Cook, Hameed deny India in post-lunch session

  •  India 204 all out in second innings
  •  England 40 for no loss at tea 

VISAKHAPATNAM: England made a cautious start in their pursuit of a daunting 405-run victory target with skipper Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed frustrating the Indian bowlers in the post-lunch session of day four of the second test on Sunday.

Cook was batting on 28 at tea, while Hameed was on 12, the 19-year-old showing the kind of grit England will need to foil the Indian spinners on a four-day-old track.

The visitors were 40 for no loss at the break, having bowled out India for 204 in the second innings with some impressive bowling.

England paceman Stuart Broad (4-33) was exceptional despite physical discomfort and leg-spinner Adil Rashid (4-82) did well too as they shared six of the last seven India wickets after the hosts had resumed on 98 for three.

Broad is nursing a foot injury and will be assessed after the ongoing test but there was no let up in hostility from the lanky paceman who troubled the Indian batsmen with his probing cutters.

Ajinkya Rahane was out on 26 when he surrendered to one such leg-cutter and, surprised by the extra bounce, gloved it to Alastair Cook at slip.

Broad then got Ravichandran Ashwin caught behind to peg back India before Rashid took over.

The 28-year-old spinner trapped Wriddhiman Saha leg before and then struck a body blow, inducing Virat Kohli into a wild drive only for the edge to fly to slip where an airborne Ben Stokes took the kind of one-handed catches that go viral.

Kohli missed his second century of the match but his 81 in 109 balls helped set England a massive target.

Debutant Jayant Yadav, unbeaten on 27, and Mohammed Shami (19) added 42 for the final wicket to take India past the 200-mark in the first ever test match in the port city of Visakhapatnam. (Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)