Zaheer paves the way, India closer to the Bridge

His spell broke England’s resistance and they were bowled out for 355 in their second innings, leaving India a meagre target of 73 to win and go 1-0 up in the three-match series. At stumps, India had already garnered 10 of those runs, and they have the whole day tomorrow, with all wickets intact, to reach their moment of glory.

Rahul Dravid had given up on Sreesanth, the 24-year-old refusing to learn from past mistakes, bowling almost with an embarrassing line and length. In 21 overs, he gave away 60 runs but to top that, he came nowhere close to giving his captain any kind of reassurance.

It was RP Singh who came up with an impressive effort after the initial troubles. In terms of runs, the left-arm bowler remained close to what the others had given away but his wicket of Kevin Pietersen and Matthew Prior ensured that India could put further pressure on the opposition. The medium-pacers aside, there was Anil Kumble too, his classic tail-ending effort wiping off whatever remained of the lower order. Chris Tremlett, Monty Panesar and James Anderson remained among his dismissals as England folded for 355 runs.

The day, however, belonged to Zaheer, India’s lead bowler getting into his rhythm after claiming the openers. Zaheer bowled an immaculate line that kept good length and moved away from the batsman, the bounce and swing that showed glimpses of an awesome form, keeping the batsmen on the edge.

Vaughan’s wicket, that caught England by surprise, remained Zaheer’s most precious. When Vaughan reached his century, he pumped his fists to thank Dr Nicholas London, the consulting orthopedic surgeon at Yorkshire Harrogate, who had played an important role in helping Vaughan return from that dreaded knee injury. Beer stopped flowing in the stands once Vaughan departed. England were 287 for four then, and from there it was all downhill for the hosts. Today, Vaughan seemed to be the only batsman who could have come between India and victory, as he cruised to a classic 124. And as long as he was at the crease, there seemed hope for the hosts.

The end came in most peculiar fashion, Zaheer’s ball hitting Vaughan’s right thigh and slowly rolling onto the wicket. The batsman thought it must have gone all the way down the leg-side but, the ball had lost its pace and crawled towards stumps.

Zaheer revealed in the press conference today that when he came to bat yesterday, there was a jelly bean on the crease. “I removed it. After a while there was another. It was evident someone was actually throwing it from behind. I asked what it was all about, but no one answered. It was very insulting,” he said. Probably, that made him so aggressive today.

Scoreboard

England 1st innings 198

India 1st innings 481

England 2nd innings

A Strauss c Dhoni b Zaheer 55

A Cook lbw b Zaheer 23

M Vaughan b Zaheer 124

K Pietersen lbw b Singh 19

P C’wood c Kaarthick b Zaheer 63

I Bell lbw b Zaheer 0

M Prior b Singh 7

C Tremlett c Singh b Kumble 5

R Sidebottom not out 25

M Panesar c Karthik b Kumble 4

J Anderson b Kumble 1

Extras (b 7, lb 6, w 9, nb 7) 29

Total (all out; 104 overs) 355

Fall of wicket: 1-48, 2-130, 3-175, 4-287, 5-287, 6-304,7-323, 8-329, 9-333

Bowling: Zaheer 27-10-75-5, Sreesanth 21-2-60-0, Singh 18-5-52-2, Kumble 25-2-104-3, Ganguly 6-0-22-0, Tendulkar 7-0-29-0

India 2nd innings

D Kaarthick batting 6

W Jaffer batting 3

Extras (lb 1) 1

Total (no loss; 3 overs) 10

Bowling: Anderson 2-1-6-0, Sidebottom 1-0-3-0