The 4th day of Lord’s test only guaranteed what it showed from day 1 that a result is in the air. Only rain can stop a result. At Stumps, Day 4 the hosts will pray for it as India needs 6 wickets with 214 runs to save on last day. With their bowlers giving only 105 runs in 46 overs and grabbing top 4 wickets, the pendulum shifts in India’s favor. But, will anyone forget that so far the tail of both teams have done wonders!!
Yesterday on Day 3 Plunkett edged ahead of Bhuvneswar Kumar with a half-century and 2 wickets. Today Jadeja edged ahead of B Kumar. But overall the test has belonged to B Kumar. On 5th day he will be refreshed to take India to it’s only 2nd victory at Lord’s.
2nd Test Day 2 Review
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
- 95 runs in 2nd innings make Murali Vijay the first in the series to reach 300 runs.
3rd half-century by Bhuvneswar Kumar in the series created new record in Test Cricket as he became the first No. 9 batsman to achieve the feat.
Cook achieved the feat of 100 test catches, only the 7th England non-keeper player to do so.
India Dominates
The Indian tail wagged again. Although there were two unlucky 90s, yet India scored 342. First Murali Vijay was out at 95 runs and then 8th wicket partnership between Jadeja and Bhuvneswar Kumar was restricted to 99 runs as Jadeja tried to slog in search of quick runs required for declaration. Dhoni was expected to fail, he obliged getting out for 19 runs for which he faced 86 balls. Jadeja and Bhuvneswar Kumar proved the pitch was not so difficult to bat though.
Top Performers
On the day where Murali Vijay top scored with 95 runs, Bhuvneswar Kumar scored record third half-century, it was Jadeja who was a clear top performer. He scored his maiden half-century in his 10th test. His 57-ball 68 runs made India the favorite. Before that it appeared India would be lucky to set a target of 250 runs. After his innings, and partnership of 99 runs with Bhuvneswar Kumar (52 runs), India were on the driving seat with a lead of 318 runs. Then he returned to bowl and although grabbed only one wicket, the first wicket of England’s second inning, but his turn with the ball would get nightmares to English camp.
Session 1
India reached 267/7 by lunch due to the attacking game of Jadeja as they lost 3 wickets. Murali Vijay (95 runs) was in control until he nicked and gave the only wicket of innings to Anderson. Dhoni was struggling and Binny (0) would not be able to explain why someone would play such an ODI shot even before opening the account. Plunkett, Ali and Anderson grabbed a wicket each.
Session 2
India attacked and were bowled out for 342 runs, while England lost Robson to rech 18/1 in 8 overs. Jadeja and Bhuvneswar Kumar added 99 runs for the 8th wicket partnership. Jadeja’s attack appeared like a warrior fighting to answer many questions and he did succeed. Anderson and Co were tight-lipped even though they could see him slaughtering. He lost his wicket only because India needed quick runs, not because he was outplayed. Shami could not open his account, while B Kumar also had to go trying to score quick runs after reaching 52 runs in 71 balls. Stokes got the 2 gifts while Ali had Shami foxed.
Stoked (3/51) and Plunkett (3/65) were the leaders of England, while Ali had 2/28. Anderson had 1/77 and Broad had 1/93.
With 4 days of continuous presence at ground either with bat or ball, Bhuvneswar Kumar needed some breather. He opened the bowling, but Dhoni allowed him to take rest, as Shami, Ishand Sharma did good job. But it was Jadeja’s introduction in 7th over that got India the first wicket.
Third Session
Cook appeared to have finally closing in to end his run drought as he added 58 runs with Ballance. But introduction of Shami saw Ballance caught behind at 27 runs, while Ishant bowled Ian Bell in next over at 1. In his next over, Ishant had Cook caught behind at 22 runs. England were 4/72 in 31.2 overs. Root (14) and Moeen (15) had a tough time negotiating remaining 15 overs of the day. Still they survived.
In 46 overs every Indian bowler applied pressure, including the part timers Murali Vijay and Dhawan, who had to bowl as poor lights did not allow pacers to bowl in the last 4 overs of the day. None of the bowlers gave more than 3 runs an over. Bhuvneswar started the tight spells, finally ending the day with 4 maidens out of 8 overs and conceding only 10 runs. Ishant also had a proud figure of 10 overs 5 maidens 13/2. Shami had 20/1 in 7 overs, while Jadeja had 32/1 in 16 overs. Muralli Vijay had 11/0 in 4 overs while Dhawan bowled the last over of the day for a run.
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