England in driving seat in Nagpur

Cricket365
December 14, 2012

England were well on top at stumps on day two of the fourth Test against India in Nagpur, with the hosts struggling on 87 for four, still 243 runs behind England's first innings score.

England were 330 all out in the afternoon session, with the lower order putting up the majority of the runs as they battled to a good score on a difficult deck. India made the wicket look even tougher though, as James Anderson took three of the four scalps.

Joe Root was the star for the Three Lions, scoring 73 off a massive 229 balls on debut, resisting for nearly three session before falling to Piyush Chawla after lunch. The spinner took four of the England wickets to fall, while Ishant Sharma got three.

India would have hoped to get England out for under 300, given they were 242 for seven in the morning session, but Root and Graeme Swann resisted manfully and put on a stand of 60. Swann was out for 56, trying to reverse sweep Chawla having just recorded his first Test fifty since 2009.

England began the day on 199 for five, and they spent the first hour the way they had ended day one: Defending, with the odd boundary thrown in. Root and Matt Prior were in the middle and batted solidly for an hour, before Ravi Ashwin struck to remove Prior.

The wicketkeeper had swapped his helmet for a felt cap, and was seemingly comfortable against the spinners, but Ashwin spun the ball appreciably and toppled the off stump. He'd made 57 off 142 balls.

This saw Tim Bresnan, in the side for Steve Finn, come to the middle, but he only lasted two deliveries before finding himself trapped LBW by Sharma for a duck. This was the fast bowler's third wicket of the innings, and left England on 242 for seven.

Root continued his vigil for the next 45 minutes, joined by spinner Swann, who continued to impress with the bat as he recorded 19 not out at the lunch break. They continued in the afternoon and Swann pulled out some big shots, hitting the first six of the innings.

He was sent packing with the score on 325 though, trying to be a bit too cheeky to Chawla, and missing a reverse sweep just a delivery after hitting the spinner for his second six. The ball struck him in front on leg stump and Rod Tucker made an easy decision to lift the finger.

Anderson and Monty Panesar just delayed the inevitable, and Jimmy was the final man to fall, caught at short leg by Pujara off Chawla.

India's chase got off to a terrible start, as Anderson skittled Virender Sehwag's stumps with the second ball of the knock, sending the veteran batsman on his way for a duck. Pujara and Gambhir then saw out the final half hour before tea by adding 15 and 17 respectively.

Gambhir managed to make 37 off 93 balls, watching as first Pujara and then Sachin Tendulkar fell by the wayside before himself departing. Pujara was unlucky to be adjudged out caught at short leg when the ball had in fact struck his elbow off Swann.

Tendulkar was once again dismissed by Anderson, for the ninth time in his career (the most against any bowler). The paceman sent the ball rocketing into the Little Master's middle stump, his score on two off 13 balls.

At the close of play, Virat Kohli and skipper MS Dhoni were in the middle, trying valiantly to recover from the loss of Gambhir, caught behind off Anderson, and hoping to make sure they reached the follow-on target of 131 without further damage.