England reach 385 for eight at lunch against India

Jos Buttler’s gritty fifty helped England post 385/8 on Day 2 of the fourth Test in Mumbai on Friday. Opening the bowling on Day 2, Ravichandran Ashwin continued to make use of the spin and bounce on offer at the Wankhede to pick up his 23rd five-wicket haul.

The visitors, resuming at 288/5, lost the hard-hitting Ben Stokes on 31 just few overs into the day. Chris Woakes’ (11) stay was cut short by a sharp spinning delivery from Ravindra Jadeja, who opened the bowling with Ashwin. The all-rounder’s defensive prod induced a faint edge that Parthiv Patel pocketed with



ease. A few overs later, he sent Adil Rasheed (4) back with an arm-ball.

The 26-year-old Buttler notched up his sixth half century in 106 balls. The wicketkeeper-batsman held the lower order together, even as they nudged and struggled to cope against the spin trio of Ashwin, Jadeja and Jayant Yadav.

However, just when things started to look downhill for England, the lanky Jake Ball and Jos Buttler stitched together a crucial partnership of 51, showing some obdurate defence and the ability to keep the scoreboard ticking.