England vs India, Highlights - Day 2, Nottingham: Record Last-Wicket Stand Gives India Control Over Hosts
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami hit their maiden half-centuries and added 111 runs for the last wicket, the second highest for India, as the the visitors scored 457 against England. Shami came back to remove Alastair Cook early, leaving the hosts on 43/1 at stumps on Day 2 of the Trent Bridge Test, trailing by 414 runs. Catch all the highlights here.
England, 43/1, were trailing India by 414 runs after Mohammed Shami, removed Alastair Cook early in their innings. Catch all the highlights from the match here: (Scorecard)
22:56 IST: Stumps - England 43/1 in 17 overs, trail by 414 runs. A good day in the office for India. Vijay and Dhoni started proceedings for India on a solid note, before a collapse early in the second session left them shocked. From 342/5, before lunch, India were reduced to 346/9 shortly after resumption before Kumar (58) and Shami (51 not out), stepped up with a record 111-run partnership for the last wicket, the highest for India outside the sub-continent. The gutsy effort meant India managed a healthy 457. Shami topped up his day by snaring an out-of-form Alastair Cook in the fourth over of the English innings. Robson (20 not out) and Ballance (15 not out), the two unbeaten batsmen, have a stiff task on their hands, when play resumes on Friday. (Day 2 Images)
22:30 IST: It has been slow going for England after the early dismissal of Alastair Cook with Robson and Ballance playing for time today. They have reached 28/1 in 11 overs and only six more remain with MS Dhoni now looking to press his spinner, Ravindra Jadeja into service.
21:58 IST: WICKET! Cook has been unsure outside the off stump but Shami kept targeting him on the leg stump and finally reaped the reward, clipping the bails after the England captain failed to connect a flick. England are off to a poor start, falling to 9/1 off 3.3 overs.
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21:51 IST: England are 5/0 after two overs; Kumar delivered five dot balls to Robson but Shami did not bowl the right line to Cook, who has been vulnerable outside the off-stump. The hosts have won only one Test after India scored over 400. They have a mountain to climb.
21:34 IST: WICKET! Finally, the Indian innings has ended. Kumar holds out to Joe Root of the bowling of Moeen Ali and India are all out for 457. The last-wicket stand between Kumar and Shami was worth 111 runs. This was the second-highest last-wicket stand for India, after Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan's 133 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2007.
21:18 IST: Steady start after tea as both Kumar and Shami bring up their maiden half-centuries and the last-wicket partnership stretched beyond 100. India are 449/9 and are looking good to get a few more in their first innings.
20:43 IST: Tea - India 433/9 in 153 overs. What a session this has been. Tea was taken half an hour later to allow the hosts with a chance to end the Indian innings, with nine wickets down. England came roaring back after lunch to snare four wickets for four runs and it looked like the Indian innings would come to a sudden close. But Bhuvneshwar Kumar (46 not out) and Mohammed Shami (39 not out) had other ideas as the last-wicket pair added 87 runs to take India past 400 for the first time since in England since 2007. Alastair Cook let all his bowlers loose on the tail-enders but the two Indians held on doggedly to defy the hosts.
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20:32 IST: Shami and Kumar are batting on their best Test scores, 33* and 44* respectively, and even the extended part of the second session is drawing to a close. England's frustration is beginning to show from the fielders' body language.
20:23 IST: This has been a positive start for India to this England tour. Batsmen have got runs, the tail has wagged and they now have a strong total (424/9 in 150 overs) on the board.
19:58 IST: FOUR! Kumar gets an outside edge off Stokes and India bring up their 400. Kumar has shown why he can be a useful batsman down the order and the support from Shami should please the Indian captain. After losing four wickets for four runs, no one would have given the tourists any hope of reaching anywhere near 400. This is India's first 400 plus total in England since 2007 and it could go some way in erasing the horrors, partly, of the 2011 tour.
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19:48 IST: FOUR! Shami charged Moeen Ali and smacked him for a boundary and that brought up their fifty-run partnership. This has been an amazing fightback by Shami and Kumar, who have taken India close to the much-needed 400-run mark. India 397/9 after 140 overs.
19:32 IST: Kumar and Shami are digging in deep to frustrate England. This has been a determined fightback by two tail-end batsmen despite a serious collapse, where their more talented batting colleagues were packed off one after the other.
19:14 IST: The last-wicket pair is certainly putting up a fight. After losing four wickets for four runs, Kumar and Shami have added 19 since Ishant Sharma's departure. This is bound to frustrate England, who would have started thinking about their innings after a dramatic passage of play in the afternoon. India are 365/9 after 131 overs.
18:58 IST: Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami need to hang around and frustrate England with a last-wicket partnership. Bhuvneshwar can bat; he has a century in first-class cricket and Shami has shown in the past that he is no bunny with the bat either.
18:43 IST: From 342/5 at lunch, India have crashed to 346/9 minutes into the second session - four wickets for four runs, including that of MS Dhoni for 82.
18:39 IST: WICKET! Broad gets another one as he sends back Ishant Sharma for one. India are collapsing here in spectacular style; they are now reeling at 346/9.
18:33 IST: WICKET! This is poor cricket from India, who have now lost Binny to Stokes. He manages to only get off the mark on Test debut.
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18:29 IST: WICKET! Big, big blow for India. MS Dhoni is run out for 82 with India on 345/7 in the 122nd over. This surely is a huge blow to their chances of reaching 400, a substantial first-innings score. Dhoni has been run out against England for the second successive time; he had been dismissed in similar fashion in the Nagpur Test of 2012 for 99.
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18:20 IST: WICKET! Another blow for India after another break. Jadeja, who was playing a cameo, fell to Stokes as India slipped to 344/6 in the second over after lunch, paving the way for Stuart Binny to walk out to bat on his Test debut.
18:15 IST: Play resumes in the second session with Dhoni now only the fourth Indian captain to aggregate more than 300 runs against England in England. The others are Azharuddin, Ganguly and Hazare.
17:30 IST: Lunch: India are 342/5 (118 overs) - India's session. Despite losing Vijay (146) to a dubious LBW decision, India piled on the pressure on England, scoring 83 runs before lunch. Dhoni (81 not out) was watchful through the morning, having realised how important he is for India in the context of this Test match. Jadeja (24 not out) came out all guns blazing and played a quick cameo to up the ante, staging the way for a final assault sometime in the afternoon. It could be an interesting session post-lunch.
17:17 IST: Jadeja is not going to hang around and he has made his intentions clear by clobbering spinner Moeen Ali for two sixes. The visitors are certainly looking at an acceleration here, lunch round the corner. If Dhoni also joins the party, 400 won't be too far away either.
17:07 IST: WICKET! Anderson has struck again and this time he gets the big one, removing Vijay for 146 as India slip to 304/5 off 112 overs. That is the end of a 126-run stand between him and Dhoni. However, TV replays showed Anderson was lucky to get the LBW decision his way as the ball seemed to be headed over the stumps. Ravindra Jadeja joins Dhoni in the middle.
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16:50 IST: This has been a top-notch partnership by Vijay and Dhoni and their century-stand has been key to India going past 300 despite the setbacks yesterday. Things are not looking very bright for ENgland at the moment. India 300/4 off 90 overs.
16:33 IST: Murali Vijay is turning out to be a huge asset for India; everytime he gets to a hundred, he wants to just bat on. His three previous hundreds, 139, 167, 153 were all against Australia and now he is fast approaching 150. You need an opener who can score big whenever he gets in.
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16:26 IST: How expensive will Prior's drop prove for England? Dhoni is keen to play a long innings and he would be grateful to the English wicketkeeper for the lifeline. Broad must be gutted, having set the Indian skipper up perfectly to play a false shot. (India vs England 2014 Schedule)
16:18 IST: Dhoni has been very careful against Broad today and for good measure too; he has fallen to the English pacer thrice in seven innings and the Indian captain's wicket is key now.
16:14 IST: After 100 overs in the first innings, India are 277/4 with both their overnight batsmen looking strong. They have the firepower to accelerate later in the afternoon but for that to happen, it is important for Dhoni and Vijay to battle on.
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16:07 IST: For the statistically inclined, Vijay has surpasses Sourav Ganguly's 136 in Trent Bridge and is now the highest Indian scorer at that ground. Auspicious start to the tour and what more, Dhoni's solidity down the order could make the visitors lethal.
15:54 IST: MS Dhoni was dismissed a few times, chasing deliveries outside the off stump on India's last tour of England but he has looked to leave a lot of balls in this innings. Good signs for India and the captain is leading from the front. India are
15:41 IST: Broad to Dhoni and DROPPED! Dhoni drove at a length delivery but Prior makes a hash of it behind the stumps. Lucky reprieve for India, who are 265/4 after 93 overs.
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15:38 IST: Anderson runs in to bowl the second over. FOUR! The ball catches Vijay's outside edge; lucky runs for Vijay, who adds to his overnight tally and India are away for the day. India 263/4 after 92 overs.
15:30 IST: Broad starts proceedings for the day and Dhoni, unbeaten on 50 overnight, plays out a maiden. Resuming at 259/4, the visitors would be looking to push towards 400 and for that to happen, the captain and Vijay (122*) need to do most of the work.
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15:14 IST: The Trent Bridge pitch has become a hot topic of discussion after the surface was found to suit India more than the hosts England. New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham tweeted: India are well known to bring a lot of resources on tour. Didn't know they could bring the pitch too. Remember, the pitch at the Wanderers for the first Test between South Africa and India had also come under severe criticism from the local press for favoring the tourists more.
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India could not have asked for a better start to the Test series against England. Murali Vijay hit an unbeaten 122 as India made slow progress to reach 259 for four against a determined England seam attack on the first day of the opening Test at Trent Bridge on Wednesday. Vijay, 30, scored his fourth Test century and first outside India with an assured display as wickets fell around him, hitting 20 fours and one six off 294 balls.
The Tamil Nadu opener was given sporadic support from his team mates who struggled to establish themselves at the crease, before he was joined by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (50 not out) after tea, the pair putting on an unbeaten 81 for the fifth wicket. This partnership will be key on a fresh Day 2 wicket at Nottingham.
England struggled with the slow pitch in Nottingham but took wickets at the beginning of each session to ensure they kept India within touching distance in good batting conditions at the start of the five-Test series. Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane all fell early in a session, but Vijay's patience and expansive repertoire of shots helped keep the score ticking over.
"I've worked a lot with videos of James Anderson," Vijay said. "The first 15 minutes are the toughest thing as an opener. I wanted to play straight and late. It's a good batting wicket. After lunch, there was a period when it was doing a bit, so that was a good experience for me." (Dream come true for me, says Vijay)
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On a flat morning, England's pace attack struggled to impose themselves, with James Anderson taking the solitary wicket of Dhawan (12). Anderson was England's most successful bowler with 2 for 70. (Frustrating to have a placid pitch, says Anderson)
The hosts, looking for their first win in nine Tests and the first of coach Peter Moore's second spell in charge, were a different side after lunch and took two wickets for one run in the first three overs. But Vijay and Dhoni came good in the final session of play to ensure there was no further damage. Dhoni reached 50 off 64 balls to help lay a solid platform for his side. (Vijay's overseas ton and Dhoni's 'record' fifty)