Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin make useful contributions on the 2nd day

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin had a decent day on the 2nd day of the County Championship games that started on Monday as the Indian stars made crucial contributions to their teams Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire respectively. Pujara scored 34 runs in his 2nd outing with the bat while Ashwin picked up three wickets.

The Indian Test No.3 walked out to bat for the 2nd time in the game in the 2nd over of the 2nd day. He added 36 runs for the 2nd wicket with Steven Mullaney and 82 with Samit Patel for the 3rd wicket followed by a 32-run stand with England’s limited-overs opener Alex Hales for the 4th wicket. Rory Kleinveldt cleaned up three of Pujara’s partners an over before he was trapped in front by Mohammad Azharullah. The Northamptonshire pacer got better of the Indian for 18 runs in the first innings as well.

The 28-year-old spent some quality time in the middle and batted for over two and half hours for his 103-ball 34 which included three boundaries. Patel and Hales on other end scored at more than run-a-ball pace with a 59-ball 64 and a 22-ball 25 respectively. Nottinghamshire ended the day at 317/8 as Riki Wessels scored an unbeaten 107 off just 79 balls to extend their lead to 389 runs.

Ashwin’s day out

At Worcester, Ravi Ashwin worked hard for his three wickets as the off-spinner bowled 29 overs during the day including 15 overs in a single spell. He was introduced in the 13th over of Gloucestershire’s innings from where he bowled 15 straight overs before switching ends. He got his maiden wicket in the 10th over when Gareth Roderick gave him a return catch. His bowling figures in the first spell for Worcestershire read 15-0-44-1.

The off-spinner returned for a short spell trapping Kieran Noema-Barnett in front and bagging Craig Miles’ wicket to help his side bundle out the visitors for 258. Young pacer Edward Barnard picked up a four-wicket haul as his team bagged a 105-run first innings lead. The home team posted 10/0 in their 2nd innings before the end of day’s play.