England struggle at 103/5, 352 runs behind India

Visakhapatnam, Nov 18 (CRICKETNMORE): England were in deep trouble after being reduced to 103/5 in their reply to India's 455 all out in the first innings at the end of second day of the second cricket Test here on Friday.

Resuming the day at 317/4, India were bowled out for 455 an hour into the second session of play at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.

In reply, England lost five wickets for just 103 runs and are 352 runs short of India's first innings score.

Joe Root (53) offered some resistance but the Indian bowling attack, spearheaded by off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (2/20), had the visitors on the mat.

Pacer Mohammed Shami and debutant off-spinner Jayant Yadav returned figures of 1/15 and 1/11, respectively.

England suffered an early jolt when Shami beat England skipper Alistair Cook with a delivery that moved in to beat the bat before breaking the offstump into two.

Haseeb Hameed and Root tried to build a partnership before the former was run out following a horrible mix-up.

England lost quick wickets thereafter with Ben Duckett, Root and Moen Ali returning to the pavilion in quick succession. 

Earlier, India were bundled out for 455 in their first innings just after lunch. 

Resuming the day at 317/4, Indian skipper Virat Kohli (167) and all-rounder Ashwin (58) took India past the 350-run mark before England off-spinner Moeen Ali dragged the hosts back with three quick scalps in the morning session.

Ashwin, who registered his eighth Test half-century, added 64 vital runs with Jayant Yadav (35) for the eighth wicket to take India to 415/7 at lunch.

Coming back after the break, England managed to take the remaining three wickets with leg-spinner Adil Rashid accounting for Jayant and Umesh Yadav (13) while Ashwin fell prey to Ben Stokes.

For the visitors, comeback man James Anderson and Ali were the pick of the bowlers with three wickets each while Rashid took two. Pacers Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes chipped in with one wicket apiece.