London, July 12: Senior India opener KL Rahul brought up his 10th Test hundred before Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy, despite not being in sync while running between the wickets, stitched an unbroken 62-run stand for the sixth wicket, as the tourists’ reached 316/5 in 91 overs against England at tea and trail England by 71 runs at Lord’s on Saturday.

It was a session of slow scoring, where Rahul fell for exactly 100 and left India in a spot of bother at 254/5. Though England tried every tactic possible and their pacers got more lateral movement with the second new ball, they were unable to separate Jadeja (40 not out) and Reddy (25 not out). The hosts will also be worried about Shoaib Bashir's participation in the game after the offspinner picked up a left finger injury via a powerful drive from Jadeja.

The session began with Rahul driving Jofra Archer through mid-off for a single to get his second ton of the series and also his second century at the iconic ground after last doing so back in 2021. But in the next over, a real lapse in concentration saw Rahul edge to first slip off Shoaib Bashir and fall for 100 off 177 balls.

From there, absolute chaos followed - Jadeja tried to sneak a single amidst an lbw appeal, and Nitish was a goner if Ollie Pope had fired his direct hit right. He enjoyed another lucky break on zero when Pope missed the stumps yet again.

The duo had to face a tough examination from Archer, who has been pacy and accurate while mostly clocking 90mph in a short four-over spell, causing the crowd to gasp out of awe and admiration. But then Archer was missing the stumps, which meant Jadeja and Nitish weren’t separated.

When Bashir came in, Jadeja pulled him over mid-wicket for four, before getting a thick edge past Brydon Carse for another boundary. Nitish too began finding his bearings by lofting Bashir for four, before glancing Archer and Chris Woakes for a four each. Reddy was hit on the grille by a bouncer before he and Jadeja had a third mix-up, but managed to survive till tea break.

Brief scores:

England 387 lead India 316/5 in 91 overs (KL Rahul 100, Rishabh Pant 74; Jofra Archer 1-45, Ben Stokes 1-50) by 71 runs

--IANS

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