India vs England Cricket Live Streaming 4th Test Match 2012 Day 2

The first session on day two (December 14) at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur was a tale of two halves. While the first hour saw batting with a great degree of assurance from Matt Prior and Joe Root, India pulled things back by picking up two wickets soon after, to force England into treading a cautious path again.

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England, who added 78 runs to their overnight score in 32 overs, went into lunch at 277 for 7 with Root (65 not out) and Graeme Swann (19 not out) at the crease, having added 35 runs for the eighth wicket. Root, the debutant, batted with confidence and solidity.

There wasn’t much to suggest the pitch had eased out. If anything, it was only going to deteriorate, but Prior’s approach initially was enterprising. He pounced on a few loose deliveries on offer, as he quickly brought up his 24th fifty. There was the odd occasion where the ball turned, but slow enough for the batsmen to adjust accordingly.

On the other hand, Root, the 21-year old from Yorkshire, batted in a sedate manner, negating any sort of deviation with good footwork against the spinners. The partnership was worth 102, when R Ashwin struck a timely blow for India with a delivery that went straight on with Prior (57) playing down the wrong line.

MS Dhoni was quick to sense an opportunity and replaced Ashwin with Ishant Sharma at the other end, a move that paid dividends immediately as Tim Bresnan was trapped plumb in front for a duck. England had slipped to 242 for seven.

Ishant was clearly the best bowler for India for the fourth consecutive session, as he attacked the stumps with great consistency on a pitch where there was hardly any lateral movement or bounce. However, he did get the ball to reverse back into the batsmen on a number of occasions.

While Pragyan Ojha was largely ineffective due to the slow nature of the pitch, Ashwin created doubt in the batsmen’s minds by varying his pace, with a few deliveries drifting across the face of the bat.

Piyush Chawla, who bowled just four overs, looked out of sorts and was picked away with ease by Prior in particular.