India Vs England Mohali Test: Thick fog delays start of play

Kevin Pietersen’s marathon innings finally came to an end after Harbhajan Singh caught the England captain plumb in front of the wickets for 144 runs that came off just 201 deliveries.

Another high for team India after some tough treatment by the England batsmen was the dangerous looking Andrew Flintoff who was dismissed by Amit Mishra off the last ball of the day.

He put up a 149 run partnership with centurion Kevin Pietersen to bring England back in the game after the Indian bowlers were threatening to bowl the visitors out of the game. Pietersen slammed a timely ton (15th Test century) to bail England out of a position where they were reeling at 2/1. The South African born right hander played a captain’s knock to avoid what could well have been another embarrassing slump for the visiting team.

Earlier in the day, Cook (50) and Pietersen had put up a hundred run stand after Zaheer and Ishant had put England on the defensive with two early wickets before a toe crushing yorker by Zaheer caught Cook plumb in front of the wickets. Collingwood, who had come to replace Cook at the crease, could not last long either. He was sent back to the pavilion by Amit Mishra who had him caught behind by MS Dhoni for 11.

However, after the loss of four wickets, captain Kevin joined hands with the experienced Flintoff to put up a half century partnership for the fifth wicket. The partnership came at a very good run rate owing to some big hits by both the Englishmen including a perfect switch hit by the England captain. The duo also took the team’s total past the 150 run mark.

England had gone into lunch on day 3 of the second Test match at Mohali at 57 for the loss of two wickets.