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Lord's Test
interestingly poised with both sides fighting
hard |
Link to
Scorecard
Drama unfolded on the
second day's play at Lord's with as many as ten
wickets going down. Despite rain and
thunderstorms in the first session, more than 67
overs were possible. India made a marvelous
comeback by bundling out England inside 300 but
are at a shaky 145 for 4 in their first innings.
The
star of the day was Sreesanth who was well
complemented by the other two pacers as India
picked up six wickets conceding just the 30
runs! The Indians struck right away with the
second new ball with RP Singh going through the
defenses of the night watchman Ryan Sidebotom
whose stay was for total of 15 balls only.
In the next over, Kevin Pietersen was given
caught behind off Zaheer Khan only for the
decision to be reversed. KP drove away from his
body to get an edge that was taken on the bounce
by an unsure MS Dhoni. Umpire Simon Taufel gave
that out and the batsman was on his way back but
was called back to resume his innings. Every
minute was eventful, the next over from
Sreesanth saw a top edge off an Ian Bell fly out
of the ground. Pietersen didn't make India pay
much for being called back as he was forced to
nick a fantastic away going delivery from Zaheer
which was cleanly taken by Dhoni. It was a back
of length delivery pitching on the middle and
most importantly on the seam to deviate just
enough to get a faint edge off KP. Pietersen
added just three runs to his overnight score of
34.
The rest of the show
belonged to Sreesanth, who pitched the ball up
and got the swing back into the batsmen. He got
three lbw in his favour, all of them being plumb
in front. It started off with the attacking
Prior playing right across and in the same over
debutant Chris Tremlett getting one straight
onto his stumps to have England at 287 for 8.
Soon Monty Panesar also fell leg before to
Sreesanth and the finishing act was done by
Zaheer Khan as Ian Bell played onto hus stumps
in his backfoot defence. Bell ran out of
partners, getting just 24 balls to face in which
he had got 20 runs.
A fabulous one hour it
was for India capturing six English wickets with
the second new ball in about 9 overs! Sreesanth
took 3 for 67 in 22 overs including 8 maidens
which he thought were good in relaxing his
nerves. The two left armers Zaheer Khan and RP
Singh took a couple of wickets each and so did
Kumble. India had to bat out a few overs before
Tea which they did losing Dinesh Karthik and
Rahul Dravid. Wasim Jaffer would have been out
for a duck for a simple catch put down by Prior
behind the stumps off Sidebottom. The bowling
was mostly short from Sidebottom but when he did
pitch it up, he got good amount of swing and one
of those deliveries got Dinesh Karthik caught in
the crease. The big blow came when Rahul Dravid
nicked an outswinger that was shaping into him
from Jimmy Anderson. At 36 for 2, England would
have felt that they have made the inroads at the
end of a disappointing session for them.
After
Tea, Wasim Jaffer continued to make steady
progress while Tendulkar collected the runs
which made him surpass Steve Waugh to become the
third highest run getter in Tests. Tendulkar
also got to his highest score at Lord's beating
the previous one of 31 but his promising stay
came to an end to a sharp inswinger from
Anderson that got him lbw. India were 106 for 3
with Tendulkar making 37 from 78 with six fours.
Wasim Jaffer after getting his 7th fifty shut
his shop rather too soon and his partnership
with new man Sourav Ganguly was a snail paced
one. Jaffer paid price for being over cautious
as he was superbly caught off his own bowling by
Chris Tremlett. It was a short and rising
delivery which Jaffer had fended off
uncomfortably to get out for 58 from 156 balls
with 7 fours. India sent in a night watchman in
the form of RP Singh who almost ran himself out
after going for a non existent single towards
Monty at mid off. RP Singh who was sent back by
Ganguly after almost making it to the latter's
end was quick enough to dive into his crease to
save his wicket. India ended the day's play at
145 for 4 in 57 overs, clearly working hard for
their runs. Sourav Ganguly is on 25 from 61 with
3 fours and was suffering from a slight tinge in
his lower back.
This opening test looks
to be a real exciting one with lots of twists
and turns. India would look to get as close as
possible to England's 298 and then look to get a
sizeable first innings lead. The English attack
hasn't looked special but there is some spirit
among the young bowlers.
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