England v India - 2nd Test, Day 4: Murali Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja help India take 243-run lead (Lunch report)
London, July 20 (IANS): Murali Vijay fell five short of a deserving century, while Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten blitzkrieg extended India's lead to 243 runs at lunch after England had rocked them with three quick wickets in the morning session on day four of the second Test at Lord's here on Sunday.
Jadeja smashed six boundaries on his way to 37 off 30 balls and helped India reach 267 for seven after wickets of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (19), Stuart Binny (0) and Murali Vijay (95) had given the hosts the initiative.
India made a predictably slow start to the proceedings by being extremely cautious.
Both Vijay and Dhoni left alone the balls outside the off-stump. The English players didn't bowl all that well in the first hour, but a positive outcome was that they only let India eke out 34 runs.
Dhoni batted for 86 balls for his 19, his slowest Test innings when scoring 10 or more. The Indian captain had all morning refrained from poking outside the off-stump, but old habits are hard to overcome; once again Dhoni prodded at a good length ball, managing to get an outside edge that was smartly taken by Ian Bell at second slip.
Binny's lack of experience and temperament came to the fore in the very next over as he went for an ambitious lofted shot off the bowling of Moeen Ali only to be brilliantly caught by English captain Alastair Cook.
All Binny needed to do was to give some company to Vijay, who was batting well, at the crease but only managed to play a shot that might spell doom for his Test career.
Jadeja and Vijay then took the attack to the English bowlers adding 32 runs off just 35 balls, but a flirt outside off-stump from the Indian opener ended his commendable run at the crease.
Jadeja refused to be tied down even after England took the new ball. The 25-year-old, referred to as 'Sir Jadeja' thanks to his exploits in the domestic circuit, smashed the English pacers all over the park to put the pressure back on England.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been the star of the tour with both the bat and the ball, played a supporting role, giving as much strike to Jadeja.
England, who haven't chased anything above 200 since 2008 when they beat New Zealand at Old Trafford, looked a little shell-shocked by Jadeja's aggression.
Scorecard:
India (first innings) 295
England (first innings) 319
India (second innings, overnight 169/4)
Murali Vijay c Prior b Anderson 95
Shikhar Dhawan c Root b Stokes 31
Cheteshwar Pujara c Prior b Plunkett 43
Virat Kohli b Plunkett 0
Ajinkya Rahane c Prior b Broad
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Bell b Plunkett 19
Stuart Binny c Cook b Ali 0
Ravindra Jadeja batting 37
Bhuvneshwar Kumar batting 13
Extras (b 15, lb 8, w 1) 24
Total (for seven wickets in 88 overs) 267
Fall of wickets: 1-40 (Dhawan, 13.6 overs), 2-118 (Pujara, 43.3), 3-118 (Kohli, 43.4), 4-123 (Rahane, 46.3), 5-202 (Dhoni, 75.1), 6-203 (Binny, 76.5), 7-235 (Vijay, 82.4)
Bowling:
James Anderson 26-11-57-1
Stuart Broad 21-6-76-1
Ben Stokes 15-2-42-1
Liam Plunkett 18-6-42-3
Moeen Ali 8-1-27-1