India sniff victory after Ishant double

After a good batting show by Ravindra Jadeja (68) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (52), which helped India set England a target of 319 in the second Test at Lord’s on Sunday, Ishant Sharma struck twice in quick succession to push the hosts on backfoot. At the time of going to the press, England were 98/4 with Joe Root (10*) and Moeen Ali (13*) at the crease.

It was Jadeja who gave India early hope by trapping opener Sam Robson as England took tea on 18/1. Shami then struck in the final session, forcing an edge of opener Gary Ballance which landed in the safe hands of MS Dhoni behind stumps. Ishant then took control in the next over, castling dangerman Ian Bell with an incoming ball before luring skipper Alastair Cook to edge one to Dhoni in his next over.

Earlier, a 99-run eight-wicket partnership between Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped India post 342 in the second innings, leaving a 319-run winning target for the Three Lions. Medium-pacers Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett picked three wickets apiece as off-spinner Moeen Ali also bagged two wickets.

The pace with which Jadeja and Kumar scored was what hurt England the most. They added 66 runs in the first ten overs after lunch, with Jadeja reaching his first half-century in Test cricket in the 92nd over. He got there off only 42 balls, hitting 7 fours, also bringing up their 50-run partnership in doing so. In the next over, the 300-run mark came up for India.

The duo scored at near six runs an over for much of their partnership and England had no reply as they altered their plans every over. It didn’t help then that Jadeja was dropped on 66 not out by Ian Bell at midwicket off Stokes (3-51) in the 98th over.

But he had already made them pay and was out for 68 runs off 57 balls, with 9 fours, two overs later caught off the same bowler with Cook running back from first slip and completing a catch similar to the one Shikhar Dhawan took in the first innings.

The last two batsman, Mohammad Shami (0) and Ishant Sharma (0 not out), couldn’t stay long enough at the crease, but they gave enough support to Kumar to complete his third fifty in this series. He got there off 65 balls, with 8 fours, in the 102nd over, and was the last man out. Plunkett (3-65), Ali (2-28), James Anderson (1-77) and Stuart Broad (1-93) were the other wicket-takers in this innings.

In the morning, under overcast skies with floodlights on, India started the day 145 runs ahead, needing Murali Vijay and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (19 runs, 86 balls, 2 fours) to bat long enough to see out the second new ball that was due after 17 overs. Their 50-run partnership came up in the very first over of the day, while they quickly took India past the 200-run mark in the 75th over. Then, Plunkett got the breakthrough with Dhoni caught at second slip, prodding outside the off-stump. The Indian team management then promoted Stuart Binny (0) ahead of Jadeja.

But that experiment didn’t last long as Ali was introduced in the attack to tempt the new batsman and he took the bait. Cook ran back from mid-off and completed a great catch to dismiss the all-rounder. India had lost 2 wickets for just 1 run in 11 balls and England took the new ball to exert more pressure.