Sreesanth Leads Indian Fightback (Second Test - Day 1 Review)

The second test match of the four match series started at Trentbridge this morning, both India and England had injury problems leading up to the match. For India, their bowling Talisman, Zaheer Kahn was to miss out with a leg injury, as was the opening batsman Gambhir with a bruised elbow. For England, Chris Tremlett could not recover in time from a hamstring strain. The replacements for the Indians were Sreesanth and Singh, and for England the bowler called up to replace Tremlett was Tim Bresnan.
For the second time in a row the Indian Captain Dhoni won the toss and once again asked England to bat first on a pitch that looked perfect for seam bowling. This combined with the overhead cloud conditions meant that it could be a very tricky day for England with the bat.
Almost immediately the ball was moving around off the seam and after just 16 balls, Alistair Cook fell to a controversial lbw decision from the bowling of Sharma. India kept on the pressure and it wasn't long before Trott was on his way back to the Pavillion, edging an unplayable delivery from Sreesanth to the slips. England were now in deep trouble it seemed until Strauss and Pietersen dug deep and managed to get England up to a score of 62 by lunch.
After lunch, the Indians turned up the heat even further and continued to bowl a superb line to the English batsmen and wickets began to tumble on a regular basis. Pietersen, Strauss, Morgan and Prior all fell in a stunning spell of bowling from the Indain pacemen, leaving the innings in tatters with the scoreboard reading 88-6.
Bell and Bresnan put up some resistance, but England were staring down the barrel when Bell went on the score of 124. This brought to the crease the Nottinghamshire pairing of Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann. They were to give the England fans something to cheer about at last on what had been a tough day for the hosts. Some superb stroke play from both players changed the game in a matter of a few overs putting India onto the back foot. Hitting 12 boundaries between them, the pair put on a stand of 73 and Broad reached his 50 at virtually one run per ball. It was only when Swann was dismissed for 28 by a sharp bouncing ball from Kumar that the Indians could maybe regain a little control over the game.
Broad however, had other ideas and put on a very useful last wicket stand with Anderson of 24, before he was caught right on the boundary edge by Tendulkar. The England innings finished on a respectable total of 221, and the Indians openers would face a tricky hour or so to bat before the close.
Jimmy Anderson opened the bowling for England and made an instant impact, dismissing Mukund with the very first ball and caught in the gully by Pietersen. India were now under no illusions how difficult batting would be on the Trentbridge surface. It was down to the experienced coupling of Laxman and Dravid to see out the rest of the day, which they just-say managed, playing and missing on several occasions. England will return tomorrow hoping to make the most of favourable bowling conditions whilst the Indians will be very much hoping for sunshine and for the pitch to dry and flatten out.

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