Bhuvneshwar Kumar troubled the England batsmen with his swing bowling finishing with career best figures of six for 82 as India managed to bowl out the hosts for 319 thereby conceding a 24-run first innings lead.

At lunch, India were 11 for no loss with a minor deficit of 13 runs that needs to be wiped out. Shikhar Dhawan (10 batting) and Murali Vijay (0 batting) safely negotiated the four overs before lunch.

Earlier, Bhuvneshwar’s second successive five-for figures helped him get his name on the prestigious Lord’s ‘Honours Board’ after his teammate Ajinkya Rahane got his name up there on the first day.

The UP seamer’s figures were second best by an Indian after Amar Singh’s 6/35 at the hallowed ground back in 1936.

Ravindra Jadeja (2-46), Moahmmad Shami (1-58) and Murali Vijay (1-12) were the other wicket takers for India in this innings.

On a pitch where Bhuvneshwar troubled the batsmen with his moving deliveries, his senior partner Ishant Sharma went wicketless after bowling 24 overs. While a few deliveries did beat the bat, the lanky seamer was guilty of not making the batsmen play on a quite a few occasions.

The morning began with England still adrift by 76 runs and only 4 wickets remaining.

There was a deep cloud cover over the ground and flood lights were switched on within the first hour of play. With the second new ball only 6 overs old from the previous evening, the Indian bowlers would have been licking their lips.

However Shami and Ishant were poor in their initial spells, losing all discipline from yesterday as they erred in line as well as length.

It allowed Matt Prior (23 runs, 42 balls, 4 fours) and Liam Plunkett (55 not out, 79 balls, 8 fours) to score quickly and they did, hitting 8 boundaries in the morning, as they brought up their 50-run partnership off only 74 balls in the 95th over.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW