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India earns the draw of substance, series 0-0.Filed under
India vs England
 On one side--you had genuinely bad trevellers called Indians. our record playing
away from home is nothing to praise about, & apart from huge expectations - our
team don't own much skill of swing batting. On other side - you had English
cricket team whose boys have born & brought up on that one ground, we know as
Lords..I refuse to blame rain for England not winning this first test match. Every soul in UK is aware of the weather they have in that part of world. If anything, they missed only the post lunch session on Day 5 (which got rained off) but English bowlers bowled no less than 96 overs - which compiles more than a day's test cricket. And interestingly - the man who stood between England & 1-0 advantage, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is know for scoring ducks while playing swinging cricket balls. He negotiated 159 deliveries to remain unbeaten on 76, when England started Day 5 with only 7 more wickets to take!! I give full marks to the determination & desire Team India showed in this first test match - traditionally the worst whenever we play on foreign/fast pitches. England ran away with advantage on Day 1, with attacking batting but comeback was remarkable by Indians on first Morning the next day, taking 6 English wickets for just 26 runs. Indian first innings batting was as expected - bad. they conceeded a lead of 96 & allowed English openers to again push the lead much further than their grasp. Knowing the weather reports around London, England must have declared much earlier, but they opted to chose only 41 overs on Day 4. 380 was what they set Indians to chase, who I must admit, went after the target rather than looking to defend & save the test match. 3 big wickets were in English bag before Day 5 started. Second new ball was also in range which Captain Michael Vaughan took as soon as it got available. England boys were practising BOXING before this test match started, but I must say - they 
lacked the fire power. Indian team now moves to Trent Bridge for the second npower test match, a ground known for falling wickets every session if not off every ball. But not losing Lords test (one of India's 3 worst test match venues), I see both teams getting even as days go by. England have nearly lost the advantage of being home side, cause the big guns that didn't work for Indians at London, will breath lot easily for 4 more days... and them breathing easily, is not a good news for England cricket. The Score card England 1st Inn - 298 all out in 91.2 overs Strauss 96, Vaughan 79, Cook 36, Pietersen 37. Zaheer 2 for 62, Sree Santh 3 for 67. India 1st Inn - 201 all out in 77.2 overs Jaffer 58, Tendulkar 37, Ganguly 34. Anderson 5 for 42, Sidebottom 4 for 65. England 2nd Inn - 282 all out in 78.3 overs Zaheer 4 for 79, RP singh 5 for 59. India 2nd Inn - 282 for 9 in 96 overs Sidebottom 2 for 42, Tremlett 3 for 52. This Lords Test match ended in a draw. See when else India have managed a thrilling draw from the jaws of defeat here. 3 Test series is wide open now. 2nd test match starts on 27th July (Friday). Photo Quiz : Identify Cricketers | Pictures : Cricketers Wife & Girlfriends Related ArticlesIndia vs England
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