Fourth Test: Bhuvneshwar, Aaron lead India’s fightback

Manchester, Aug 8 :

Pacers Varun Aaron and Bhuvneshwar Kumar led India’s fightback as England were reduced to 201 for six, a lead by 49 runs, at lunch on day two of the fourth cricket Test at Old Trafford here Friday.

England, who had skittled out India for 152 on the first day, lost three of their top order batsmen in the morning session with Bhuvneshwar accounting for two of them.

Starting the day at 113 for three, Ian (58) and Chris Jordan (13) set-about consolidating England’s strong position in the match.

Indian bowlers left a lot to be desired in the first half-hour of play.

But just as the hosts were beginning to look comfortable, Bhuvneshwar struck to remove Jordan.

An excellent catch by Aaron at mid-wicket as Bhuneshwar’s bouncer took Jordan by surprise.

Just an over later, Bhuvneshwar was at it again, sending the dangerous Bell back to the pavillion.

The Indian pacer’s wonderful outswinger grazed the bat’s outside edge and staright into the waiting gloves of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The two wickets juxtaposed with Aaron’s introduction into the attack saw India claw their way back into the match.

Aaron managed to exploit the favourable overcast conditions to his advantage and troubled the English batsmen with his pace, bounce and movement.

Some of his short-pitched deliveries had the opposition scurrying for cover.

Aaron finally got his due with an unplayable inswinger from around the wicket that saw the ball smash into Moeen Ali’s stumps.

The left-hander was hurried into his shot, and was trying to play that with the swing towards midwicket with a closed bat-face but the ball split the gap between bat and pad to crash into the stumps.

Ravichandran Ashwin, back into the Indian side, bowled well but failed to get another breakthrough as the visitors went into lunch with Jos Buttler (13 batting) and Joe Root (22 batting) still at the crease.

SCORE BOARD
India (first innings): 152 all out

England (first innings, overnight score 113/3)

Alastair Cook c Pankaj Singh b Aaron 17
Sam Robson b Kumar 6
Gary Ballance lbw b Aaron 37
Ian Bell c Dhoni b Kumar 58
Chris Jordan c Aaron b Kumar 13
Joe Root batting 23
Moeen Ali b Aaron 13
Jos Buttler batting 13
Extras (b 4, lb 9, w 3, nb 5) 21
Total (for six wickets in 62 overs) 201

Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Robson, 8.6 overs), 2-36 (Cook, 13.1), 3-113 (Balance, 34.3), 4-136 (Jordan, 41.4), 5-140 (Bell, 43.4), 6-170 (Ali, 52.2)

Bowling:
Bhuvneshwar Kumar 18-6-47-3
Pankaj Singh 14-2-64-0
Varun Aaron 14-2-44-3
Ravichandran Ashwin 13-1-28-0
Ravindra Jadeja 3-0-5-0

(IANS)