By IANS
London : Wasim Jaffer scored a patient half-century as India made 145 for five wickets in reply to England's first-innings' 298 on a rain-affected second day of the first Test here Friday.
Jaffer scored 58, his seventh Test half-century, to steady India's ship after they lost two wickets for just 27 runs at Lord's. This was after the visiting bowlers did a good job to quickly wrap up the tail to bundle England out for 298.
At close of play Friday, Sourav Ganguly was batting at a cautious 25 (61 balls, 3x4s) and night watchman Rudra Pratap Singh was one five.
Specialist batsman V.V.S. Laxman is yet to come, followed by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the tail.
On a day when play started three hours late because of rains, the second highest scorer for India was Sachin Tendulkar, who made 37 off 78 balls (6x4s) before falling leg before the wicket to pacer James Anderson.
Captain Rahul Dravid (2) and makeshift opener Dinesh Karthik (5) failed to get going. Anderson had Dravid caught by wicket-keeper Matt Prior and Karthik was lbw to Ryan Sidebottom.
Bubbly pacer Sreesanth was the bowling hero for India as he took three quick wickets of the English tail to hasten the end of their first innings.
Earlier, after play started late India struck telling blows to wipe out the English tail quickly.
England, who started from overnight 268 for four with Kevin Pieterson (34) and Ryan Sidebottom (0) at the crease, lost their last six wickets for 26 runs.
Left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh began the rout when he bowled Sidebottom (1) when just four had been added to the English total.
Soon after that left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan induced an edge from Pieterson's bat for wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to take a simple catch – a big blow for the home side.
Then, Sreesanth, who went wicketless Thursday, started his effective spell during which he took three wickets. Two of these wickets, Matt Prior and debutant Chris Tremlett, came in one over – 87th of the innings.
He added Monty Panesar to his bag and bring smile to his face. Zaheer dismissed Ian Bell to signal the end of the innings that lasted 91.2 overs.
SCOREBOARD
Day 2, First Test, India vs. England, at Lord's, London, July
England (1st innings, overnight 268/4):
Andrew Strauss c Dravid b Kumble 96
Alastair Cook lbw b Ganguly 36
Michael Vaughan c Dhoni b R.P. Singh 79
Kevin Pietersen c Dhoni b Khan 37
Paul Collingwood lbw b Kumble 0
Ryan Sidebottom b Singh 1
Ian Bell b Khan 20
Matt Prior lbw b Sreesanth 1
Chris Tremlett lbw b Sreesanth 0
Monty Panesar lbw b Sreesanth 0
James Anderson not out 0
Extras: (byes 9, leg byes 10, wides 7, no balls 2) 28
Total: (all out in 91.2 overs) 298
Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Cook, 14.4 overs), 2-218 (Strauss, 63.6), 3-252 (Vaughan, 76.4), 4-255 (Collingwood, 77.6), 5-272 (Sidebottom, 82.5), 6-286 (Pietersen, 85.1), 7-287 (Prior, 86.3), 8-287 (Tremlett, 86.6), 9-297 (Panesar, 90.4)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 18.2-4-62-2 (2nb, 1w)
Sreesanth 22-8-67-3 (3w)
Rudra Pratap Singh 17-6-58-2 (2w)
Sourav Ganguly 9-3-24-1
Anil Kumble 23-2-60-2
Sachin Tendulkar 2-0-8-0
India (1st Innings):
Dinesh Karthik lbw b Sidebottom 5
Wasim Jaffer c & b Tremlett 58
Rahul Dravid c Prior b Anderson 2
Sachin Tendulkar lbw b Anderson 37
Sourav Ganguly batting 25
Rudra Pratap Singh batting 5
Extras: (b 4, lb 7, nb 2) 13
Total: (for four wickets in 57 overs) 145
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Karthik, 8.3 overs), 2-27 (Dravid, 11.5), 3-106 (Tendulkar, 35.4), 4-134 (Jaffer, 53.6)
Bowling:
Ryan Sidebottom 16 4 48 1
James Anderson 15 5 26 2
Chris Tremlett 15 8 29 1 (2nb)
Paul Collingwood 3 1 9 0
Monty Panesar 8 3 22 0
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Simon Taufel (Australia)
TV umpire: Ian Gould (England)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)