India vs England, 1st Test, Day 2 tea: Kohli fights to take India to 160/6

If only India had the same lunch as England on day two of the 1st India vs England Test at Edgbaston on Thursday; maybe they did, but the England bowlers who turned up for the second session were far far better than the Indian batsmen who took the field post lunch.

INDIA vs ENGLAND 2018 SERIES PAGE

Especially Ben Stokes, who started off the proceedings and bowled nine overs in a row giving away 29 runs, and what a spell that was. Indian skipper Virat Kohli took two boundaries off the allrounder in his first over and then Stokes found his rhythm, line and length that earned him two wickets. He could have added a third and James Anderson his first had the slip catching been better.

India vs England,1st Test MATCH HOME Live scores, updates, reports, videos

Kohli struggled, but fought and withered the storm to move to 53* at tea helping India to 160 for six, trailing England by 127 runs.

LIVE SCORE | LIVE UPDATES

After Sam Curran s three-wicket burst in the first session, all eyes were on Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane to get India out of a tough predicament but seven overs in to the session, Stokes bowled a wide back of a length delivery and an indecisive Rahane poked at it playing as far away from his body as he could handing Keaton Jennings a sharp opportunity at slips, which he obliged.

An over later, Dinesh Karthik, playing in England for the first time in 11 years in India whites lost his middle stump to a fuller, angled in delivery. He went for 0 as India slumped to 100 for five.

That could very well have been 100 for six, or seven or eight the way England were bowling. While Stokes was rewarded, Anderson who opened the bowling with the allrounder post lunch was equally impressive. The sub-plot of Anderson vs Kohli played out quite extensively, with the first round going to the English veteran.

Anderson had induced an edge in the first session that was grassed by Jos Buttler and in the second, Anderson kept at it showing immaculate control over his swing and line, particularly against Kohli. Anderson persisted and managed to induce an edge, but Dawid Malan dropped the Indian skipper on 21 - Malan would go on to give Kohli another reprieve on 51 off Stokes.

Off the first ball of the next over, Pandya poked at an away going delivery from Stokes but Alastair Cook made a hash of it at first slip. That Kohli remained unbeaten despite such terrific bowling would rankle England; but similar to how they failed to drive the match away from India on day one, England missed out on an opportunity to do the same on day two as well. Pandya went on to survive a LBW call courtesy the DRS off Stokes.

The Kohli-Pandya association yielded 48 runs with the Indian skipper surpassing his previous best score in England (39). Curran bowled just eight overs late in the session and picked his fourth wicket with a ripper of a delivery to remove Pandya for 22.

Brief Scores: India 160/6 (Virat Kohli 53*, Shikhar Dhawan 24; Sam Curran 4/38) trail England 287 (Joe Root 80, Jonny Bairstow 70; R AShwin 4/62) by 127 runs.