Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled India back into the fourth Test as England took their turn to struggle with the bat at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, yesterday.
England were 201-6 at lunch on the second day, a lead of just 49 runs, after they had skittled out India for 152 on Thursday, with Stuart Broad taking six for 25.
Joe Root was 23 not out and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, on his Lancashire home ground, 13 not out.
Photo: Reuters
Swing bowler Kumar, a thorn in England’s side with both bat and ball in the series, took two wickets for one run in eight deliveries to dismiss nightwatchman Chris Jordan (13) and the in-form Ian Bell (58).
England resumed on 113-3, with Bell 45 not out and Jordan yet to score.
Bell, fresh from his century in England’s 266-run win in Southampton — their first victory in 11 Tests — that leveled the five-match series at 1-1, late cut Kumar for four to go to 49.
His single off Pankaj Singh then saw Bell complete a 63-ball half-century, including eight fours and a six.
The overcast conditions, as they had been when India collapsed to 8-4 after skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss on Thursday, aided swing movement, but it was Kumar’s looping bouncer that did for Jordan as he mistimed a pull and was well caught by Varun Aaron, who was moving low to his right at midwicket.
Then 136-4 became 140-5 when Bell, beaten the ball before by Kumar’s superb outswinger, was undone by another good length delivery that this time took the edge on its way through to wicketkeeper Dhoni.
England had lost half their first-innings wickets and had still to equal India’s score.
Moeen Ali has proved vulnerable to the bouncer in his brief Test career to date, but Ali’s response to two successive Kumar short balls was to get over the top of both deliveries and pull them down for well-struck fours.
However, when recalled fast bowler Aaron, significantly quicker than Kumar, let fly with a bouncer from around the wicket he hit a clearly unsettled Root on the helmet.
Aaron, persisting from around the wicket, hurried Ali with a short-pitcher before next ball bowling him for 13 with a full-length delivery as the left-hander aimed toward midwicket.
After taking six wickets on Thursday, England’s Broad confirmed he would be undergoing surgery on a longstanding right-knee injury, but insisted he would see out the remainder of a five-Test series
With the recovery time from an operation estimated at 14 weeks, Broad was also confident he would be fit in time for next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which starts in February.
“It’s been confirmed, I’m going to have an op,” Broad told reporters after stumps on Thursday. “The timing is not confirmed, but the fella is flying over from Sweden after the Oval Test [the series finale] to have a look. It will either be after that Test or after the one-day series, depending on what he suggests.”
“At any stage in the last 18 months I could have had the op and it’s at the stage where it needs to be done,” the England fast bowler said. “I should be fine [for the World Cup]... it’s about three, three-and-a-half months. It’s actually a really good opportunity for me to get the knee sorted, and to use it as a strength and conditioning period.”
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