Indian seamers reduce England to 88/6
London: Indian pacers Ishant Sharma and S Sreesanth dealt early blows as England scratched their way to 69 for two at lunch on the opening day of the second Test being played in Nottingham today.
Ishant removed opener Alastair Cook (2) while Sreesanth making a comeback in the playing XI got rid of Jonathan Trott (4) to reduce England to 23 for two.
However skipper Andrew Strauss (29 batting) and first Test's double centurion Kevin Pietersen (26 batting) batted sensibly to avert any further damage during the first session.
Put in to bat by Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, England openers were circumspect during initial overs under overcast conditions and pitch that had clumps of grass.
The sixth over of the innings provided the first blood as Ishant wrapped Cook on his pads and umpire Marais Erasmus raised his fingers even though the television replays showed the ball would have sailed over the stumps.
Indians, trailing 0-1 in the four-match series, pressed on with Praveen Kumar coming from round the stumps and wobbled a delivery to Strauss which the batsman just managed to keep it out of the stumps.
Strauss though flicked Praveen to square-leg fence in the same over for the first boundary of the innings off the innings. It came in the 49th delivery.
India brought on Sreesanth in the 11th over and typical of the mercurial fast bowler, drama began to unfold in the middle. Strauss flicked the first delivery past keeper for a four but off the fourth delivery, Trott launched himself to play an expansive cover drive edging an outswinger into the hands of VVS Laxman at second slip.
News Posted: 29 July, 2011
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