Young KL Rahul struck his second half-century on tour as India were well placed at 181 for three at lunch on day two of their second practice match against West Indies Board President's XI here today.
Rahul was unbeaten on 64 and put on 88 runs with skipper Virat Kohli (45 not out) who was also solid at the crease, as the duo easily crossed Board President XI's 180 all out from day one.
Rahul started the day at 30, while Kohli took first strike as Cheteshwar Pujara (28) had been bowled in the final over on day one, leaving the visitors at 93 for three.
The Indian skipper didn't look in any hurry and wanted to make up for the time lost in the first practice game wherein he had been dismissed for just 14. At the other end, his partner also looked to build on his start from day one, after openers Murali Vijay (23) and Shikhar Dhawan (9) had played loose shots the previous evening.
Early on, there was a moment of hesitation from Rahul as he sent back Kohli after he had set off. The throw was off the mark, and afterwards the duo looked in no discomfort on a bright and sunny day.
They brought up their 50-run stand just past the hour mark on day two. Rahul batted slowly, looking to run hard, as the slow outfield didn't carry the ball to the ropes on a number of occasions. At the other end, Kohli opened and brought out a flurry of on-drives against the pacers.
The scoring rate dipped a bit, but that didn't matter altogether, except that Kohli quickly caught up with Rahul in the forties. And that is when the discomfort began for the latter. He was a bit edgy in getting his fifty, and thus, there were a couple of further occasions of miscommunication between the two batsmen.
When on 49, Rahul hit a ball straight to the mid-off fielder and set for a run, only to be sent back by Kohli in time. An over later, he was dropped by Keon Joseph (0-40), a simple return catch spilled as the bowler didn't get down on time. Rahul then reached his half-century with a dab to third man, making a strong case for inclusion for the first Test in Antigua.
At the other end, Kohli too was almost caught when he tried to flick the ball past the short-midwicket fielder. The Board President XI side was unlucky not to snare one of the two, as on the last ball before lunch, Rahul edged behind off Joseph again only for stand-in keeper Shai Hope to drop the chance.
On the first day, the Indian spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra kept their stranglehold on the inexperienced Board President's XI to bowl them out for a paltry total.
The three spinners shared eight wickets between them, with Jadeja recording measly figures of 3/16 in 13 overs.
(REOPENS DEL 48)
Earlier, England paced their innings well with Roy being the early aggressor with a 61-ball 73, inclusive of 12 fours, that was built upon by Root, who stroked his way to 78 in 95 balls.
Captain Eoin Morgan (28) and Jos Buttler (31) got the starts without converting them into a bigger score at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Gahunje.
Left-handed Stokes used his bat like a sledgehammer to smack five sixes and two fours on his way to 62 off just 40 balls after reaching 50 in 33 balls.
The last 10 overs of the innings brought England 115 runs, including 65 in the final five to leave India to score at an asking rate of 7.02 to win the game and go 1-0 up in the three-match rubber.
For India, Hardik Pandya (2/46) and Jasprit Bumrah - who was taken for 79 runs - finished with two wickets each. The most impressive bowler was left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who not only applied the skids on England early on but also emerged with economic figures of 1 for 50.
Jadeja's Test spin twin Ravichandran Ashwin was unimpressive and gave away 63 runs in eight overs without a wicket to his name.
Speedster Umesh Yadav was slammed for 63 runs runs in seven overs for a lone wicket late in the innings.
England began on a brisk note against the Indian medium pace attack with openers Roy and Alex Hales looking comfortable.
Decision Review System (DRS), being used in a 50-over bilateral series in India, was called upon as early as the third over of the game when Roy was given out caught behind off Yadav and got a reprieve through technology.
The in-form aggressive opener thrived on the early escape as he drove the medium pacers when they overpitched.
Just when it seemed that he and Hales would complete yet another half century stand a direct hit from Bumrah in the deep to the non-striker's end caught the latter out of the crease while responding to Roy's call for a couple of runs to arrest the stand at 39 in over No 7.
Root, who did not play the tourists' two warm-up games prior to the start of the series, joined Roy. At the end of the 10-over power play England had advanced to 67, by which time Roy had raced to his fifty in just 36 balls, laced with ten fours.
With the pacemen proving ineffective, skipper Kohli turned to spin and brought on Jadeja who immediately slowed down the run-flow.
After the 13th over Ashwin was brought on from the other end and should have had Roy, on 71, dropped off a top-edged reverse-sweep by Yadav at third man.
Luckily for India the drop did not prove too expensive as Jadeja got the batsman stumped by Dhoni in the next over to snap the second-wicket stand after the addition of 69 runs at 108.
Captain Eoin Morgan joined Root and stared off well with a slog-swept six off Ashwin, but was beaten by DRS after being declared not out by the on-field umpire to an appeal for a catch at the wicket off Pandya.
On the umpire giving the batsman not out, Dhoni indicated that the DRS call should be taken and it proved to be a correct call as the decision was overturned and the visitors' skipper sent back for 28.
