Zaheer Khan's two-wicket burst helped India make early inroads into the
England batting and reduce the hosts to 94 for three at tea after overnight
rain forced a four-hour delay on day one of the second cricket Test here today.
At the break, opener Alastair Cook on 35 (112m,70b,5x4) and Paul Collingwood
on 25 (40m,24b,4x4) were at the crease trying to repair the early damage.
Zaheer (2/40, who joined the 150 Test wicket club today, and
R P Singh (1/32) were the successful bowlers.
After Indian captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and put
England to bat, the Indian pacers bowled a tight line and length to make the
most of the conditions removing Andrew Strauss (4), Michael Vaughan
(9) and Kevin Pietersen (13) in quick succession.
Zaheer had the Indians delighted as early as the third over
of the innings when he had Strauss caught by Sachin Tendulkar at first
slip driving away from the body. Strauss made four in his nine-minute stay at
the wicket and hit one four.
Then, in the ninth over of the innings, Zaheer prized out England
captain Vaughan for his 150th Test victim in his 49th Test.
Vaughan batted cautiously for half an hour before flicking
Zaheer off his pads to the square leg fence. However, Zaheer had his revenge
in the same over when he moved one away from the right-hander and the edge was
well taken low to his right by Tendulkar at first slip. Vaughan made nine in
31 minutes, facing 23 balls.
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