Ind Eng T1 Day 2 Stumps: Zaheer’s Injury, Kevin Pietersen’s Double Ton and Praveen’s Five-For

If rain took an equal part of the proceedings on the first day, bright sunshine greeted cricket on the second day of the first Test of the India England series at Lord’s. And the England batsmen made the most of it and of the fact that Zaheer Khan’s injury looks more serious than previously assumed.

Kevin Pietersen

India found themselves negotiating an awkward six overs at the end of the day, this after the Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Matt Prior made the most of the sun kissed pitch. If India thought they had a stranglehold over England in the first session on the first day, that was largely due to the presence of the Indian spearhead, Zaheer Khan, who simply refused to let up in an inspired spell.

However, matters were more even at the end of the first day’s play after Zaheer Khan found himself sidelined with what has been revealed as a hamstring strain and rain played spoilsport in the final session of the day’s play. The second day though almost decisively belonged to England.

Kevin Pietersen struggled and scratched around for his twenty-eight runs yesterday but there was none of that as the day wore on to reveal why Pietersen is not called a big match player for nothing. Taking the cue from Jonathan Trott who build a fine half century yesterday, managed seventy runs before he became Praveen Kumar’s victim. However, by then the partnership between Trott and Pietersen for the third wicket yielded ninety-eight runs, taking away the Indian initiative.

With the Indian bowlers, only two of them by way of pace in Ishant Sharma and Praveen, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in a rare surprising move, decided to bring himself on, handing over the wicketkeeping duties to the veteran Rahul Dravid. The Indian captain almost instantly produced the wicket of Pietersen before Pietersen opted for the UDRS and was adjudged not out to being caught behind. Ian Bell set himself in while Pietersen grew from strength to strength as India were beginning to see England building a gap from India’s heightened performance on the first day.

Once the new ball became available, Praveen Kumar became more lethal a force, his five-four on debut at Lord’s stands witness to a good comeback for him in England’s first innings. Ian Bell fell for forty-five and Eoin Morgan was dismissed off the first ball he faced with England placed at five down for 270.

Thereafter though India once again ran into resistance as Pietersen accelerated from his eighteenth Test century to his third Test double century, particularly with an appetite for runs at Lord’s, while Matt Prior kept himself busy with seventy-one valuable runs in a 130 run partnership that really gave England the momentum to then declare once Pietersen touched the 200 milestone with England rather healthy at 474 for eight. Pietersen's confidence almost completely annihilated the hard work he put in, biding his time, surviving delicate moments before dominating the day's proceedings and putting England in an enviable position.

The declaration from the England Test captain, Andrew Strauss, was tactically from the point of view of testing the Indian openers, including the relative newcomer, Abhimav Mukund, in the final minutes of the day’s play. As it turned out, the Indian openers survived the torrid period, but a huge challenge awaits India going into the third day’s play.