The second Investec Test match at Lord’s stays in perfect balance at the end of the second day’s play. England’s Gary Balance played a gritty knock of 110 to keep England in the hunt and take to match to a delicate situation. At stumps England is on 219/6 with Matt Prior not out on 2 and Liam Plunkett unbeaten on 4 at the other end.
Earlier in the day India lost their first final wicket after adding 5 runs to their overnight score of 290/9 to finish on 295. India then made a great start to their bowling picking up Alistair Cook (10) early and Sam Robson (17), thanks to some excellent bowling from Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. But Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma failed to provide the support that could have sealed the fate of the English batsmen. Gary Balance took that advantage and scored a patient century to take England to a much respectable position. Moeen Ali (32) played as a perfect foil to Ballance (110) putting up a partnership of 98 with Ballance.
Indian spinners did their job picking up a couple of wickets at crucial times to bring india back into the match strongly. While Jadeja got trapped Joe Root in front of the wicket, part timer Murali Vijay picked up Moeen Ali just before the new ball was due. However Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was the miles ahead compared to the others on the day’s performance as he picked up 4 wickets giving away just 46 runs.
The match perfectly poised for an intriguing finish with India holding a slight edge over the home team for they still have 76 runs to defend within which they have to pick up 4 wickets. And that they will bowl with the new ball tomorrow morning makes it a bit favourable for the Indians. But it can vnever be predicted as England still have Matt Prior batting with Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad and James Anderson to come, who can bat and bat well.
Tags: Bhuvneshwarkumar Cricket Gary Ballance India vs England Investec Test Match
