In a rain-interrupted second day of the Lord’s Test between England and India, the hosts seized the initiative in some style as they bowled out the visitors for just 107 runs in their first innings.
Under overcast conditions, where rain made an appearance for the second day running, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin top-scored for India with the bat with 29 as James Anderson once again showed why he is the king of swing bowling.
On a day where just over 35 overs of play was possible, we look at the key talking points.
ANDERSON IS KING AT LORD’S
With the first day being completely washed out due to incessant rain and the start of the second delayed due to another bout, the stage was perfectly set up for James Anderson to work his magic once again at one of his favourite stomping grounds.
The veteran pacer got to work immediately with the very first over of the day as he pegged Murali Vijay back with four consecutive out-swingers. With the fifth ball, Anderson bowled a fuller delivery which seemed to be drifting down the leg side as Vijay got himself into position for a flick.
The Indian opener was left completely flummoxed though as the ball moved away sharply after pitching and took his off-stump. That was just the start of Anderson’s wizardry with the English pacer then drawing a thick outside edge off the bat off KL Rahul with another outswinger which Jonny Bairstow had no troubles collecting. He returned later in the day to remove the well-set Ajinkya Rahane, Kuldeep Yadav and Ishant Sharma to complete his 26th five-wicket haul and move within a wicket of 100 dismissals at Lord’s.
Anderson picked up his 26th five-wicket haul in Tests.
CHETESHWAR PUJARA’S RUN-OUT WOES CONTINUE
Imagine being Cheteshwar Pujara right now. The top-order batsman signed up for a stint in county cricket with Yorkshire in order to prepare himself for the Test series only to see his poor form in the competition count against him when it came to the team selection for the Edgbaston Test.
When he was finally given his chance and recalled into the side for the Lord’s Test, his stay at the crease was short-lived with another run-out compounding his woes. The right-hander tapped an Anderson delivery towards point and called for a quick single which non-striker Virat Kohli responded to immediately. However, the Indian skipper applied the brakes mid-way through and sent Pujara back, who was run-out by a mile by debutant Ollie Pope as India lost their third wicket.
That dismissal means Pujara has now been run-out a staggering seventh time in Tests with five of them coming since 2016.
Run-out woes refuse to leave Pujara’s side.
WOAKES MAKES UP FOR STOKES’ ABSENCE AS INDIA FLOUNDER
How England would cope with Ben Stokes’ absence was a burning question coming into the Test and it was one which got an emphatic response from Chris Woakes. The England all-rounder was lethal with the red-ball from the get go on Friday as he made India’s batsmen, including Kohli, dance to his tunes.
After seeing Ajinkya Rahane dropped by Joe Root off his bowling, Woakes got the big wicket of Kohli as some late away swing found the Indian skipper’s outside edge. Bowling an unrelenting line, Woakes soon found the edge off Hardik Pandya’s bat but Jos Buttler grassed the chance at second slip. In the next delivery, the same script was followed, only this time Buttler managed to cling on to the catch as India continued their downward spiral.
The late away movement Woakes was generating on Friday was too much to handle for India’s batsmen as he more than adequately filled the boots of the elsewhere occupied Stokes.
Woakes more than made up for Stokes’ absence.
