England v India: Test Series – Comprehensive Analysis – Part-2
England and India moved to Trent Bridge, Nottingham for the second Test of the four-match series in England. The hosts had taken a lead of 1-0, by winning the first match at Lord’s.
However, India were confident of a bounce back in the series. The team blamed lack of match practice for their failure in the first Test match, but had spent plenty of time in England in order to get familiarised with the conditions before the start of the
second encounter.
The tourists’ skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 was once again lucky to win the toss on a cloudy morning at Nottingham. He opted to field first and expected the bowlers to take maximum advantage of the conditions.
This was exactly what happened, as the Indian bowlers did not disappoint their captain. They bowled in the right areas and the rest of the job was done by the pitch and conditions.
Top eight batsmen in the home team’s innings failed to make a significant impression, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 and Ian Bell got starts, but failed to carry on. They ended up with 32, 29 and 31 respectively.
However, the Poms once again showed depth in their batting line-up, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SCJ-Broad-c2465 struck a fabulous half-century in the innings. He top scored the innings with 64 runs before the team was all out for 221 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/P-Kumar-c2143 enjoyed the conditions, picking up three wickets each in the innings.
This was a wonderful opportunity for the Men in Blue to take a massive first innings lead, as the pitch has ease out for batting.
Despite losing one wicket early, the tourists got into a very good position. Star batsmen http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Dravid-c2229 put together 93 runs for the second wicket partnership before the former got out after scoring 54 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yuvraj-Singh-c98364 also batted extremely well, collecting 62 runs in his first outing of the series.
At one stage, India appeared to take a massive lead, but were jolted by a hat-trick from Broad. The team lost their last six wickets for just 21 runs. Dravid top scored with a superb 117-run knock, but only managed to guide his side to 288.
Broad took six wickets in the innings, leading the fight back for his team. However, the opposition got away with a useful lead of 67 runs in the end.
India needed a solid effort from their bowlers in order to bowl the hosts out cheaply in their second outing.
England were under pressure at the start, losing openers Strauss and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026 early. However, the middle-order took the game away from the opposition with some superb performances.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TT-Bresnan-c2711 scored half-centuries guiding the team’s total to 544.
The Indian bowlers looked helpless in the middle, but Praveen Kumar bowled his heart out, picking up four wickets in the innings.
The tourists had to chase down 478 runs for victory, which seemed almost an impossible task for them. Their batting failed miserably this time around, as only three batsmen managed to reach double figures.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Tendulkar-c2556 top scored the innings with 56 runs, but there was nothing much he could have done to save his side from a humiliating defeat. The team was all out for 158 runs, losing the match by 319 runs.
England’s Bresnan was the star performer of the second innings, picking up five wickets.
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