England captain Stokes makes Jaiswal breakthrough in second Test

AFP | London

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England captain Ben Stokes again proved his worth as a Test-match partnership-breaker at Edgbaston on Wednesday by denying India dangerman Yashasvi Jaiswal his second hundred of the series.

India were 182-3 at tea on the first day of the second Test after Jaiswal had fallen for 87, with the tourists looking to level the five-match series at 1-1 after last week’s five-wicket loss at Headingley.

India captain Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant, who between them scored three of the team’s five hundreds at Headingley -- something no other losing side had achieved in more than 60,000 games of first-class cricket -- were 42 and 14 not out respectively.

Jaiswal was closing in on a century after another dazzling display of stroke-play when the left-handed opener cut flat-footedly at a short and wide ball from all-rounder Stokes, bowling from around the wicket, only to edge a poor delivery straight to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.

It was a tame end and meant Jaiswal was unable to match his excellent 101 at Headingley -- a game England won as they made light of chasing 371 for victory.

The 23-year-old’s exit also saw the end of a third wicket partnership of 66 with India captain Shubman Gill that had taken the tourists to 161-3.

New batsman Pant, fresh from becoming just the second wicketkeeper in Test history to score hundreds in both innings of a match with 134 and 118 in Leeds, waited a relatively restrained 23 balls until he scored his first boundary Wednesday -- a six over midwicket against off-spinner Shoaib Bashir.

Earlier Stokes, as he had done at Headingley, opted to field after winning the toss, with England having achieved their all-time record fourth innings victory chase of 378 at Edgbaston, against India three years ago.

KL Rahul, fresh from a second-innings hundred at Headingley, rarely looked comfortable Wednesday as he took 26 balls to score two in an innings that ended when he played on to Chris Woakes, on his Warwickshire home ground.