LIVE – The 2000th Test – England v India - http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SCJ-Broad-c2465 strikes for England as India lose their openers
England have struck with a couple of wickets against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in the first of the four-match Test series, at the Lord’s, London in England on Saturday, July 23, 2011.
The visitors’ opening batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/G-Gambhir-c1447 became the first victim of the Poms in the first session of third day’s play. He managed just 15 runs off 46 balls with the help of one boundary.
He was followed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Abhinav-Mukund-c41758, who played an impressive knock of 49 runs with the help of five boundaries.
Both left-handed batsmen were undone by beautiful in-swinging deliveries by Stuart Broad. The tall right-arm pacer was in good rhythm today and swung the ball both ways.
Broad was also getting some seam movement and finally got one ball to pitch in the right area, troubling Gambhir. The ball pitched just on the off-stump and swung in from good-length, shattering the stumps.
Mukund however, nudged a full-length delivery, only to edge it towards his stumps, much to his dismay, as he went on 49, just one run short of his fifty.
This was a wonderful sight for Broad, who was struggling to make it to the playing-11 before the start of the match. The promising youngster had been struggling for form with the ball and was likely to be replaced by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TT-Bresnan-c2711, who had been performing well in the recent past.
However, the selectors showed faith in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013’s Twenty20 skipper, deciding to include him in the playing XI for the first match of the series, which is the 100th Test between England and India and the 2000th overall.
The sight of the shattered wickets was pleasing for the home team, but Gambhir would have been extremely disappointed by his failure to perform. He was making a comeback to the team, as he skipped the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 tour due to a back injury.
The 29-year-old batsman was initially selected as the One Day International and Twenty20 skipper for Caribbean tour, as the regular captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 had asked for rest due to a hectic schedule.
However, Gambhir pulled out of the series at the last moment and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SK-Raina-c2539 replaced him as the captain in the limited-over format.
Although it was not easy for Gambhir to make a comeback to the team straight away on the British soil, he has been there for long to cope with the pressure situation.
Veteran http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Tendulkar-c2556, who is chasing his 100th international century, has walked out in the middle after the fall of two wickets.
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