India face uphill task to save Test

LONDON (AP):

India made a solid start in its attempt to save the first Test against England, reaching 80-1 at stumps on yesterday's fourth day after being set 458 to win at Lord's.

Rahul Dravid was 34 not out and V.V.S. Laxman unbeaten on 32 by the close, with Stuart Broad taking the only wicket to fall after bowling Abhinav Mukund for 12.

Broad, who earlier scored 74 not out in an unbroken stand of 162 with Matt Prior, had figures of 1-12.

Earlier, Prior scored 103 not out with five fours and a six from 120 balls as England declared on 269-6. Broad hit nine boundaries in 90 balls.

"I think we're probably just ahead,'' Prior said. "There are still a lot of runs on that wicket and we're still playing on a pretty good deck, but it's a huge amount of runs and I think Swanny (Graeme Swann) is going to play a big part for us tomorrow.''

Ishant Sharma had dragged India back into the contest during the morning session, with a spell of 3-1 from 16 balls which left England in trouble on 72-5 at lunch. But he ran out of steam in the afternoon and finished with figures of 4-59.

'I'm only human'

Offered the ball after lunch by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sharma instead chose to rest.

"I am a human being and I have a body,'' Sharma said. "I bowled 11 overs in the first session and we still have another three Test matches to play. It's not that easy to come and bowl another long spell.''

India began the morning session without Sachin Tendulkar, who is carrying a virus, but Praveen Kumar enticed Alastair Cook (1) into an edge that was caught behind.

Having had to carry the attack in the continuing absence of Zaheer Khan for much of the match, Kumar belatedly received some support from his fellow bowlers.

Harbhajan Singh claimed his first wicket of the match when he had England captain Andrew Strauss lbw for 32, trying to sweep.

Sharma, similarly disappointing in England's first innings, then produced a sharply lifting delivery that Kevin Pietersen gloved behind for one.

Sharma removed Ian Bell for a duck in near-identical fashion at the end of the same over and then clean bowled Jonathan Trott for 22.

England urgently needed a partnership when Eoin Morgan and Matt Prior began a counterattack at the start of the afternoon session, steering the home side past the 100 mark.

Sharma was only reintroduced 35 minutes after play resumed, when some of his and India's momentum had been squandered.

Sharma briefly reignited the contest when he drew Morgan into a rash pull that was caught by a diving Gautam Gambhir at midwicket. Morgan stood his ground and was only given out by umpire Billy Bowden after a review.

Yet England regained the initiative with clever running between the wickets, aided by sloppy fielding.

SCOREBOARD

England 1st Innings 474-8 dec

India 1st Innings 286

England 2nd Innings

A. Strauss lbw b Harbhajan 32A. Cook c Dhoni b Kumar 1J. Trott b Sharma 22K. Pietersen c Dhoni b Sharma 1I. Bell c Dhoni b Sharma 0E. Morgan c Gambhir b Sharma 19M. Prior not out 103S. Broad not out 74Extras: (7b, 8lb, 2w) 17Total: (for six wickets declared) 269

Overs: 71.

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-54, 3-55, 4-55, 5-62, 6-107.

Did not bat: Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson.

Bowling: Praveen Kumar 20-2-70-1 (1w), Ishant Sharma 22-6-59-4 (1w), Harbhajan Singh 21-1-66-1, Suresh Raina 6-1-43-0, Mahendra Singh Dhoni 2-0-16-0.

India 2nd Innings

A. Mukund b Broad 12R. Dravid not out 34V.V.S. Laxman not out 32Extras: (1lb, 1nb) 2TOTAL: (for one wicket) 80

Overs: 27.

Fall of wickets: 1-19.

Still to Bat: Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma.

Bowling: Anderson 8-0-26-0, Tremlett 8-3-22-0 (1nb), Broad 6-2-12-1, Swann 5-0-19-0.

Toss: won by India.

Umpires: Billy Bowden, New Zealand, and Asad Rauf, Pakistan.