2nd Test: Ollie Robinson believes Virat Kohli wicket on Day 1 could be "huge" moment

England fast bowler Ollie Robinson believes the dismissal of Team India skipper Virat Kohli on Day 1 of the ongoing second Test between the two nations at Lord’s, could well prove to be a “huge” moment. Kohli started off slowly but seemed to be growing in confidence with every passing delivery. The 32-year-old was just eight runs away from a well-deserved half-century when Robinson induced an edge to slip, in a significant blow to the visitors.

“Plan to Kohli was always to bowl fourth or fifth stump”

“We toiled hard today against their batters and, to be fair, they played well. So to get the wicket of Kohli at the end was huge and gives us a bit of momentum for the morning,” said Robinson.

“The plan to him was always to bowl fourth or fifth stump, back of a length…luckily the plan worked. There were probably 10 or 15 play and misses that I could count and on another day we might have had them two or three down early on. We definitely looked at conditions and thought we could get a few early ones here. I think on another day it might have happened and I felt we did bowl well. It’s just one of those days where they didn’t nick it to be honest,” he added.

Veteran pacer James Anderson was expected to be sidelined for the second Test due to a tight quad. However, Anderson managed to recover just in time, resulting in a massive boost to England.

“James Anderson keeps on performing”

“Speaking to him personally, he said he was absolutely fine. I think it was more precaution as it’s a long series. He declared himself fit in the morning and you can see he’s bowled 20 overs…same old Jimmy. He bowled very well, but we’ve come to expect that of him now and he just keeps on providing,” said Robinson.

The England pacer knows that there is plenty more hard work in store for the bowlers, as they face off against a strong Indian batting lineup.

“I expect that. In county cricket you get two or three good batters, here you get six or seven good batters. That’s international cricket. I feel I’ve shown over the last couple of games that I’m ready for the toil when it comes. If we can get a couple of early ones in the morning we’re right in it.”

KL Rahul scores magnificent ton

Openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma helped Team India dominate proceedings on the first day of the second Test against England at Lord’s. The duo stitched a partnership of 126 runs in 43.4 overs to help the visitors establish a solid platform having been sent in to bat by Joe Root. Rohit and Rahul stitched the first opening stand in excess of 100 runs for India in Tests outside Asia since January 2011. The last pair to do so were Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir (137) against South Africa in Centurion in Dec 2010.

Rohit was the first to depart, having been dismissed for 83 runs off 145 deliveries in an innings comprising of 11 boundaries and one six. Rahul continued to battle it out, scoring an excellent century. The cricketer is now the first Indian opener to score a century at Lord’s in 31 years. Vinoo Mankad was the first opener from the nation to score a ton at the stadium, after accumulating a score of 184 back in 1952. Team India coach Ravi Shastri was the next man to achieve the unique milestone, having scored a 100 in 1990.