Sam Curran produced a real peach to make KL Rahul look ordinary

Rahul was batting well until Curran beat him with an absolute beauty.

Published - 09 Sept 2018, 13:41 IST | Updated - 09 Sept 2018, 13:41 IST

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He was batting really well, playing positive shots, consistently looking to score runs and in the process also set the bowlers off their plans. KL Rahul coming into the Test series on the back of some serious ‘form’ hadn’t scored a half century after eight innings and if he was going to this was the best chance. Sam Curran, however, produced a rather unplayable delivery to castle him and ended his run prematurely.

India were into bat after England posted a strong score on the board. The visitors had them on the mat at stumps on day 1 but Jos Buttler and his 98-run partnership with Stuart Broad brought them back in the game and in fact, in a commanding position. The Indian openers were once again expected to build a solid platform for them to get anywhere near that score. Rahul, in particular, made a conscious effort to not let the ball that beat his outside edge bog him down and was focused on getting the runs that were up there.

He hit Ben Stokes for a boundary rocking on the backfoot, when there was short-pitched delivery he took it on and hooked it for a four, a beautiful late cut to the fence, played over the covers fielders and was accumulating runs rather quickly. In his knock of 37, Rahul played a few delightful shots and that was a huge assertive for India since they had already lost Shikhar Dhawan at the other end.

England have a pace attack that doesn’t let the batsmen get away. After the first charge from James Anderson and Stuart Broad, there is Sam Curran and Stokes who challenge them. Curran, in particular, is a real troublemaker as he brings the ball back into the right-handers. He works on setting them up with the away going delivery and uses the other one as a surprise.

The one that got the better of Rahul beat him all ends up. It was the one that shaped into him, swung and after pitching just straightened or move away a fraction with the seam. In the end, the batsman was in no position to deal with that quality and it aced him all the way to the stumps.