Ajinkya Rahane Saves India the Blushes with a Century at Lord's

Rahane enhanced his Test credentials by churning out his second Test century in difficult conditions on a green-top track Lord's rolled out in London.

2nd Test: Rahane's ton rescues India to 290/9 on Day 1 at Lord's

India will take sustenance from the fact that they have stared down a sinister Lord's greentop and pronounced that they are a long way removed from the submissive outfit that lost 4-0 on their last tour to England. That they scrapped throughout was undeniable but the dominant innings that finally rewarded a day of hard labours was not as much a stare-down as a display of dancing eyes and neat footwork, an exceptional counter-attacking hundred from Ajinkya Rahane that washed residual ill feeling from an engrossing opening to the second Test.

Rahane's 103 came to grief 15 minutes before the close, courtesy of a nonchalant left-handed catch in his follow-through by James Anderson, an over in which Rahane had driven him confidently through the covers for his second Test hundred. No matter how fulfilling his career, he will not make too many better.

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India innings290/9(90.0) R/R: 3.22

Batsman	Status	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	SR
Murali Vijay	c Gary Ballance b Liam Plunkett	24	67	4	0	35.82
Shikhar Dhawan	c Gary Ballance b James Anderson	7	11	1	0	63.64
Cheteshwar Pujara	b Ben Stokes	28	117	4	0	23.93
Virat Kohli	c Matt Prior b James Anderson	25	34	4	0	73.53
Ajinkya Rahane	c & b James Anderson	103	154	15	1	66.88
MS Dhoni (C)(W)	c Matt Prior b Stuart Broad	1	17	0	0	5.88
Ravindra Jadeja	lbw b Moeen Ali	3	11	0	0	27.27
Stuart Binny	lbw b James Anderson	9	19	1	0	47.37
Bhuvneshwar Kumar	b Stuart Broad	36	84	7	0	42.86
Mohammed Shami	Batting	14	16	2	0	87.50
Ishant Sharma	Batting	12	11	2	0	109.09
	Extras: 27 (b - 17, w - , no - 10, lb - , penalty - 0)
	Fall of Wickets	1/11 (Shikhar Dhawan 2.5ov.) 2/48 (Murali Vijay 21.3ov.) 3/86 (Virat Kohli 31.1ov.) 4/113 (Cheteshwar Pujara 41.5ov.) 5/123 (MS Dhoni 47.2ov.) 6/128 (Ravindra Jadeja 50.4ov.) 7/145 (Stuart Binny 57.2ov.) 8/275 (Ajinkya Rahane 86.4ov.)

Bowlers	O	M	R	WKT	NO	WD	ECON
James Anderson	22	7	55	4	0	0	2.5
Stuart Broad	22	5	79	2	0	0	3.59
Liam Plunkett	15	5	51	1	1	0	3.4
Ben Stokes	17	5	40	1	0	0	2.35
Moeen Ali	14	2	38	1	0	0	2.71