New Delhi: India seemed to be cheaply bowling cheaply after removing Root and Ben Stokes on the second Test of Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in Edgbaston on Friday. But Jamie Smith and Harry Brook had other schemes, going to centuries to staging a remarkable counterattack and retracting the speed in England’s favor.Mohammad Siraj performed the drama by striking twice in the second over of the day. First, he got the root to tickle his pad for Rishabh Pants. At the next delivery, he bowled a fast, rising delivery, which caught Ben Stokes with the guard. The England captain funded him, only gave it gloves from behind the pants for a golden duck – his first in Test cricket – except for England Reeling.
At 84/5, India was strongly under control. But he quickly changed.Brooke displayed elegance and authority, exposed the crisp drive and shut down the Sirj, while Smith countered with an aggressive strokeplay – slammed the ball under the ground and later dragged the sky deeply for borders. Brook brought his second fifty of the series with a commanding drive from Siraj, and soon Smith ended India’s short-ball strategy.Brooke continued the charge, to break Prasad Krishna for three fours in the back leg, a six on leg-side, once again for a limit again. 23 runs were leaked alone.Meanwhile, Smith arrived at just 43 balls for fifty and worked hard. He punished the small balls of fame with four and six, then took three more boundaries from Washington Sundarr. Against Ravindra Jadeja, he once again went to Hawaii, continuing the attack to launch a four and a six.Amidst this cruel attack, Krishna’s struggle in Test cricket kept shining more. Pacer now holds the unfortunate record for the worst economy rate in testing history (minimum 500 delivery).In the first Test, which India lost by five wickets, Krishna scored 128 runs in the first innings taking three wickets in the 6.40 economy. In the second innings, he conceded 92 runs for two wickets with the economy of 6.13.His performance during day 3 worsened the number: at the economy rate of 10.00 by an Indian bowler since December 2006 at an economy rate of 5-0–10-10.00.Overall, Krishna has now scored more than five more runs in his brief test career – a great concern for India’s Paes Department.
