After the end of Day 2, Gary and Bhuvneswar Kumar have managed to keep the day in balance. While Gary hit a century, his second in two tests at Lord’s, B Kumar sent 4 of the English batsmen back and England could score only 219 runs in 86 overs, losing 6 wickets. Dhoni missed a chance of Ballance. In every session England lost 2 wickets each and struggled to score, still survived the day. India has taken the first innings lead only once at Lord’s and they have only won once on their worst test venue. The test appears well poised for a result.
Report and Statistics of Day 1 for Lord’s Test
India in England 2014: Schedule and Results
Lord Has Been Unkind at Home of Cricket
Indian Test Record At Lord’s
Dhoni Set to Equal Kapil’s Record at Lord’s!!
Statistics
- 100th test catch by Cook, 7th non-keeper from England to achieve the feat.
295 is India’s highest first innings score at Lord’s in 16th test.
56 dismissals make Dhoni the most successful in India Vs England test series, going ahead of Alan Knott’s 54 dismissals.
2nd Test century by Ballance in 5th test. First came against Lord’s in their last series.
Maiden test wicket by Murali Vijay.
The First Session: Ind 295, Eng 51/2
India duly folded for 295 runs as Shami got out to Stokes. Cooks completed his century of test catches. The tail could not wag more in the morning. England would like to feel confident of a win in remaining 4 days. But Cook continued his plight as a beautiful delivery by B Kumar forced him to give a catch to Dhoni in the 11th over of the innings. First wicket should have come in 10th over when Rahane dropped a sitter in the slip on the bowling of Shami. In 24 overs England were 51/2 as B Kumar sent both the openers back. Cook failed even for his 23rd innings, while Robson also gave the catch to Dhoni.
The trio of B Kumar, Shami and Ishant kept the run flow down. At Lunch Ballance and Bell were unbeaten.
Second Session: Eng 125/4
England played 29 overs and scored 74 runs losing Bell and Joe Root. Ian Bell was B Kumar’s third victim. His poor form also continued. Joe Root looked good till he was given leg before on 13 runs with Jadeja finally grabbing a wicket. After that Ballance and Moeen Ali Ali appeared headed for a big partnership.
Third Session: Eng 219/6
In the last session, Ballance attacked as he completed his 2nd consecutive century at Lord’s. Ali became Murali Vijay’s first test victim. Interesting that Murali Vijay was an established leg spinner when he played for India U-19. Just when England looked finishing the day with an edge, B Kumar balanced the day as Ballance became Dhoni’s 3rd catch, leaving Kumar just one short of doing at Lord’s a Praveen Kumar, to whom he is often compared.
Overall Day
The Indian’s tail did not wag today. But their bowling spoke loud. B Kumar had 4/46 in 23 overs. Shami and Ishant went wicketless but did not allow runs to flow. Shami had 0/33 in 15 overs, Ishant was the best with 0/32 in 17 overs. Jadeja grabbed 1/41 in 10 overs, while even Murali Vijay grabbed his maiden test wicket with 1/12 in 3 overs, Stuart Binny with 0/45 in 10 overs kept the debate on about his usefulness in Indian Test XI.
The day certainly belonged more to Ballance and B Kumar.
Possibilities Ahead
England’s three destroyer of 2011 are struggling. Cook and Ian Bell are already back to pavilion. Prior is unbeaten but in his 4 overs stay looks not so confident. The Indian challenge is main with the tailenders now that includes the world record holder Anderson and ever reliable Stuart Broad. Prior’s struggle is good sign for India. But the bigger challenge for India is to score good in second innings, when they start batting. Indians will be hopeful of not letting the English tail wag for more than a session of third day.
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