England Favourites To Win The Second Test But Rishabh Pant Could Be The Difference , Says Michael Vaughan

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said that England are favourites to win the second Test on the final day at Lord’s on Monday (August 16).

After England rode on skipper Joe Root’s unbeaten 180 to get a 27-run lead in the first innings against the visitors, Durham pacer Mark Wood got rid of the Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul even before India could go past the lead.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli looked in great touch after he timed his shots brilliantly and scored 20 with the help of four boundaries, however, his inning was brought to end by left-arm pacer Sam Curran.

Curran bowled a full-length delivery that pitched wide of off-stump and Kohli tried to push it with a massive bat-pad gap that made him once again nick the ball behind the stumps.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane lead India’s fightback against England bowlers

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane scored runs at a slow pace where the former went into a quite defensive role as he got his first run when he faced the 35th ball of his innings. Pujara got a huge cheer from the crowd when he got off the mark.

On the other hand, Rahane, who was under the hammer for his failure to score runs, registered his career’s 24th Test half-century as he played his strokes very well and rotated the strike most of the time with Pujara.

The duo departed just before the end of the day’s gameplay with Pujara was the first to leave after he nicked Mark Wood’s back of the length delivery to Joe Root at second slip.

Off-spinner Moeen Ali got two wickets of Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja as India’s scorecard read 181/3 and they hold a lead of 154 with wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant batting (14*) with Ishant Sharma (4*).

England favourites to win but Rishabh Pant can change the game: Michael Vaughan

Vaughan believes England is likely to win the game unless Rishabh Pant attacks to escalate India’s lead which will change the dimension of the match.

England favourites but only just … an hour of Rishab in the morning & that all changes … #ENGvsIND

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) August 15, 2021

“England favourites but only just … an hour of Rishab in the morning & that all changes … #ENGvsIND,” Vaughan tweeted.

The first Test ended in a draw after rain showers washed the entire gameplay of the final day at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.

Also Read: Virat Kohli Is Playing Way Outside Off Stump And A Bit Early, States Sunil Gavaskar