Atkinson, Crawley-Duckett put India on backfoot during first session (Day 2)

LONDON: A five-wicket haul by pacer Gus Atkinson and a quickfire 92-run opening stand by Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley pushed India to the back foot during the first session of the second day of the fifth Test against England at The Oval on Friday.

At the end of the session’s play, England was 109/1, with Crawley (52*) and Ollie Pope (12*) unbeaten. They trail by 115 runs.

India kick-started day two at 204/6, with Karun Nair (52*) and Washington Sundar (19*) unbeaten.

The duo started the day on a positive note, with Nair and Sundar getting a boundary each against Josh Tongue in the first over of the day.

Nair did survive a leg-before-wicket against Atkinson, but Josh Tongue got him lbw for 57 in 109 balls, with eight fouras. Tongue sprayed it down the leg side and well outside off, but the ball nipped back in sharply and beat the inside edge of Nair’s bat to crash into his back pad knee roll. India was 218/7, with the 55-run partnership over between the duo.

Sundar also holed it to the deep square leg in the hands of Jamie Overton, with Tongue getting his wicket for 26 in 55 balls, with three fours. India was 220/8.

Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna were done away with by Atkinson, who got his five-wicket haul. India was bundled out for 224 runs in 69.4 overs.

Atkinson (5/33) and Tongue (3/57) were destructive with the ball for England, never letting India settle with a massive partnership.

In their first innings, England was off to a fine start, with openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett putting on a masterclass in aggression.

Crawley found plenty of boundaries against Siraj in the first five overs, while Duckett unleashed some carnage against Akash Deep, hitting him for three fours in the sixth over. A ramp over the covers by Duckett at the end of the seventh over brought up England’s fifty-run mark.

Duckett and Crawley also did not spare Prasidh Krishna, hitting him for some boundaries till Akash Deep got Duckett caught behind by Dhruv Jurel for 43 in 38 balls, with five fours and two sixes. England was 92/1 in 12.5 overs.

England reached the 100-run mark in 14.4 overs.

Crawley also reached his 19th Test fifty with a four against Akash Deep in 42 balls, with 12 fours.

Crawley and Ollie Pope made sure England did not lose any wicket till session ended.

Brief Scores: England: 109/1 (Zak Crawley 52*, Ben Duckett 43, Akash Deep 1/46) vs India. (ANI)