England openers played Bazball cricket today, in 32nd over when Zak Crawley got out England scoring rate was slightly over 5. Ben Duckett was unlucky to miss his 7th test hundred today. Indian bowlers were not able to get wickets on day 2 and England just 133 runs behind India first innings total. If England can get a lead of 100 runs in first innings then they surely will be in control of the game. India need to win this test to keep the series alive and for that they need to bowl out England as quickly as they can.
India batted very slowly. Even then, the team could not collect up to 400. That is why the two openers of England batted quite aggressively. Seeing the batting of the two openers, I felt that this was an ODI match. Both the openers batted at a strike rate of 100 at the beginning of the innings. However, it is unfortunate that neither of them could score a century.
Ollie Pope and Joe Root batted very carefully. Both their strike rates are below 50. They will have to bat very carefully in the coming days as well. These two batsmen will definitely have to play well. England team has to take a lead of at least 150 runs. They are now behind by a margin of 133 runs. Since the team has just lost 2 wickets, can't England collect up to 500? If one of Root and Pope can survive at the crease, I guess England will collect more than 500 in the first innings.