India reach 276/3 at close of Day 1 with England under pressure after winning the toss at Lord's

[street cricketer]

The best I've ever seen KL bat. Even better than the gems he played on the bunsens against Australia.

He just looks so compact this series.

 

[Saurav]

Since no one in the team management can say anything to him, I hope this poor form shows a mirror to him teaches him to stay humble and focus on both his batting and his captaincy.

it won't

If you saw the full interview,he mentioned fans dont contribute to his life so he doesnt care.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

The best I've ever seen KL bat. Even better than the gems he played on the bunsens against Australia.

He just looks so compact this series.

Yeah. He looks completely different whenever he plays like this. As I said earlier he is playing like peak Kohli and even better than Kohli today.

 

[MP2011]

he opens in FC and scores quickly,same as Shaw.So they might have gone with him.

To be fair,he did well in Aus topping it up with 91 in Gabba

Long term he'd be no 4/5

I know he plays as an opener for his state side and he did well, in fact very well at Gabba as opener.

But whatever I've seen of him, he doesn't look like an opener to me, a few good innings at the top notwithstanding.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Rahane almost out in the last ball of the day.

This is BEYOND pathetic batting.

But an INCREDIBLE day for India due to Rohit and Magical KL.

 

[MP2011]

it won't

If you saw the full interview,he mentioned fans dont contribute to his life so he doesnt care.

That's incredibly arrogant of him.

 

[jnaveen1980]

India has 3 proper tailenders in the middle. After injury Gill should be slotted there.

 

[MP2011]

It's stumps.

 

[murakh1]

Till The Last Ball Of The Day Rahane Didn't Forget To Show His Pathetic Temperament

 

[MP2011]

Yeah. He looks completely different whenever he plays like this. As I said earlier he is playing like peak Kohli and even better than Kohli today.

If he can keep his mind at it, his peak should be greater than Kohli, that's how insanely talented he and his ceiling is.

 

[MP2011]

It's downright insulting for us to see these 3 masquerading as our middle order bats.

 

[street cricketer]

Yeah. He looks completely different whenever he plays like this. As I said earlier he is playing like peak Kohli and even better than Kohli today.

I've always thought he was too good a player to have a wasted test career. I thought KL might have to move down to the middle order because he plays too many shots to be a test opener and at the same time, his stroke making ability might be better used in the middle order when the shine of the ball is not there.

But this series is making me think twice on that notion. Now we have too many test openers and not enough middle order bats to replace Pujara, Kohli and Rahane. I think Gill and Shaw might need to move to the middle order as I don't think they are compact enough to be test openers. KL, if he bats like this, can be our long term test opener.

 

[sharmaji]

Truly disappointing then.

it won't

If you saw the full interview,he mentioned fans dont contribute to his life so he doesnt care.

 

[guna]

I feel Kohli's peak is over. He is regressing very quickly. At this rate, he might play for India for another 2 years maximum and then he will be dropped. He is very unsure outside of his off stump and how many times he gets out the same way is unbelievable.

Rahane and Pujara must retire right now and do BCCI and India a favor. These 2 are the reason why India will never be serious challengers in tough batting conditions.

 

[guna]

It's downright insulting for us to see these 3 masquerading as our middle order bats.

Kohli at least contributes 2's and 30's these days. Rahane and Pujara are lucky to go past 20 on a good day.

 

[street cricketer]

Feels kinda weird to see our test openers rack up nearly two 100 run partnerships two matches in a row in bowling friendly conditions under overcast skies after watching a decade of our test openers making a joke of themselves at the slightest amount of movement in England.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

It's amazing to see him in our test XI despite repeated failures.

Perhaps Australia series is saving him but for how long?

Its amazing how he slips under the radar so easily. It's almost like everyone has taken it for granted that a bloke who averages 35 with the bat over the last 4.5 years is not expected to do more. I cant think of a single reason why he is still playing .

 

[drubwrubnat]

Great knock by KL & Rohit. This is where ability comes into play. Its silly to think that a hack like Pujara has played so many games which these two have missed. Bowlers can feel weakness, they know when a good player is around and cant get around an obvious weakness.

Say what you will, you have to give a few players the pass and play them every time , the ones with the natural ability- KL, Rohit, ABD, Hardik, Prithvi, Pant, Robin Uthappa as opposed to mediocre ones like Pujara, Gill, Manish Pandey, Yuvraj Singh

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

it won't

If you saw the full interview,he mentioned fans dont contribute to his life so he doesnt care.

If fans don't contribute to his life then why is he doing these advertisements and who are his target audience lol? Brands who are paying him money won't like this comment from Kohli.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Solid day for India with the bat at Lord's. Battle-hardened batsmen produced and nurtured over many years within a robust First-class structure <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ENGvsIND?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ENGvsIND</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1425887544290517002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

 

[street cricketer]

Great knock by KL & Rohit. This is where ability comes into play. Its silly to think that a hack like Pujara has played so many games which these two have missed. Bowlers can feel weakness, they know when a good player is around and cant get around an obvious weakness.

Say what you will, you have to give a few players the pass and play them every time , the ones with the natural ability- KL, Rohit, ABD, Hardik, Prithvi, Pant, Robin Uthappa as opposed to mediocre ones like Pujara, Gill, Manish Pandey, Yuvraj Singh

Wait what..

 

[jnaveen1980]

I've always thought he was too good a player to have a wasted test career. I thought KL might have to move down to the middle order because he plays too many shots to be a test opener and at the same time, his stroke making ability might be better used in the middle order when the shine of the ball is not there.

But this series is making me think twice on that notion. Now we have too many test openers and not enough middle order bats to replace Pujara, Kohli and Rahane. I think Gill and Shaw might need to move to the middle order as I don't think they are compact enough to be test openers. KL, if he bats like this, can be our long term test opener.

Yes. Infact many compared him with Pujara due to his slowness which is good in a way as he was settling in. So it clearly shows he is temperamentally improved now.Gill can do his thing in the MO.

 

[MenInG]

A sublime knock from the India opener headlined the action on the opening day of the Lord's Test as India went to stumps on a solid 276/3.

Rahul, who last made a Test hundred in September 2018 against England, ended the long wait as he scored his sixth century in the longest format. He remained unbeaten on 127* while India lost the prized scalp of skipper Virat Kohli 5.2 overs overs before stumps were called.

India dominated the final session for most part but Kohli's wicket gave England a reason cheer late in the day.

Earlier, England captain Joe Root won the toss and decided to make the best use of the overhead condition by bowling first. The hosts replaced the duo of Zak Crawley and Dan Lawrence and the injured Stuart Broad with Haseeb Hameed, Moeen Ali and Mark Wood.

Kohli decided to make a like-for-like replacement for Shardul Takhur, opting to bring in Ishant Sharma over Ravichandran Ashwin.

It was a great contest between the bat and ball in the opening hour of play. Though James Anderson and Ollie Robinson managed to beat the bat on a few occasions, the India openers looked assured in their defence more often than not and were more than happy to leave balls outside off stump.

After going for just above one run an over for the first 12 over, Rohit decided to shift gears, bringing up the first boundary of the innings and then hitting Sam Curran for four 4s in an over at the stroke of drinks.

The first session lasted just under 19 overs as umpires were forced to call early lunch after rain halted play.

After the break, Rohit finally brought up a well-composed half-century, his seventh away from home, after a string of scores in the 30s and 40s. At the other end, Rahul curbed his natural game to play an uncharacteristic yet solid innings to ensure that the misfiring middle order do not have to face the music in difficult conditions.

The duo soon brought up their 100-run partnership after falling three runs short in the first innings of the last match. This was also India's first century partnership in England in Tests since Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik's 147-run stand in 2007 at Nottingham.

Just when it looked like Rohit Sharma was set to score his first century in Test cricket away from home, a peach of in-swinger from Anderson castled the Indian opener for 83.

Cheteshwar Pujara's rut with the bat continued as Anderson struck once again to dismiss him for 9. Pujara's habit of poking at balls outside off stump became his undoing yet again as he nicked one to Jonny Bairstow at third slip, bringing captain Kohli to the crease.

Rahul continued his fine form with the bat by bringing up his second fifty on tour. The two batsmen managed to see through the tricky two overs before tea as India went into the break at 157/2.

After being dismissed for a golden duck in the previous Test, Kohli got off the mark on the 10th ball he faced, off Robinson. He batted with caution and demonstrated his appetite for runs after a shaky start to the series.

Rahul too continued to milk runs as Kohli joined forces, and together they made sure that India finished the opening day on a high with a strong total already on board, thanks to their solid 117-run stand. Before the end of play, Robinson snared Kohli's wicket, inducing an edge.

A few overs later, Ajinkya Rahane, in at No.5, survived an lbw appeal, as England lost their second review. He faced 22 balls and remained unbeaten on 1.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Rohit also played well and he deserved a hundred too.

 

[drubwrubnat]

Yes i do feel Robin was a talent, not in tests but overall.
I only mentioned a few players who deserve more recognition instead of others who were over hyped.
I see this travesty in other sports too.
Id rather have a Sehwag than a Ganguly any day.
Talent, flamboyance, flair, they have a psychological impact which cant be expressed in statistics.

 

[MenInG]

Yes i do feel Robin was a talent, not in tests but overall.
I only mentioned a few players who deserve more recognition instead of others who were over hyped.
I see this travesty in other sports too.
Id rather have a Sehwag than a Ganguly any day.
Talent, flamboyance, flair, they have a psychological impact which cant be expressed in statistics.

Please stick to this Test/series.

 

[drubwrubnat]

Please stick to this Test/series.

Sorry my bad. My only point being that the first choice openers were supposedly Gill & Agarwal instead of gems like KL & Rohit.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Looking forward to seeing England bat on this deck.

India is an overrated team & so boring to watch.

 

[Cric_lover4487]

Sorry my bad. My only point being that the first choice openers were supposedly Gill & Agarwal instead of gems like KL & Rohit.

Agarwal career is over. Aus tour failure gonna haunt him. KL has cemented his spot. Gill will come back and replace Pujara. Agarwal can only eye Rahane spot now.

 

[dildilpak]

Looking forward to seeing England bat on this deck.

India is an overrated team & so boring to watch.

Will anyday take a boring Indian team than the maverick Pakistan one. If you want excitement, you should continue watching The Hundred.

 

[PakLFC]

Good day for India. Mature Cricket played here as opposed to the T20 stuff where even tail enders can hit sixers for fun. In the driving seat now India should be aiming for 500 then put major pressure on the English batsmen. All India can do for now is put up a massive score then leave it to their bowlers. In Cricket nothing can beat a good day of a Test in front of a decent crowd.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Will anyday take a boring Indian team than the maverick Pakistan one. If you want excitement, you should continue watching The Hundred.

I watch the 100 over any test featuring India. To score less than 300 on such a great track was lame. Even Kohli's days of extravgance seem to be over.

 

[BreadPakoda]

Looking forward to seeing England bat on this deck.

India is an overrated team & so boring to watch.

You can also watch the exciting duo of Fawad Alam and Faheem Ashraf bat right now.

 

[Hitman]

Hope India can score 450-500 by the end of tomorrow’s day’s play.

 

[Ashmal]

Great knocks by Rohit and KL.

Rohit has been a revelation here, didn't expect him to bat as well as he has done on this tour so far.

 

[Rohan]

Looking forward to seeing England bat on this deck.

India is an overrated team & so boring to watch.

RIP cricket!

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Rahul has turned a corner here in this series. Think he's shutting the door for Gill for now who had become a little rash following a very good Australian tour. Rohit's becoming a better batter with each passing day.

I said around 2.5 years ago that Kohli's decline is going to start soon owing to the amount of wear and tear his body and mind has gone through at the age of 30. Still think he will have a good purple patch once this phase is over.

 

[Robert]

Looking forward to seeing England bat on this deck.

India is an overrated team & so boring to watch.

So much for ECB serving up India green tops. I am surprised at how good for batting it is. Not the usual Lord’s deck.

 

[Romali_rotti]

So much for ECB serving up India green tops. I am surprised at how good for batting it is. Not the usual Lord’s deck.

ECB did well, they saw after the first test match and realised their bats are out of form and will be shooting ducks vs Bumrah and CO..

 

[MP2011]

So much for ECB serving up India green tops. I am surprised at how good for batting it is. Not the usual Lord’s deck.

So England fans who used to sook about Indian pitches are now sooking about their own pitches!

Well done!

 

[BreadPakoda]

So England fans who used to sook about Indian pitches are now sooking about their own pitches!

Well done!

You know your team is doing well when people start sooking about pitches, (clean) bowling actions, missing players, having had to bowl / bat first, etc.

 

[Mesozoic]

Brilliant day for India.

Should now look for 500 and win by an innings.

Hope rain doesn't save England again.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

So much for ECB serving up India green tops. I am surprised at how good for batting it is. Not the usual Lord’s deck.

Lol, these were tough batting conditions. Last 10 test matches at Lord's, there has not been as much seam movement and only 1 test had more swing.

 

[dildilpak]

You know your team is doing well when people start sooking about pitches, (clean) bowling actions, missing players, having had to bowl / bat first, etc.

Maybe you should add ‘players not having enough county match practice’ to that list. The whining poms are at it again!

 

[AMSS]

Is Root a cowardly type guy?

Clearly terrified of facing Bumrah and gang on Day 1 and hence his foolish decision to bowl first.

ECB did well to predictably doctor the pitch at Trentbridge. Seem to have course corrected after how the last test panned out.

 

[andy0204]

That injury of Gill has been blessing in disguise for KL

 

[MP2011]

Maybe you should add ‘players not having enough county match practice’ to that list. The whining poms are at it again!

lol, this is a new one.

Our guys hardly ever play FC cricket, however its completely their fault. Despite their crowded calendars, they can play in FC cricket every now and then but they choose not to do so.

 

[Real_Steel]

Memories are so short. All the praise for KL Rahul is good. He is coached by Dravid..I was never in favour of dropping him earlier but that is how Mr Kohli operates.

Dont understand the denigration of Rahane and Pujara. They won you Australia series not so long ago. Anyone can bat in India so I dont count their out of form innings there. They deserve full backing for for England tour. They will score when it gets most difficult

 

[Abhilash93]

Memories are so short. All the praise for KL Rahul is good. He is coached by Dravid..I was never in favour of dropping him earlier but that is how Mr Kohli operates.

Dont understand the denigration of Rahane and Pujara. They won you Australia series not so long ago. Anyone can bat in India so I dont count their out of form innings there. They deserve full backing for for England tour. They will score when it gets most difficult

One can still understand about Rahane being inconsistent but Pujara has hardly 1 or 2 decent knocks in England or NZ in all these years. Its probably a more fundamental technical issue rather than bad form or whatever.

I am willing to bet that he will still score huge runs in Australia even in this bad form if India tour there right now.

Hope he proves us wrong in the coming matches.

 

[IndianMafia]

Time for Vihari to replace pujara in next test. Pujara looks slightly horrified by the way he himself is batting.

 

[mastimasti]

A great day's worth of cricket. India struggled and then piled on the runs, there was a great battle between bat and ball, especially when Jimmy and Ollie were bowling...imagine if Saqib had played. I think Sam Curran's time is up if his bowling does not improve.

 

[Robert]

ECB did well, they saw after the first test match and realised their bats are out of form and will be shooting ducks vs Bumrah and CO..

That wouldn’t make sense given that India lost 1-4 on mostly greentops last time. Slow green tracks help medium pace seamers like Anderson more than fast bowlers like Bumrah. So greentops would make sense for England this time too.

It’s interesting to see this balanced looking wicket after all the rain of the last few days. I predicted a slow, low seamer but this one is not green and has good carry to the keeper.

 

[James]

This is turning out to be quite a flat pitch. I don’t even think England bowled particularly badly, apart from Curran who was poor. Anderson, Robinson, and Moeen all looked threatening throughout the day. Credit to India for a solid batting display and laying an excellent platform.