BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Rishabh Pant was bringing the chaos at Edgbaston on Saturday as India stretched its lead to 357 runs by lunch on Day 4 of the second test against England.
The explosive left-handed batter reached the break on 41, having been dropped twice either side of a bizarre incident where he went for a pull shot, missed the ball and let go of his bat. It flew about 20 meters into the leg side — luckily missing any England fielders — and sparked laughter on and off the field.
Pant was alongside Shubman Gill (24) — the India captain who scored 269 in the first-innings total of 587 — with the tourists on 177-3 and having seen Karun Nair removed for 26 and Lokesh Rahul for 55.
They began the day on 64-1 and first lost Nair, who drove and edged Brydon Carse to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
Rahul departed when he lost his middle stump to a seaming delivery by pacer Josh Tongue and that brought Pant to the middle, certainly livening things up.
Off just his fourth ball faced, Pant advanced down the track and smashed Tongue for a straight six before sending an easy chance to Zak Crawley at mid-on off the bowling of Ben Stokes. Somehow, he dropped it.
Then came an over from Tongue where Pant chucked his bat in the air before, the very next ball, offering up a chance to Chris Woakes, who couldn’t gather a leading edge.
Pant made England pay by nudging close to a half-century, having already hit five fours and two sixes as Gill played a steadier role at the other end.
England leads the five-test series 1-0 after winning at Headingley last week.
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AP cricket:
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