Bhuvneshwar Kumar took his Test-best figures for the second time in as many innings, but could not prevent England achieving a first-innings lead at Lord’s yesterday.
India, at lunch on the third day of the second Test, were 11 without loss in their second innings — a deficit of 13 runs.
Murali Vijay was nought not out and Shikhar Dhawan 10 not out.
Photo: AFP
Earlier England’s tail wagged effectively as they added exactly 100 runs to an overnight 219 for six before being bowled out for 319.
Fast-medium bowler Kumar’s haul of six wickets for 82 runs in 23 overs surpassed his haul of five for 82 in last week’s draw at Trent Bridge — the seamer’s first Test outside of India.
However, even Kumar could do little about nightwatchman Liam Plunkett’s Test-best 55 not out off 79 balls, including eight fours.
Together with No. 11 James Anderson, fresh from his Test-best 81 at Nottingham and a share of a record 10th-wicket partnership of 198, he added 39 in 43 balls for the last wicket yesterday.
England resumed on a total owing much to Gary Ballance’s 110.
Despite early morning rain play started on time, although the overcast conditions saw the floodlights at Lord’s switched on.
Plunkett, who started the day on four not out, showed his batting prowess with a flurry of boundaries, including a back-foot cover-drive off Ishant Sharma and one off the front foot against Kumar.
Matt Prior (23) with a top-edged pull off Mohammed Shami was well caught by Dhawan running back from the slip cordon.
Kumar, having started the day with 4-46, reduced England to 280 for nine with a burst of two wickets for four runs in three balls.
He produced a fine delivery that swung away from Ben Stokes to bowl the all-rounder for nought.
Kumar followed up by having Stuart Broad edging to Dhawan at first slip. At that stage, England were still 15 runs behind.
However, Anderson took England into the lead with a straight-driven four off Kumar.
However, he was out for 19 when he nicked left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja to slip.
Significantly, Anderson ran off quickly to get ready for his bowling stint, not glancing at Jadeja.
The two players could both be banned from matches during the rest of this series after they were charged under the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct for an alleged clash at Trent Bridge.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS