NEW DELHI: After rookie Tom Hartley claimed his maiden Test wicket on day two of the inaugural match in Hyderabad on Friday, KL Rahul struck fifty as India closed on England's advantage.
Day two of the five-match series saw India reach 222-3 and now trail England by 24 runs.
After the hosts lost their overnight pairing of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill during the first hour of play, Rahul, at 55, and Shreyas Iyer, at 34, were batting at lunch.
After reaching his Test half-century with a single off Joe Root, Rahul and Iyer maintained their momentum in an undefeated stand of 63.
A sizable and typically boisterous home crowd had increased in anticipation of the Republic Day national holiday. Root calmed the crowd with his spin bowling to start the day for England and removed Jaiswal on the fourth delivery.
After jabbing the ball back to Root, who leaped high to secure the catch, left-hander Jaiswal was removed from the game with four more runs added to his overnight score of 76.
Rahul and Gill, who were at 14 at the beginning of the day, tried to rekindle their alliance at 36, but Hartley's left-arm spin was the difference maker.
Hartley was given a rough start to Test cricket when Jaiswal hit a six off the opening ball. On the first day, he gave up 63 runs in nine overs.
When Gill mishandled and was caught at mid-wicket on 23, Hartley was ecstatic and celebrated with the squad.
Despite India's constant bombardment of spin, England, playing their offensive "Bazball" style of cricket, chose to bat and managed a respectable score thanks to captain Ben Stokes' 70.
(With AFP inputs)
