India vs England 2021: Watch: Ajinkya Rahane Takes A Brilliant Diving Catch To Send Back Moeen Ali

Indian bowling has been amazing, to say the least in England’s first innings of the ongoing second Test match at Chennai. The Chepauk pitch proved to be a handful for the batsmen, as it turned from day one and if not for the brilliance of Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rishabh Pant, Indian batting would have been struggling as well.

India had lost Virat Kohli for a duck, but Rohit (161) was aided by half-centuries from Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant, as India posted a decent 329, which is proving to be a daunting one for England, to say the least. Though England spinner Moeen Ali picked four wickets, the Indian spinners have proved to be more dangerous.

Ishant Sharma started the downfall of England batting by removing Rory Burns for a duck in the first over, and then Ravichandran Ashwin and Akshar Patel took over and routed the England batsmen on a pitch that offered a lot of turn.

Axar Patel had a brilliant debut, removing Joe Root, who is in the purplest of patches with the bat and was coming off 218 and 40 in the first Test win for his team. He fell for 6 runs and other batsmen didn’t have much chance as Ravichandran Ashwin picked 5/43 including wickets of Dan Lawrence, Ben Stokes, who received a beauty of a ball, that clean bowled him.

Ajinkya Rahane Shows Why He Is The Best In Slips; Takes Brilliant Diving Catch

Ajinkya Rahane has always been one of the best fielders in the Indian team and has become permanent in the slip cordon, whether fast bowlers are on or spinners are in operation. He has taken many amazing catches in that position and even has a world record for most catches in a Test match when he took 8 catches against Sri Lanka in the 2015 Galle Test.

However, he showed why is the best and so trusted in that position when he helped Axar Patel take his second wicket in the England innings. The scalp was that of Moeen Ali, who was expected to give Ben Foakes some company in the middle.

However, Axar bowling from round the wicket, got Ali to edge one delivery. The ball took the edge, hit Rishabh Pant on his knee, and ballooned towards the second slip/gully position. Rahane, as alert as ever, took a couple of steps towards and dived to complete an excellent catch to send Ali back for 6 runs.

England was bowled out for 134 runs, giving India a lead of 195 runs.

Also Read: Watch: Axar Patel Dismisses Joe Root For A Rare Cheap Score As His Maiden Test Wicket 

Here is the video of the catch: