Cricket
England on top in Nagpur
2012-12-14 14:19
Nagpur - India found themselves in a spot of bother as they went to stumps on 87/4 on the second day of the fourth and final Test against England
in Nagpur on Friday.
According to the
supersport.com website, James Anderson took two more wickets to add to that of Virender Sehwag,
that of Gautam Gambhir for 37 and Sachin Tendulkar for two, and Graeme
Swann snared Cheteshwar Pujara for 26.
Virat Kohli (11 not out) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (eight not out) will
continue in the morning as the hosts still trail by 243 runs.
Earlier, India's Piyush Chawla collected four wickets to help dismiss England for a respectable 330 after lunch.
Chawla, who produced his best figures in test cricket (4-69) bagged all
three scalps after the break, but England will be very satisfied with
their performance on a slow and two-paced pitch.
Graeme Swann finished with 56 and Joe Root made 73.
India faced 12 overs before the tea interval, and lost Virender Sehwag
for a duck. He was undone by an Anderson in-swinger and the ball
uprooted the middle stump. The hosts were 32 for one at the break.
England debutant Root led his team with an unbeaten 65 to lunch on 277 for seven.
Resuming on 199 for five, Root and Matt Prior negotiated the first hour of the day, adding 97 runs for the fifth wicket.
During that period, Prior brought up his 24th Test half-century, cutting
a short ball to the boundary, and Root swept a ball to reach his maiden
test 50 under tough physical conditions to warm applause from the
crowd.
Their partnership came to a halt just after the morning drinks break
when Prior (57) was drawn forward by Ravichandran Ashwin and beaten in
the flight by a ball that also didn't turn to take his off-stump.
Tim Bresnan did not survive long, facing only two deliveries when Ishant
Sharma bowled an in-swinger that trapped the burly Yorkshireman right
in front.