Pietersen puts England in charge

England had Kevin Pietersen to thank in setting India an imposing total of 380, if they are to gain victory in this First Test match.

India struck back in the first session, RP singh picking up the wickets of Vaughan, Collingwood, and Bell, before Pietersen and Prior combined for a crucial 119 run partnership, as England were bowled out for 282.

Pietersen struck 14 fours and one six in his innings, as he batted England into a winning position.

India began their reply confidently, but lost the key wickets of Dravid and Tendulkar, who both went before the close to leave India with an uphill task on the final day. Dinesh Karthik and Sourav Ganguly batted well and currently involved in a 53 run partnership. India closed the day on 137-3, 243 runs short of their target.

The day started with Vaughan and Pietersen looking to push England’s lead on, with Vaughan looking the more solid of the two. Apart from one or two lbw shouts and the odd one that beat the bat, England moved reasonably comfortably to 100-2, when RP Singh got one to nip back on Vaughan, who was on the drive, and deflect off his inside edge and onto the off stump, which duly cartwheeled out of the ground. Singh had moved to bowling round the wicket, to offer a different angle, and the plan worked perfectly.

If the wicket was expected to keep Pietersen in his shell, it did not look it, as his next two balls off Zaheer Khan disappeared to the boundary, as the lead moved to 207.

RP Singh claimed another wicket in his next over, this time catching Paul Collingwood by surprise with an excellently directed bouncer that Collingwood could only glove to second slip, where VVS Laxman took a comfortable catch. Singh bowled well throughout the day, finding good lines with well controlled swing bowling.

Ian Bell only had time for a glance off his legs and a well executed pull, before he fell to RP Singh, attempting another pull shot, the ball failed to bounce as much as Bell expected and he inside edged onto his stumps for the second time in the Test.

Pietersen and new bat Matt Prior saw England through to lunch with some sensible batting, and a lead of 258 intact. What happened after lunch was a flurry of runs. Kevin Pietersen seemed intent on playing a shot a ball and with great dividends. He looked in fine nick, exceptionally strong down the ground, and was perhaps a little surprised by the lack of bouncers directed at him, following one or two dismissals in this fashion against the West Indies.

Instead Pietersen was free to plant his front foot down the pitch, with his notoriously large stride, and drive through the offside at will. Matt Prior was offering good support and also played his shots with attacking intent when the chance offered itself.

Prior stuck to executing textbook drives, while Pietersen demonstrated his flamboyant side, his trademark flamingo flick through straight mid wicket certainly kept the Lords crowd entertained.

The 100 partnership came off only 128 balls, as Pietersen edged closer to another century. On 93 he came dancing down the track to Anil Kumble, and hit him straight back over his head for six. His wait for the century was a mere two balls, flicking Kumble nonchalantly through mid wicket off his back foot to bring up his ninth Test century. His celebrations were that of a player pumped up, as he lapped up the applause from the crowd.

Prior had reached 42 before he edged a ball that Zaheer got to go across him, and Dhoni took a smart diving catch to his right. It was a breakthrough India needed to open up an end to England’s tail. Chris Tremlett bagged a pair, the ball squeezing between bat and pad and rolling onto his stumps first ball, to leave Zaheer on a hat-trick.

Ryan Sidebottom was the next man in, and Zaheer delivered an excellent full inswinging delivery that Sidebottom dug out efficiently.

Pietersen had been criticised in the past for how he had batted with the tail, but he kept it simple and effective here. When the field was brought up on the fifth and six balls of the over, he would look to hit a boundary, failing that he would happily take a single.

When he failed to get a single off the last ball of Zaheer’s over, Sidebottom was exposed to the experienced Kumble with only one result likely. Kumble pushed the ball across Sidebottom as he attempted to force it off the back foot and edged to Dravid at slip. Kumble was using more googlies than usual to slant the ball across England’s left handed tail enders.

Pietersen finally fell for 134 off 213 balls going for a big shot off the impressive RP Singh. The field was up to stop him gaining a single to keep the strike as he endeavoured to hit the ball over deep mid wicket. He succeeded only in bottom edging the ball onto his middle stump. An end to what had been a compelling and potentially decisive innings.

RP Singh then deservedly got his name onto the Lords honours board when he produced an inswinger to Monty Panesar who was struck on his pad in front of his wickets.

How were India to set about their chase ? Well, Dinesh Karthik began in a positive frame of mind, while Wasim Jaffer was content to bide his time and get himself set. Karthik’s first 20 runs came by the way of five fours.

Jaffer will have been exceptionally disappointed by the tame nature of his dismissal. He was not in any great trouble, the England openers were not getting the ball to swing as much as they had in the first innings. Jimmy Anderson had returned for his second spell, this time changing to the Nursery End, and drifted one onto Jaffer’s pads, who flicked the ball in the air to Pietersen at mid wicket to take an easy catch low down.

India captain Rahul Dravid made his way out to the middle, England obviously recognising the urgency to get him early, with his adept powers of concentration.

He cut his first ball savagely to the point boundary for four, then guided his third ball down to the vacant third man area. Dravid had a start.

Chris Tremlett had been brought into the attack, as the swing bowlers were not finding the conditions entirely conducive to their styles. Tremlett was to present a different proposition by banging the ball in back of a length, forcing the batsman back, and acquiring appreciable bounce.

The bounce must have caused umpire Simon Taufel one or two concerns when Dravid was wrapped on the pads by Tremlett and the England players appealed excitedly. After one or two seconds of consideration he raised his finger to give England a major boost. Dravid could perhaps consider himself a tad unfortunate, as replays showed he was struck marginally outside the line of off stump.

Panesar was getting the odd ball to turn sharply, but Tendulkar resembled a man full of self confidence. A well timed push off the back foot to Panesar raced away to the cover boundary which matched any of Pietersen’s blows for timing.

Monty was to gain his revenge. Tendulkar was his first dismissal in Test cricket in Nagpur, and he got him again here with a dismissal of unerring similarity. He delivered from round the wicket, the ball going straight on with the arm and hitting Tendulkar on his front pad before he had got his bat down near the ball. This time it was umpire Bucknor who made the decision to send Panesar and his team mates into ecstasy. His absolute joy at dismissing his hero was evident for all to see, with a dance more eccentric than usual.

It was the two big wickets before the close of play that England will have hoped for, but there is still plenty of important wickets for them to take before they can win this Test.

Dinesh Karthik continued in his own way at the other end and reached an accomplished half century off 101 balls. He will be only too aware that if India are to get anywhere the target, he must now go on and complete a big score.

Sourav Ganguly offered Ian Bell a very tough chance at silly mid off from Panesar, but on the whole will have been happy with how he has batted so far, and finished 36 not out. With VVS Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to come, the Indians will still harbour hopes of a successful and historical chase.

The weather, as ever, may be the overriding factor in this Test. With more rain scheduled tomorrow, the cricketing world will be hoping not too much, as this promises to be a thrilling game. England need 7 wickets, India need a further 247 runs, who is going to step up and win the game for his side.

England 298
Andrew Strauss 96, Michael Vaughan 79
Sreesanth 3-67, RP Singh 2-58

India 201
Wasim Jaffer 58, Sachin Tendulkar 37, Sourav Ganguly 34
James Anderson 5-43, Ryan Sidebottom 4-65

England 282
Kevin Pietersen 134, Matt Prior 42, Michael Vaughan 30
RP Singh 5-59, Zaheer Khan 4-79

India 137-3
Dinesh Karthik 56*, Sourav Ganguly 36*