England on brink of victory, Anderson completes milestone
LONDON: England pace bowler Stuart Broad swept aside the India middle order batting in an inspired spell on Sunday to take his team close to victory on the fourth day of the second test at Lord’s.
Bounding in with vigour and intent after replacing James Anderson at the Pavilion End, Broad dismissed captain Virat Kohli (17) and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik (0) off consecutive balls to reduce the Indians to 66 for six in their second innings at tea.
India, the world’s top-ranked side who are already trailing 1-0 in the five-match series, needed 289 runs to make England bat again after the home side declared their first innings closed at 396 for seven in the morning session.
India were bowled out for 107 on Friday after rain washed out Thursday’s opening day.
Anderson became the first man to take 100 tests wickets at Lord’s when he dismissed opener Murali Vijay without scoring for the second time when India batted again. He then trapped Lokesh Rahul lbw for 10. Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, the world’s leading test wicket-taker, is the only other bowler to capture 100 wickets at a single venue. Muralitharan’s 800 test victims included 100 in Galle, Kandy and at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.
Broad took over from Anderson to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane, smartly caught at third slip by Keaton Jennings for 13, and then bowled Cheteshwar Pujara off his pads for 17.
Kohli, who did not participate when India took the field at the start of play because of a stiff back, was in obvious discomfort. He was given out caught behind when the ball brushed his glove and Karthik was lbw to the next ball. Both appeals were turned down by onfield umpire Aleem Dar but upheld by the third umpire after England asked for a television review.
Meanwhile, England pace bowler James Anderson became the first man to take 100 test wickets at Lord’s when he dismissed India opener Murali Vijay without scoring for the second time.
Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, the world’s leading test wicket-taker, is the only other bowler to capture 100 wickets at a single venue. Muralitharan’s 800 test victims included 100 in Galle, Kandy and at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.
India, who trailed by 289 runs from the first innings, were 17 for two when rain stopped play half an hour before the scheduled lunch interval. England lead 1-0 in the five-match series against the world’s top-ranked test nation.
After England captain Joe Root had declared his team’s first innings closed at 396 for seven, Vijay pushed forward to a full delivery in Anderson’s second over and was caught behind off a thin inside edge by wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.
Anderson followed up by trapping Lokesh Rahul lbw for 10 with a ball that came back off the seam into the right-hander.
England added 39 runs in 37 minutes at the start of day before the declaration. Chris Woakes extended his overnight score of 120 to 137 not out while Sam Curran swatted a six off his eyebrows before he sliced a catch to third man off Hardik Pandya and was out for 40.