went on to score a hundred in his third Test vs England.

Pujara’s career aggregate (684 runs) is the fourth highest for any Indian batsman after seven Tests; after Sunil Gavaskar (918), Vinod Kambli (793) and Sadagoppan Ramesh (783). Pujara, however, can move ahead in the list.

R Ashwin (60*) scored his second fifty (apart from a hundred). Among all batsmen who have played at least 10 innings at No.8 or lower, Ashwin has the fourth highest career average.

Best career batting average at No.8 or lower (Min 10 inns/100 runs)

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