Nothing to take away from classy centuries by Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli yesterday, the limelight on Day 1 of the second Test between India and England was stolen by a dog in Vizag. Now the dog, who disrupted proceedings before tea break, not just went on to make a ‘name’ for himself but now also has a Twitter account.
Reuters
Named the ‘Vizag Dog’ as per his social media account, it stole the thunder of Indian batsmen away just when they were on the cusp of reaching hundreds. With just 5-7 minutes to go for the tea break, the dog entered the ACA-VDCA Stadium, breaching the security.
Reuters
It wandered across the length and breadth of the playing area with all the players and umpires waiting for it to leave the premises. But obviously, it didn’t oblige.
Since it was a tough nut to crack, two members of the ground staff chased it around but the Vizag dog didn’t budge.
Reuters
One of the two people chasing it, took out his shoe and flung at it. That it seems might have infuriated the dog further. With all this disruption, the players more in the mood to smile rather than concentrate on the game and with time running out, the umpires Rod Tucker and Kumar Dharmasena took the wise decision to call time and break for tea.
AFP
Pujara was a stroke away from reaching the three-figure mark and Kohli too was in his nineties. But better sense prevailed and they both comfortably completed their hundreds in the third session.
BCCL
Vizag dog, meanwhile, displayed ‘thug life’ and became a hero as it was probably for the first time that the session was called because of intrusion of an animal.