London, Aug 12 (IANS): Rain forced early lunch to be taken on the first day of the second Test between England and India at the Lord's Cricket Ground on Thursday.

India finished the first session at 46/0 in 18.4 overs in a display of solid defence and leaving deliveries outside the off stump from openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in testing conditions.

Sharma is unbeaten on 35 from 66 balls, 16 of which came from four boundaries in the 15th over, a wayward one, by Sam Curran. It took India 52 minutes to get their first boundary of the innings through a flick to fine leg from Sharma off Curran. From a cautious 14/0 in 12 overs, India moved quickly to 38/0 in 15 overs.

James Anderson troubled the openers with inswing and outswing. Ollie Robinson bowled some great deliveries but was either too straight or too wide.

The England bowlers were unable to justify the decision of their captain Joe Root electing to bowl first on a pitch with equal covering of grass.

Both Root and Virat Kohli spoke about bowling first. England took the opportunity but failed to grab it with both hands.

Rain delayed the toss and the start of the match before cutting the first session short by 35 minutes.

Brief scores: India 46/0 in 18.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 35 off 66, KL Rahul 10 off 46)