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Regular-article-logo Friday, 27 June 2025

Sorry state of Indian batting: Ashwin is top scorer with 29

Five-wicket haul for James Anderson on another rain-affected day at Lord’s

TT Bureau Published 10.08.18, 06:30 PM
Dinesh Karthik is bowled by Sam Curran at Lord's on Friday (Getty Images)

London: Inept technique coupled with fragile temperament of Indian batsmen was thoroughly exposed as they crumbled to 107 all out against a top quality England seam attack on a rain-hit second day of the second cricket Test, at Lord's on Friday.

While captain Virat Kohli, on match eve, had insisted that there were no technical problems with his batsmen, the horrendous batting effort at Lord's painted a sorry picture.

Put into bat under overcast conditions, the frailties of a wobbly top order was there for everyone to see as James Anderson (5/20) made them hop, skip and jump on the Lord's wicket with his 26th five-wicket haul in longest format of the game.

He was ably complemented by Chris Woakes (2/19), Sam Curran (1/26) and Stuart Broad (1/37).

The excessive seam movement became too hot to handle despite only 35.2 overs being bowled on the day.

Anderson was right on target removing Murali Vijay (0) with a delivery that pitched on the middle-stump line and moved enough as the opener tried to flick it, only to miss the line completely.

KL Rahul (8) lazily nicked a delivery on the fourth stump as India lost their openers in the very first session in which only 6.3 overs were bowled.

Cheteshwar Pujara (1 off 25 balls) left a lot of deliveries but was once again run out trying a quick single with his skipper Kohli backtracking after initially responding to a call.

The only hope was the skipper himself and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane (18), who had scored a memorable century in 2014.

With the conditions adverse, not for once did the Kohli-Rahane duo look settled during their 34-run stand off 13.1 overs.

Comeback-man Woakes made life miserable for the duo. Replacing first-Test hero Ben Stokes, Woakes repeatedly hit the seam and got it to nip away from the right-handers beating the bat innumerable times.

Finally, Kohli (23), who had battled hard for 70 minutes and 57 balls, was forced into committing a mistake by Woakes. A delivery that pitched on middle stump hit the seam and Kohli closed his bat face with a leading edge being gobbled at the slip by Jos Buttler.

Hardik Pandya (11) didn't learn from his mistakes as he was dropped by Buttler in the slip cordon and played a similar shot with hard hands to be caught by the same fielder.

Dinesh Karthik (1) was clueless as Curran got one to dart back in as it breached it his defences. Rahane's patience gave away as Anderson, coming for his second spell, bowled a beauty to force him to edge one to the slips as India's resistance ended in a jiffy.

It was Ravichandran Ashwin's 29 that ensured that India crossed the three-figure mark as England gained complete control despite a day-and-a-half's play being already lost due to inclement weather.

PTI

India 
First innings
M. Vijay b Anderson 0
L. Rahul c Bairstow b Anderson 8
C. Pujara run out 1
V. Kohli c Buttler b Woakes 23
A. Rahane c Cook b Anderson 18
H. Pandya c Buttler b Woakes 11
D. Karthik b Curran 1
R. Ashwin lbw Broad 29
K. Yadav lbw Anderson 0
Md Shami not out 10
I. Sharma lbw Anderson 0
Extras (lb-5, nb-1) 6
Total (all out in 35.2 ovs) 107
Fall of wickets: 1/0, 2/10, 3/15, 4/49, 5/61, 6/62, 7/84, 8/94, 9/96  
Bowlers: Anderson 13.2-5-20-5, Broad 10-2-37-1, Woakes 6-2-19-2, Curran 6-0-26-1
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