Cricket
India fight back at Lord's
2011-07-24 14:53
London - A rejuvenated Ishant Sharma claimed 3-15 to reduce England to 72-5 at lunch on Sunday and drag India back into the first Test at Lord's.
Live scoring
India claimed four wickets in the space of 32 balls to leave England with a lead of 260, with five second innings wickets in hand.
Andrew Strauss was England's top scorer with 32.
India took the field without Sachin Tendulkar, who is suffering from a virus, but in his absence Praveen Kumar enticed Alastair Cook (1) into an edge that was caught behind.
Having had to carry the attack in the continuing absence of Zaheer Khan for much of the match, Kumar belatedly received some support from his fellow bowlers.
Harbhajan Singh claimed his first wicket of the match when he had England captain Andrew Strauss lbw trying to sweep.
Sharma, similarly disappointing in England's first innings, then produced a sharply lifting delivery that Kevin Pietersen gloved behind for 1.
Sharma removed Ian Bell for a duck in near identical fashion at the end of the same over and then clean bowled Jonathan Trott for 22.
Eoin Morgan (5 not out) and Matt Prior (5 not out) batted through to lunch without further loss, but any thoughts of an England declaration have been put on hold.