England vs India: Ajinkya Rahane walks out at No.4 ahead of Virat Kohli

On day 4 of the Lord’s Test, England continued to bat despite a 250 odd runs lead in the bank. Joe Root called them back as soon as Sam Curran was dismissed on 40 in the 89th over. One interesting aspect was that skipper Virat Kohli was not there on the field and Ajinkya Rahane held the command. It was learnt that Kohli had trouble with his back and the back strain kept him out.

The Indian team bowled 7.1 overs on the day and had to walk out to bat in their second innings, England had a lead of 289 runs on the board and that is definitely a decisive margin in the context of the match. As soon as the Indians were preparing for their batting innings, clouds started to hover over Lord’s, the conditions were overcast once again along with a light drizzle.

Anderson at it again

James Anderson opted for a different range of attack this time, he didn’t look to swing the ball as much but bowled in a manner to exploit seam movement. He was spot on like he’s been through his international career and once again Murali Vijay had no answers.

Anderson got one to jag back in after pitching and Vijay who was on the front foot trying to defend the ball left a huge gap between bat and pad. The ball kissed the inside edge of his willow and landed into Jonny Bairstow’s waiting hands. He was back on his way having bagged another duck and completed a pair in the Test match.

KL Rahul was hit on the pads by the same bowler and plumb in front. He hung his head down and walked away. After losing two wickets, Cheteshwar Pujara was waiting at one end for his partner and Ajinkya Rahane joined him in the middle.

Virat couldn’t walk out to bat as he was out of the field this morning and as per the law, he had to wait for at least 37 minutes, the time he had spent away which is 12:23 local time. When Vijay got out there were still 21 minutes and Rahul was dismissed 9 minutes before Kohli could bat and thus Rahane took guard. He spent enough time before facing the first ball to ensure that the captain bats next even if there was an adversity on the very first ball.

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