By News18
Birmingham, Jul 6 (PTI) India were on course for a series-levelling win after Akash Deep struck twice to leave England on 153 for six at lunch on a rain-hit day five of the second Test against England here on Sunday.
Washington Sundar had Ben Stokes leg before wicket at the stroke of lunch to matters worse for the opposition.
On a typical English weather day when heavy cloud cover and subsequent rain made way for bright sunshine, the start was delayed by one hour and 40 minutes. The forced stoppage left India 80 overs to bowl out England, who began the day at 72 for three chasing a near impossible 608.
Prasidh Krishna opened the bowling alongside Akash Deep, who was the stand out bowler of the session. For the first time in the high-scoring game, the wicket appeared to have deteriorated a bit with Akash Deep getting a prodigious amount of seam movement. It was a tad surprising that Mohammed Siraj did not start alongside Akash Deep.
Having said that, Akash Deep needed seven balls to provide the breakthrough in the opening hour as Ollie Pope played one on to his stumps. In the following over from Akash Deep, the dangerous Harry Brook was trapped in front with a delivery that hit the crack and seamed back in sharply. Brook could not do much about that.
It can be assumed that the medium pacer has sealed his place for the Lord鈥檚 Test with a stellar use of the new ball at Edgbaston. Krishna from the other end could not strike but performed the holding role effectively. Ravindra Jadeja was brought in after the first hour of and he got the ball to turn from the rough instantly, posing problems for Ben Stokes and Jamie Smith. Unlike Headingley, Jadeja tried to take some pace off his deliveries and it did turn off the rough.
The England captain however was able to get some much needed runs. He got four boundaries off Siraj including from a pull and extra cover drive off Siraj.
Realising that there was little point in just defending, Stokes decided to sweep Jadeja.
Going into day five, either an India win or draw were probable results with England effectively conceding that there were not going to go for the mammoth target despite only drawing one game in the last three years. PTI KHS