By IANS
Nottingham : Dinesh Karthik, Wasim Jaffer and Sachin Tendulkar scored fine half-centuries to help India make 254 for three wickets on the second day Saturday and give control in the second Test here.
India are already 56 runs ahead and would look to consolidate the lead Sunday. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels a lead of 150-plus would put England in a spot of bother.
After shutting England out for 198 in their first-innings, thanks largely to Zaheer Khan's four-wicket haul, Karthik (77, 136 balls, 11x4s), Jaffer (62, 123 balls, 7x4s) and Tendulkar (57 not out, 111 balls, 6x4s) led India's charge at Trent Bridge.
Sourav Ganguly (4) was giving Tendulkar, who became the world's third batsman to score 11,000 runs, company when play ended prematurely due to poor visibility towards the fag end of the play.
Captain Rahul Dravid chipped in with 37 (94 balls, 5x4s).
Earlier, England resumed their first innings at 169 for seven, with Chris Tremlett on 16 and Ryan Sidebottom yet to open his account. But the innings lasted just 10.3 overs Saturday.
No English batsman managed a half-century after India won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first. Alastair Cook was the top scorer with 43 (111 balls, 6x4s) while Ian Bell chipped in with 31 (54 balls, 3x4s).
Zaheer was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he finished with superb figures of four for 59 from 21 overs while Leg-spinner Anil Kumble bagged three for 32.
Left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh also bowled well but did not get many wickets. He, Sreesanth and Sourav Ganguly took one wicket each.
Replying to England's total, Karthik and Jaffer gave India a solid start with their 147-run partnership. They have contrasting batting styles, but complimented each other as they combined well to run their runs.
Jaffer was out first, with pacer Tremlett having him caught by wicket-keeper Matt Prior. Karthik followed him soon after, giving a catch to Alastair Cook off left-spinner Monty Panesar.
Dravid and Tendulkar, the two most experienced batsmen in the team, came together to forge a good stand of 97. the partnership was broken when Dravid was finally out when he stretched out to a Panesar delivery and ended up giving a catch to a diving Bell on the off side.
Tendulkar carried on undaunted. On his way to his 44th half-century, the mastero became only the third batsmen in Test history to score 11,000 runs.
Playing in the 223rd innings of his 139th Test, 34-year-old Tendulkar emulated retired left-handed batsmen Brian Lara of the West Indies (11,953 runs) and Allan Border of Australia (11,174).
Only two other batsmen – Gavaskar and Australia's Steve Waugh – have scored more than 10,000 runs at the highest level of the game. The Mumbai batsman, who looks set to overtake Lara and Border, holds the world record of 37 Test centuries.
SCOREBOARD
Second Test, Day 2, India vs. England, Trent Bridge, Nottingham
England (1st innings, overnight 169/7):
Andrew Staruss c Tendulkar b Khan 4
Alastair Cook lbw b Ganguly 43
Michael Vaughan c Tendulkar b Khan 9
Kevin Pietersen lbw b Singh 13
Paul Collingwood b Sreesanth 28
Ian Bell lbw b Khan 31
Matt Prior c Dravid b Kumble 11
Chris Tremlett b Kumble 20
Ryan Sidebottom not put 18
Monty Panesar c Laxman b Khan 1
James Anderson b Kumble 1
Extras: (byes 8, leg byes 7, no balls 3, wide 1) 19
Total: (all out in 65.3 overs) 198
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Strauss, 2.3 overs), 2-24 (Vaughan, 8.6), 3-47 (Pietersen, 14.4), 4-101 (Collingwood, 32.2), 5-109 (Cook, 35.5), 6-147 (Prior, 45.6), 7-157 (Bell, 50.3), 8-186 (Tremlett, 59.4), 9-195 (Panesar, 62.5)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 21 5 59 4 (1w)
Sreesanth 12 7 16 1
Rudra Pratap Singh 10 1 56 1 (2nb)
Sourav Ganguly 8 4 11 1
Anil Kumble 12.3 2 32 3 (1nb)
Sachin Tendulkar 2 0 9 0
India (1st innings):
Dinesh Karthik c Cook b Panesar 77
Wasim Jaffer c Prior b Tremlett 62
Rahul Dravid c Bell b Panesar 37
Sachin Tendulkar batting 57
Sourav Ganguly batting 4
Extras: (b 6, lb 10, w 1) 17
Total: (for three wickets in 79 overs) 254
Fall of wickets: 1-147 (Jaffer, 42.1 overs), 2-149 (Karthik, 45.1), 3-246 (Dravid, 76.2)
Bowling:
Ryan Sidebottom 17 1 55 0 (1w)
James Anderson 18 4 68 0
Chris Tremlett 20 8 32 1
Paul Collingwood 6 0 33 0
Monty Panesar 18 5 50 2
Umpires: Simon Taufel (Australia) and Ian Howell (South Africa)
TV umpire: Nigel Llong (England)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)