Manchester, England: Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and fast bowler Varun Aaron struck thrice in the opening session as England reached 201 for six at lunch, on the second day of their fourth cricket Test against India, here today.
England now have a small but important lead of 49 runs with four wickets in hand. At crease, currently are two in-form batsmen in Joe Root (22 batting) and Jos Buttler (9 batting).
Bhuvneshwar (3/47 from 18 overs) and Aaron (3/44 from 14 overs) removed Ian Bell (58), Chris Jordan (13) and Moeen Ali (13) during the session.
Pankaj Singh (0-64), Ravichandran Ashwin (0-28) and Ravindra Jadeja (0-5) were the other bowlers deployed in this session.
The second morning began with grey clouds still looming large over the ground, but they seemed lighter than the ones on day one that had helped English bowlers wreak havoc on the Indian top-order.
The Indian bowlers needed to make use of whatever conditions were available to them though, and take as many quick wickets as possible. That plan seemed a bit flustered at the start as 21 runs came off the first four overs itself, with Bell (58, 82 balls, 8 fours, 1 six) and Jordan (13 runs, 22 balls, 3 fours) setting a hectic pace.
The former, starting at his overnight score of 45*, reached his half-century in the second over of the day, off 63 balls.
Soon after, Kumar got rid of Jordan, the batsman caught by Varun Aaron at midwicket off a short ball. Two overs later, India had their man when Kumar set up Bell with two beautiful outswingers, the second getting a faint edge as the batsman played at it.
