England vs India: 2nd Test, Day 3 - India steady with 60-run lead (Tea report)

Murali Vijay

London – India were looking steady at tea, batting at 84/1 in their second innings with a lead of 60 runs on Day 3 of the second Test against England at Lord's here Saturday.

India resumed the second session at 11 for no loss. Slowly but steadily they put on 73 more runs in 27 overs but lost the wicket of opener Shikhar Dhawan for 31.

The left hander was looking good as he drove four boundaries in his 45-ball known and kept the scoreboard ticking. He went for another on a short pitched delivery but was caught in brilliant fashion by Joe Root at point to be dismissed with the total at 40.

However, the other opener Murali Vijay (21 not out) and Cheteshwar Pujara (25 not out) the visitors went into the break without losing anymore wickets.

Ben Stokes (1/12) clinched the only wicket of Dhawan.

Earlier, an inspiring bowling performance from Bhuvneshwar Kumar led India to bowl out England for 319 before lunch.

Resuming the day at 219/6, the hosts put on 100 runs in 19.5 overs but lost their last four wickets in the morning session to go ahead of India's first innings total of 295.

Overnight batsman Liam Plunkett (55 not out) and wicketkeeper Matt Prior (23) successfully denied the Indian seamers any success in the first hour of the morning. However, Shami was finally successful in breaking the 51-run partnership when Prior top edged the ball and a backward running Dhawan brilliantly caught the ball.

Bhuvneshwar (6/82) then scalped two wickets in three deliveries to bring up his best bowling figures in Tests, surpassing his previous best and first five-wicket haul which he achieved in the last Test on a dead Trent Bridge pitch, which the ICC has rated as 'poor'.

Plunkett and James Anderson (19) made sure that the hosts took the lead with their 39-run last-wicket partnership before the latter gloved it to Ajinkya Rahane in the slips.

Uttar Pradesh's Bhuvneshwar became only the third Indian to pick up six wickets at the 'home of cricket' after Ladha Amar Singh (1936) and Bishan Singh Bedi (1974). After clinching first five, the Meerut-born also entered his name into Lord's honours board.

Bhuvneshwar has been the best bowler of the five-match series so far with 11 wickets, two more than all other Indian bowlers combined.

Scoreboard at tea on Day 3 of the second Test between India and England at Lord’s:

India (first innings) 295

England (first innings, overnight 219/6)

Alastair Cook c Dhoni b Kumar 10

Sam Robson c Dhoni b Kumar 17

Garry Ballance c Dhoni b Kumar 110

Ian Bell c Jadeja b Kumar 16

Joe Root lbw Jadeja 13

Moeen Ali lbw Vijay 32

Liam Plunkett not out 55

Matt Prior c Dhawan b Mohammed Shami 23

Ben Stokes b Kumar 0

Stuart Broad c Dhawan b Kumar 4

James Anderson c Rahane b Jadeja 19

Extras (b 5, lb 10, w 2, nb 3) 20

Total (all out in 105.5 overs) 319

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Cook, 10.1 overs), 2-31 (Robson, 14.1), 3-70 (Bell, 31.4), 4-113 (Root, 46.3), 5-211 (Ali, 78.5), 6-214 (Ballance, 82.1), 7-265 (Prior, 94.3), 8-276 (Stokes, 98.2), 9-280 (Broad, 98.4), 10-319 (Anderson, 105.5)

Bowling:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 31-10-82-6

Mohammed Shami 19-5-58-1

Ishant Sharma 24-5-61-0

Stuart Binny 10-0-45-0

Ravindra Jadeja 18.5-1-46-2

Murali Vijay 3-0-12-1

India (second innings)

Murali Vijay batting 21

Shikhar Dhawan c Root b Stokes 31

Cheteshwar Pujara batting 25

Extras (b 4, lb 3) 7

Total (one wicket in 31 overs) 84

Fall of wickets: 1-40 (Dhawan, 13.6 overs)

Bowling:

James Anderson 9-4-20-0

Stuart Broad 8-3-23-0

Ben Stokes 5-1-12-1

Liam Plunkett 4-2-12-0

Moeen Ali 5-1-10-0