ENG vs IND | Twitter impressed as Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley headline England's domination at Old Trafford

‌England ended day two on a high with openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley scoring enterprising half-centuries to power them to 225/2 at Old Trafford in Manchester on Thursday. Earlier, skipper Ben Stokes picked up a five-wicket haul to end India’s innings at 358 with England still needing 133 runs to go past the Indian total.

Starting at their overnight score of 264/4, India lost Ravindra Jadeja in the second over of the day, edging Jofra Archer to the slip cordon. Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar took the visitors past the 300-run mark during their partnership of 48 for the sixth wicket before England skipper Ben Stokes dismissed the former for 41. Rishabh Pant walked in amid loud cheers to continue his innings despite having a fractured foot as India went in for lunch at 321/6.

Stokes completed his fifth five-wicket haul in Tests with the wickets of Washington Sundar and Anshul Kamboj in the same over, with the score reading 337. Pant (54) completed his half-century before being the next to depart, with Archer uprooting his off-stump. The Indian innings folded up for 358 with Sai Sudharsan ending as their top scorer with 61 runs, while Stokes and Archer finished with figures of 5/72 and 3/73, respectively.

The England innings started aggressively, with openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley not shying away from playing their shots. The duo dominated the Indian pacers as the hosts reached 77/0 in the 14 overs they had to bat till tea.

The opening pair continued to score runs at a fast clip, with Duckett reaching his half-century in just 46 balls, in the 19th over, before taking the team past the 100-run mark in the same over. Crawley also followed suit an over later bringing up his fifty with a four off Shardul Thakur. Ravindra Jadeja finally brought some cheer to the Indian camp, dismissing Crawley for 84 (13x4, 1x6) with KL Rahul completing a low catch. Soon, Duckett also departed after hitting 13 fours during his 100-ball 94, giving pacer Anshul Kamboj his first Test wicket. Joe Root and Ollie Pope remained unbeaten on 11 and 20, respectively, when proceedings ended on day two.