India vs England: Rishabh Pant plucks a blinder down the leg-side off Mohammed Siraj to send back Ollie Pope

India are all over England at the moment in the ongoing second Test match in Chennai. After posting 329 runs in the first innings, they have picked wickets at regular intervals to leave the visitors reeling. The spinners Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel were expected to rule the roost but the pacers have also contributed their bit picking up a couple of wickets so far.

If it was Ishant Sharma who struck in the first over of the innings itself to send back Rory Burns, Mohammed Siraj also dismissed Ollie Pope off his first ball in India in Tests. The pace bowler waited for 38 overs to be introduced into the attack but he was amongst the wickets soon and Siraj has to thank wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant as well for his acrobatics behind the stumps.

A promising partnership between Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes at that time and Siraj ran in only to spray down the legside. Pope sensed an opportunity to score runs and tickled the ball only but Rishabh Pant was quick to time his dive and pouch a sensational catch.

The red cherry popped out of his hands after he fell on the ground but Pant made sure that he didn’t let the ball go to complete a brilliant dismissal. It was a timely wicket for India as the Pope-Foakes duo had tackled the spin well until then and were in the middle of a 35-run stand.

Here’s the video:

Spider-man Rishabh Pant. #INDvsENG #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/6taR2vGxQw

— Shivam Jaiswal MSDian (@7shivamjaiswal) February 14, 2021

England reeling in their first innings

Meanwhile, India are bossing the second Test as England have collapsed in their first essay in response to their 329. The hosts will be looking to bat again and pile on the agony for the touring party and set a mammoth target for them. The duo of Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel have bowled extremely well so far while Kuldeep Yadav has also kept things tight.

The duo of Ishant and Siraj have also been exceptional keeping England batsmen on their toes while Rishabh Pant has shown immense improvement in his wicketkeeping.