England crush India at Lord´s to take 2-0 lead
James Anderson and Stuart Broad starred as England crushed India by an innings and 159 runs at Lord’s to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Anderson and Broad had respective second-innings figures of 4-23 and 4-44, while Chris Woakes, who made a century with the bat, claimed the other two dismissals as India were dismissed for 130 in their second innings to fall to a heavy loss.
Anderson went past 100 Test wickets at Lord’s and Broad’s figures moved him into the top 10 leading wicket-takers in Test cricket, and England can now wrap up the series with a victory in the third Test when it begins next Saturday.
England had started the fourth day 357-6, with a lead of 250, but there was no overnight declaration as Woakes and Sam Curran resumed.
That partnership was extended to 76 runs with a series of boundaries before Curran perished on 40 having heaved a Hardik Pandya delivery down to Mohammed Shami at third man.
With that, England declared on 396-7, Woakes finishing unbeaten on 137, to leave India 289 in arrears.
WE TAKE A 2-0 SERIES LEAD!!
Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/rPi8Lk7eCR#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/olJqFYluQg
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 12, 2018
They had not eaten in to that deficit when Murali Vijay was again removed for a duck as Anderson picked up his 100th Test wicket at Lord’s with a delivery that found an inside edge en route to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.
India were then 13-2 when Anderson struck again to remove KL Rahul (10) lbw and were initially unable to call on Virat Kohli to build a platform, the captain not taking the field at the start of the day due to a back issue.
England’s progress was temporarily halted by rain around lunch, delaying a second session that belonged to Broad, whose first victim Ajinkya Rahane (13) paid for a loose shot to third slip.
Kohli came in and India were hoping their star man and the obdurate Cheteshwar Pujara would form an alliance to salvage the contest.
@jimmy9 celebrates the moment he joined Muttiah Muralitharan as the only players to pick up 100 Test wickets at a single venue.#ENGvIND#LoveLords pic.twitter.com/kpf0yL9tyl
— Lord’s Cricket Ground (@HomeOfCricket) August 12, 2018
The latter stuck around for a while but, having made 17 from 87 deliveries, Broad’s glorious late inswinging ball crashed into Pujara’s off stump and India were four down with 50 on the board.
Kohli was clearly struggling and needed on-field treatment to the back injury, with England acutely aware of his issue as they peppered him with shorter deliveries.
England thought one back-of-a-length ball had caught his glove on the way through to Bairstow but, having been given out by the umpire, a review found contact had only been made with Kohli’s sweater.
Yet the very next delivery did catch Kohli’s glove before hitting his side and looping up to debutant Ollie Pope at short leg.
The end looked near when India’s key man departed for 17 and new man Dinesh Karthik was sent straight back when he was wrapped on the pad by Broad, who was in the midst of a seven-over spell that produced four wickets and cost just seven runs.
He missed out on a hat-trick and England were once again frustrated when the rain got heavier and forced the players off just prior to tea.
Pandya and Ravichandran Ashwin gave India hope of taking the game into a final day with a 55-run partnership, which ended when Woakes trapped Pandya (26) in front.
Kuldeep Yadav and Shami were both dismissed by Anderson without scoring and Woakes wrapped up the victory by removing Ishant Sharma as Pope took another catch at leg gully.
