Indian bowlers destroy England

In a fine display of fast bowling the Indian bowlers destroyed the English top order and reduced England to a score of 169-7.The conditions were perfect for India's seamers. Zaheer Khan in particular looked very dangerous from the first over as he was getting movement both in the air and off the pitch.The play began late as field was waterlogged.Rahul Dravid won the toss and elected to field first giving his new ball bowlers a chance to have a go at the English batsmen and they fully justified his decision by giving India a perfect start.

Colligwood's stump being disturbed

Zaheer quickly took two wickets in nine overs as he looked to make amends to the performance he gave in the first day of last test at Lord's.RP Singh was also up to the task and clinched the wicket of Kevin Pietersen with a fine in swinger.Alistair Cook and Paul Collingwood tried to stabilize the innings and shared a stand of fifty runs but both lost their wickets quickly within a space of three overs.

Ian Bell struck some good shots and scored 31 before getting out to Zaheer.This was Zaheer's third wicket. Batting never looked easy in the early stages of the match. Despite of scoring a fighting 96 in the first match Andrew Strauss still looked uncomfortable whenever the ball was pitched outside the off-stump.Micheal Vaughan got off the mark quickly but soon edged a delivery from Zaheer to the first slip.

Petersen played a lovely straight drive before getting out to RP Singh. Collingwood struck a series of crisp drives as new ball began to lose its shine and bounce. Alistair Cook played a perfect hook shot as 14 runs came of the last over before tea ,44 coming of last seven over before tea .It seemed like a same old story at tea after being reduced to 47 for 3 , England ended the session at 94 for 3 with Cook and Collingwood doing the recovery work.Ganguly started the proceedings in last session and bowled on a tight leash . Only three singles came from first seven overs of this session. Sree Santh took the wicket of Paul Collingwood and exposed the tail.Ganguly then got Cook lbw though the replays showed that the ball was going well over the wicket. Matt Prior curbed his aggression and played watchfully with Ian Bell. Both of them added 38 in 10 overs before Prior edged one of Kumble to Dravid in the slips.

Tremlett who got a pair at the first test in Lord's got a reprieve on 4 as Sachin Tendulkar dropped him . After this he stuck two elegant boundaries to take the score to 169-7.

Via:bbc