Grass cover at Lord’s, India batsmen work hard at nets
Visitors look to draw inspiration from 2014 Lord’s win but batsmen need to step up
sion, hopping from spin to pace before leaving, happy with his touch. But Ajinkya Rahane, who scored 15 and 2 in Edgbaston, struggled to middle the ball and has his job cut out returning to a ground where he scored a matchwinning century the last time.
Cheteshwar Pujara though looked in good nick as he tackled a bunch of pacers, the India attack of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma as well as Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun, who bowled at the India nets as he often has. Umesh Yadav bowled the quickest, troubling all batsmen.
Opening batsman Murali Vijay let out a cry of anguish after an in-coming delivery from Mohammed Shami struck him low on the back pad. It were similar deliveries, pitched up and nipping back, that saw him fall leg before in both innings at Edgbaston, for 20 and 6. Rahane looked a bit awkward playing deliveries outside off-stump, not really getting on top while defending with an angled bat, a shot that had led to his downfall, caught at third slip, off Ben Stokes.
Fixing the top-order problems will be high on the agenda for India, although conditions are expected to be less testing for batsmen at the Mecca of cricket.
The team management will have to answer two questions – whether to shuffle the top order that caved in twice at Edgbaston, and whether to bring in a second spinner to support R Ashwin if convinced the pitch will be dry and slow bowlers will come into the equation a lot more than in Edgbaston.