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mcgillianaireIt's not quite the end of day's play yet but I doubt they'll return before tomorrow morning. How disappointing the rain and bad light have played spoilsport, though as an Indian cricket fan it's probably a good thing. Hopefully Zaheer's injury is not as serious as it looked when he winced off the field in pain with a twinge behind his right leg. A hamstring perhaps? With Sehwag already out until the third test, Zak's exit will ruin our series chances.
Dhoni won a good toss and I was happy he put England in to bat. I thought we bowled well without much luck in the first session. Perhaps the lack of experience of bowling in such conditions worked against Kumar and Sharma who couldn't control the pronounced movement, both in the air and particularly off the pitch. Kumar especially seemed to start off really well but tailed off as the session went on. We also suffered from the lack of a genuinely quick opening bowler to make use of the new ball and overcast conditions. Nevertheless, it was no surprise Zaheer secured the first breakthrough with a fantastic delivery to trap Alistair Cook in front. The TMS commentators questioned whether the ball had done too much but the replays showed it would've probably still hit the top of middle and leg. At lunch it was pretty even at 1/43 with Strauss playing Khan fairly comfortably.
After lunch India gave away a few cheap runs before Zaheer Khan surprised Strauss with his first bouncer of the day. It was a clever delivery and resulted in yet another scalp reading "Strauss c whoever b Khan", though as one tweeter pointed out, such a dismissal could have repercussions both for the IMF and the French Presidency. The wicket put the breaks on the English scoring rate and just when it seemed like we were getting into the groove, Zaheer pulled up with yet another injury and the two South African-born English batsmen built up a fifty-plus partnership. There were a couple of tough chances put down and a couple direct hit run-out opportunities, but England did well to battle their way to 2/127 before bad light enforced an early tea break. This was followed by a downpour which kept the players off the field for even longer but apparently it has stopped, the covers are off and the umpires will inspect the pitch in a bit. I doubt they'll come back on with only an hour left but ye never know. On balance, England have the edge and India will be praying Zaheer returns.
EDIT @ 1825:
I have been proven wrong as the players are back out on the field and will attempt to deliver 13.4 overs by the closing time of 1930. I didn't realise they could play until then. It's still gloomy but the floodlights are still on.
EDIT @ 1826:
Oh. The covers are apparently back on, the players and umpires are running off... and that seems that. Well, that re-start ended almost as quickly as it began. Onto tomorrow!
Dhoni won a good toss and I was happy he put England in to bat. I thought we bowled well without much luck in the first session. Perhaps the lack of experience of bowling in such conditions worked against Kumar and Sharma who couldn't control the pronounced movement, both in the air and particularly off the pitch. Kumar especially seemed to start off really well but tailed off as the session went on. We also suffered from the lack of a genuinely quick opening bowler to make use of the new ball and overcast conditions. Nevertheless, it was no surprise Zaheer secured the first breakthrough with a fantastic delivery to trap Alistair Cook in front. The TMS commentators questioned whether the ball had done too much but the replays showed it would've probably still hit the top of middle and leg. At lunch it was pretty even at 1/43 with Strauss playing Khan fairly comfortably.
After lunch India gave away a few cheap runs before Zaheer Khan surprised Strauss with his first bouncer of the day. It was a clever delivery and resulted in yet another scalp reading "Strauss c whoever b Khan", though as one tweeter pointed out, such a dismissal could have repercussions both for the IMF and the French Presidency. The wicket put the breaks on the English scoring rate and just when it seemed like we were getting into the groove, Zaheer pulled up with yet another injury and the two South African-born English batsmen built up a fifty-plus partnership. There were a couple of tough chances put down and a couple direct hit run-out opportunities, but England did well to battle their way to 2/127 before bad light enforced an early tea break. This was followed by a downpour which kept the players off the field for even longer but apparently it has stopped, the covers are off and the umpires will inspect the pitch in a bit. I doubt they'll come back on with only an hour left but ye never know. On balance, England have the edge and India will be praying Zaheer returns.
EDIT @ 1825:
I have been proven wrong as the players are back out on the field and will attempt to deliver 13.4 overs by the closing time of 1930. I didn't realise they could play until then. It's still gloomy but the floodlights are still on.
EDIT @ 1826:
Oh. The covers are apparently back on, the players and umpires are running off... and that seems that. Well, that re-start ended almost as quickly as it began. Onto tomorrow!
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