Despite failing with the bat, the Indian captain again proved his worth as a brilliant slip fielder with a sharp reflex catch to remove an aggressive looking Ollie Pope.
Rohit Sharma is known to have a safe pair of hands and he once again proved that right. In his career, he has taken some outstanding reflex catches and he produced a moment of brilliance again in the 2nd Test against England. At a time when Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley were looking to take the game away from India with their ‘Bazball’ style of play, India’s captain pulled off a stunner at slip to stop England’s momentum. The replays suggested Rohit had just 0.45 seconds to react but he took the catch safely.
Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin deployed the tactics to bowl round the wicket to the attacking England batters. In the second ball of 29th over of the innings, Ashwin bowled a good length ball which Pope tried to play on the off-side. But instead, he outside edged the ball and Rohit took an outstanding reflex catch to his left at slip. This was arguably the best catch of the match so far. The wicket came at a crucial time given both Crawley and Pope were looking comfortable at the crease and scoring at a good pace.
Sharp Reflexes edition, ft. captain Rohit Sharma! 👌 👌
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The wicket gave Ashwin the momentum and he picked out Joe Root in his next over as well. Earlier in the day, England started positively in their pursuit to reach the target of 399 runs. Rehan Ahmed scored a handy 23 runs before getting out to Axar Patel. England have already confirmed that they are going to have a go at the target with a positive mindset. At lunch, they were 194-6 with skipper Ben Stokes still at the crease.
England are already 1-0 in the series and will be looking to extend their lead further. Meanwhile, India will be looking to level the series before going to the third Test.
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