Question for readers: How can India improve upon this performance?
9.54 pm - Ishant lbw b Broad, India 261 all out.A gripping, tiring Test finally ends. England's 196-run win is truly well-deserved.Hit by fitness problems, India could win just one session when Ishant was on fire. England have been the better side by far in this match.Lessons for India:1) Spruce up the pace department. Trent Bridge is a pace-friendly venue.2) Three-and-a-half bowlers won't win you a Test match against a top-class side.3) Work on your slip catching.4) Take a leaf out of Raina's book. Bat for the team.5) When you're on top, attack. Seize the game, take it forward.6) Blocking everything won't save you a Test. This should have been a no-brainer by now.7) Drop Harbhajan. Anyone but Harbhajan. Please.
Some reactions to England's wins:@VaughanCricket - England outstanding.. Too good for India at Lords.. Great advertisement for Test match cricket.. Loved every minute of the game.@ZaltzCricket - I think Broad's 1st-innings spell gave England decisive control of the game. 7-94 match figures on a good pitch, plus those drops & lbws...@BigHendo57 - Best in the world? England declared twice and got 22 Indian wickets and Betfair prices were on constant 'Indian draw mode'And apropos of nothing...@sreesanth36 - You can break my spirit, break my soul, break my heart, but no one will ever break my will to go on. I will keep at it no matter what..
9.30 pm - Billy Bowden may have saved India the match. There are 34 overs left. The light has faded a bit — even though floodlights can be used — and Bowden has reprieved Raina.Stuart Broad was denied wickets off consecutive balls. An easy catch was put down at point off Harbhajan. Next ball, Bowden ruled Raina not-out to an LBW as plumb as they come.It was missing off, missing leg, and hitting middle stump half-way up.Bowden indicated Raina had hit it. Replays showed he hadn't. Broad has been denied at least three wickets in this innings, and he was on his hunches, exasperated at Bowden's call.However, dropping Harbhajan didn't matter. One over later, he slogged Anderson into mid-on's hands. One wonders how many failures of various kinds would Harbhajan need before he is benched.He's taken 1-218 with the ball, made 0 in the first innings, and got out to an ugly slog when the idea was to survive the session with Raina.Meanwhile, the LBW shout notwithstanding, Raina has been top-class today. His judgement of the short ball has been near perfect. He's either let them go or tucked them behind the wicket.He hasn't sat back on his backfoot as he did in South Africa. Whenever the ball has been pitched up outside off-stump, it has been driven for four.One year ago, he made his debut with a bang in Sri Lanka. While he didn't survive the examination of his technique in South Africa, he was impressive in the West Indies, where he made three fifties.Could you have imagined that Yuvraj Singh wouldn't play this long for India after his World Cup performances?
8.00 pm - Raina gets to his fifty. Yuvraj's Test comeback will have to wait longer.
7.40 pm - All India need now is the resilience I spoke about yesterday. 50 overs remain in the day, the part-timers will take England to tea, and from there it is just a matter of surviving till the mandatory overs.Krish says:
7.30 pm One of the scratchiest Tendulkar innings you'll ever see has ended. Saving games and batting defensively has never been his forte. He spent 34 deliveries stuck on 11. And once he got into a defensive mode, his dismissal was a matter of time.Tendulkar had two lives. First, the Broad LBW on 11. Then, Strauss put him down on 12 at first slip. Anderson needed only two more balls to get him LBW with a ball identical to the Broad delivery.Now, Dhoni will have to save a Lord's Test all over again.
A huge moment in the game. From our live commentary:
6 pm - We're not used to seeing Tendulkar try and save a Test match, a job performed better by Laxman and Dravid.Indian says, "Every thing depends now how Sachin works out despite his illness." Dayan Liberty agrees: "India can save this match, only thing needed is patience from Sachin when he comes to the crease."So — unless Tendulkar decides to play the ODI series, this would be his last appearance at Lord's.Let's have a quick look back at Bradman's last Test here.Wisden says of the game played in 1948:
5.15 pm - The game changes in two overs. Laxman slaps a short ball to Bell, and India have now lost both their top batsmen in the fourth innings.Then, Swann gets Gambhir LBW with a beautiful arm ball. Tendulkar, down with viral infection, has come out at No. 6.Swann is going for all-out attack to Tendulkar and Raina. There's a slip, silly point and short leg. There's a man out for the drive, and two men out for leg-side slog or sweep.Sourav Ganguly commented he was impressed by the intensity shown by Tendulkar as he walked out to bat. A Test match is at stake. What a time it would be to bat the day out and get a hundred.If Raina puts in a good show here, he will keep Yuvraj out of the side. At lunch, India are 142-4.
4.45 pm - During the course of the morning session on Day 5, two interesting things happened.First, Dravid's concentration wavered for the slightest bit and he poked at a ball outside off-stump. India 93-2.Gambhir has come in at No. 4. He's on painkillers thanks to the blow he took fielding at short leg. Word is he is in a lot of pain. There's no way he would be able to bat normally.Second, a ball from Broad pitched a fraction outside the leg-stump, stayed knee-high and crashed into Gambhir's pads. Close call, but Bowden ruled it not out. This pitch has stayed low but that was lower than usual. It's just a matter of time before Swann starts attacking the left-hander, and there's Raina to follow.This probably won't be a straightforward finish, even as his VVSness stays rock-solid.Time for some reader comments.Vikas is a hard man to please. He says:
Anderson gets Dhoni, signals the beginning of India's end.
The winning moment.
9.30 pm - Billy Bowden may have saved India the match. There are 34 overs left. The light has faded a bit — even though floodlights can be used — and Bowden has reprieved Raina.Stuart Broad was denied wickets off consecutive balls. An easy catch was put down at point off Harbhajan. Next ball, Bowden ruled Raina not-out to an LBW as plumb as they come.It was missing off, missing leg, and hitting middle stump half-way up.Bowden indicated Raina had hit it. Replays showed he hadn't. Broad has been denied at least three wickets in this innings, and he was on his hunches, exasperated at Bowden's call.However, dropping Harbhajan didn't matter. One over later, he slogged Anderson into mid-on's hands. One wonders how many failures of various kinds would Harbhajan need before he is benched.He's taken 1-218 with the ball, made 0 in the first innings, and got out to an ugly slog when the idea was to survive the session with Raina.Meanwhile, the LBW shout notwithstanding, Raina has been top-class today. His judgement of the short ball has been near perfect. He's either let them go or tucked them behind the wicket.He hasn't sat back on his backfoot as he did in South Africa. Whenever the ball has been pitched up outside off-stump, it has been driven for four.One year ago, he made his debut with a bang in Sri Lanka. While he didn't survive the examination of his technique in South Africa, he was impressive in the West Indies, where he made three fifties.Could you have imagined that Yuvraj Singh wouldn't play this long for India after his World Cup performances?
Raina kept India afloat through the noon session in which they lost Tendulkar.
7.40 pm - All India need now is the resilience I spoke about yesterday. 50 overs remain in the day, the part-timers will take England to tea, and from there it is just a matter of surviving till the mandatory overs.Krish says:
Saw quite a lot mention about the 'dedication' of players when they walk to the pitch with some injury or illness; but I wonder why they have no (not much) issues doing so in the IPLs. Guess when WE play for our nation, got to 'act' a bit more I guess..From Twitter:Aggerscricket - Sachin dropped then plumb lbw next ball for 12. Farewell from Lord's, forever missing from Honours Board.blinkandumissit - On the bright side, Ajit Agarkar still has a batting achievement Sachin doesn't. #Lords100 #cricketcricketwallah - Sachin goes.England see their main obstacle removed. Undistinguished innings from SRT,but Tremlett, Broad & Anderson gave him no respite too
Tendulkar gets a life before being dismissed on 12.
A huge moment in the game. From our live commentary:
Over 56.2 — Broad to Tendulkar — A big appeal turned down! Broad is livid, so is the England team but Umpire Bowden is at ease. Full and straight delivery, strikes Tendulkar on the front pad. The spirited and prolonged appeal is turned down and the replay shows it was plumb. Broad could have had Tendulkar again.Broad is reverse-swinging it and Tendulkar has been circumspect after lunch. This hour would probably decide how this game goes.
Don Bradman during his final Test series in England in 1948.
Barnes and Bradman put on 174 for the second partnership. At first Barnes was content to leave most of the scoring to Bradman, but he quickened after reaching 50, and upon the completion of his big ambition of a Test century at Lord's he went over to vigorous attack. He took 21, including two successive 6s, in one over from Laker and fell to a catch on the boundary, having batted four hours and a half and hit fourteen 4's. Yardley, the successful bowler, penetrated Hassett's defence first ball, and only a hurried jab by Miller prevented a hat-trick. Bradman looked destined to celebrate his farewell Test at Lord's with a century, but an acrobatic catch by Edrich, who dived full length and took the ball one hand, brought about his dismissal eleven short of the hundred. This was the first ball of a new spell by Bedser, whose performance in disposing of Bradman in five consecutive Test innings--including the last of the 1946-47 series -- earned a place in cricket history. When at the close Australia stood 478 ahead with six wickets to fall, Bradman was able to dictate the remaining course of the game.Bradman made 38 and 89 in that game which Australia won by a huge margin.Tendulkar has 34 in the first innings here; there's no chance of a win; and an innings in the vicinity of 89 would probably save the game for India.Note that he has never passed 40 in 11 Test and ODI innings at this venue. Nasser Hussain put it down to the odd seating arrangements around the sight-screens at Lord's where the constant movement of people puts off Tendulkar, who is fidgety about these things.
5.15 pm - The game changes in two overs. Laxman slaps a short ball to Bell, and India have now lost both their top batsmen in the fourth innings.Then, Swann gets Gambhir LBW with a beautiful arm ball. Tendulkar, down with viral infection, has come out at No. 6.Swann is going for all-out attack to Tendulkar and Raina. There's a slip, silly point and short leg. There's a man out for the drive, and two men out for leg-side slog or sweep.Sourav Ganguly commented he was impressed by the intensity shown by Tendulkar as he walked out to bat. A Test match is at stake. What a time it would be to bat the day out and get a hundred.If Raina puts in a good show here, he will keep Yuvraj out of the side. At lunch, India are 142-4.
A simple walk to the nets turned out to be an ordeal for Tendulkar on Monday when he was mobbed by fans.
The instinct of Indian team was visible in the last match against W. Indies when they were in a position to win the match and they surprisingly took it to a draw. In this match also, they could not take advantage of the position when England was 62/5 and let them take their lead by more than 450. Moreover 2 key batsmen may not play in the 2nd Innings, contributing to another problem for the team. So there is no chance for India to save the game.It's a harsh view of things since India only had three bowlers — one of whom rarely looks like threatening when the elements are pitted against him. So it comes down to Ishant and Praveen, who bowled their hearts out. Praveen bowled 40 overs in the first innings. That is a massive workload for a pace bowler, and he had figures of 5-60 on Day 2. Brilliant by most counts.Ishant, ineffective in the first innings, admitted he was clueless about the infamous slope at Lord's. But he made amends in the second, adjusted his length, and suddenly created the slim possibility of an Indian win. Who could have thought it's even possible with two and a half bowlers?Ahuja says:
India's performance thus far is quite a characteristic one. I am sure the players in the rank are skillfully capable to not only salvage a draw from hereon, but also come back like vengeance to give England a fight of their life. In all likelyhood, they would have set the house in order enough to record their historic victory on this tour. So guys, don't panic and chillax.....Nerin Francis says:
Whatever be the outcome of this test match team India needs to do the following.- Team India seems to be injury prone. Before start of the next test bring in fit players even though it means testing its bench strength. How long can we depend on older players? - Harbajan is shown that he is not useful both with bat and ball. His bowling is not penetrating. His batting is spineless.Replace him. His contribution to the team as far as the first test goes is virtually nil. - The lack luster body language and non attacking nature exhibited by team India shows that they are either tired or they are finding the English over dominant.
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