India end day 2 at 54/1, lead by 249 runs

India placed themselves in a commanding position by stretching their overall lead to 249 runs at stumps on the second day of the second Test against England here on Sunday.

At the close of play, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara were batting on 25 and 7 respectively, as India reached 54 for one in their second innings on a day when the English batsmen were at sea against the home team’s spinners, especially Ravichandran Ashwin, who returned excellent figures of 5/43.

Ravichandran Ashwin claimed five wickets as India skittled out England for 134 on Sunday, the tourists conceding a first innings lead of 195 on day two of the second Test.

It was the veteran off-spinner’s second successive five-wicket haul and his 29th in 76 Tests. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel and paceman Ishant Sharma took two wickets each.

Earlier, with the wear and tear on the wicket evident, captain Virat Kohli deployed Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin in the bowling attack and it paid dividends. However, the tone was set by pacer Ishant Sharma, who removed English opener, Rory Burns, on a duck in the first over of England’s first innings.

Dominic Sibley was only able to score 16 before he was sent home packing by R Ashwin. Daniel Lawrence and captain Joe Root, too, followed suit as Ashwin got his second and Axar his first, respectively.

Earlier, India were bowled out for 329 in their first innings as England bowlers tore through their lower-order.

Resuming the day at 300/6, India batted for 7.5 overs with Pant scoring an unbeaten 58 off 77 balls. With the tail not able to contribute much, the southpaw eventually ran out of partners.

Spinner Moeen Ali claimed four wickets, including two in his first over of the morning session in Chennai.

Paceman Olly Stone took three wickets, dismissing Mohammed Siraj for four to wrap up India’s innings after they resumed on 300-6.