Oval Test: Siraj-Prasidh fightback as England finish at 215/7 at Tea (Day 2)

London [UK], August 1 (ANI): Three scalps each from Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna brought India right back into the game as England finished on 215/7, trailing by nine runs at the end of the second session on Day 2 of the fifth Test at the Oval, on Friday.
Prasidh took two wickets right before tea as he removed England's highest run scorer of the ongoing series, Jamie Smith, for eight, followed by Jamie Overton for a duck.
At the start of the second session's play, England were 109/1, with Crawley (52*) and Ollie Pope (12*) unbeaten. They trail by 115 runs.
Prasidh Krishna gave the host an early blow in the second session as he removed Zak Crawley 64 off 57 balls, and Joe Root joined Pope in the middle.
Krishna's partner from the other end, Mohammed Siraj, joined the party as he removed Pope for 22 off 44 balls in the 25th over, and Harry Brook joined Root in the middle.
Root continued to attack Indian seamers; he surpassed Sachin Tendulkar (7216 in India) to have the second most runs at home venues in Tests. The No.1 Test batter now has 7220 in England.
Root also completed 2000 Test runs against India at home. Only Don Bradman has a higher aggregate against an opponent in home Tests (2354 vs England).
Siraj removed Root in the 33rd over for 29 off 45 balls, and Jacob Bethell joined Brook in the middle. England reached 190/4 after 36 overs, trailing India by 34 runs, with Harry Brook and Jacob Bethell at the crease.
Siraj, on a toe-crushing yorker, removed Bethell, who was struggling to put bat on ball for 6 in the 37th over. As a partnership was building between Brook and Jamie Smith, Prasidh Krishna removed Smith 8 courtesy of a brilliant catch from KL Rahul in slips.
Earlier in the day, a five-wicket haul by pacer Gus Atkinson and a quickfire 92-run opening stand by Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley pushed India to the back foot during the first session of the second day of the fifth Test against England at The Oval on Friday.
At the end of the session's play, England was 109/1, with Crawley (52*) and Ollie Pope (12*) unbeaten. They trail by 115 runs. India kick-started day two at 204/6, with Karun Nair (52*) and Washington Sundar (19*) unbeaten.
The duo started the day on a positive note, with Nair and Sundar getting a boundary each against Josh Tongue in the first over of the day.
Nair did survive a leg-before-wicket against Atkinson, but Josh Tongue got him lbw for 57 in 109 balls, with eight fours. Tongue sprayed it down the leg side and well outside off, but the ball nipped back in sharply and beat the inside edge of Nair's bat to crash into his back pad knee roll.
India was 218/7, with the 55-run partnership over between the duo. Sundar also holed it to the deep square leg in the hands of Jamie Overton, with Tongue getting his wicket for 26 in 55 balls, with three fours. India was 220/8.
Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna were done away with by Atkinson, who got his five-wicket haul. India was bundled out for 224 runs in 69.4 overs. Atkinson (5/33) and Tongue (3/57) were destructive with the ball for England, never letting India settle with a massive partnership .
Brief Scores: England: 215/7 (Zak Crawley 64, Ben Duckett 43; Prasidh Krishna 3/51). Vs India 224 (Karun Nair 57, Sai Sudharsan 38; Gus Atkinson 5/33). (ANI)