Stokes and Bairstow plot England’s route to survival

England 191 for 6 (Stokes 55*, Rashid 1*) trail India 455 (Kohli 167, Pujara 119, Ashwin 58, Moeen 3-98) by 264 runs Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes went a significant way towards repairing the damage done to England’s first innings at Visakhapatnam, extending their sixth-wicket stand to 110 before Umesh Yadav made the breakthrough ten minutes before lunch to pluck out Bairstow’s leg stump for a hard-earned 53.

By lunch, Stokes was still in situ, on 55 not out, having helped to haul England from a perilous overnight scoreline of 106 for 5 to a still-uncomfortable but vastly more assured 191 for 6. But, with Yadav finding some signs of reverse swing on an increasingly slow and low surface, there was further evidence that this wicket won’t get any better for batting.

If there had been an assumption before the start of play that England would continue to stumble against India’s spin-led attack, then Bairstow’s alarming arrival on the field of play merely sharpened those thoughts. Jogging out to the …

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