Vizag Test: Dog invasion gives England respite, but just a little

Two volunteers rushed on to the field to shoo away the dog, which managed to do what the English bowlers couldn’t -- put on hold Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara’s strokeplay, albeit for just a few minutes.

It’s not easy to hog attention when Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara bat in full flow. But that was exactly what happened when a dog decided to interrupt play by going on a merry stroll around the ground with the players and two very puzzled umpires looking on.

England's captain Alastair Cook (eft) and teammate Jonny Bairstow watch a dog running into the field on the first day of their second cricket test match against India in Visakhapatnam. (AP)

Two volunteers rushed on to the field to shoo away the dog, which managed to do what the English bowlers couldn’t -- put on hold Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara’s strokeplay, albeit for just a few minutes.

The dog, which now has a ‘twitter account’ now (@VizagDog), came out again through another gap between the boundary fence to loud cheers as Stuart Broad stood helplessly with the ball in his hand.

@VizagDog even conducted a twitter poll, asking his ever-expanding followers list which the ‘best ton of the day was’ -- Virat Kohli’s 151, Cheteshwar Pujara’s 119, or his triple-figure followers list on Twitter.

Not ready to waste any more time, the umpires called an early tea, forcing Broad to complete his over in the third session. Interruptions like this aren’t uncommon in this part of the world but this dog happens to live inside the premises of the stadium and hence is allowed a free run.

In fact it was standing in front of the English dressing room on the first day of practice and almost sneaked inside before England captain Alastair Cook came out to meet his fan.