Zaheer blow for India on tense first day

England's batsmen reached 127-2 against an India side that lost key bowler Zaheer Khan to an apparent hamstring injury on a rain-affected opening day of the first test at Lord's on Thursday.

Khan was comfortably India's best bowler, claiming figures of 2-18 before he pulled up in the middle of the 42nd over, clutching his thigh, and then promptly left the field. His fitness will be monitored overnight.

"He showed he's probably the bowler we miss the most," India coach Duncan Fletcher said. "Probably the others lacked experience so, as it was, him going off was a big miss.

"From our point of view I think maybe we would have been happy with three wickets. I think if he had stayed there and got three or four we would have ended up having a very good day."

Jonathan Trott was England's top scorer with a nervy 58 from 104 balls, including eight fours.

"I had a let off once or twice but that's the game of cricket," Trott admitted. "I'll take the runs and hopefully build on it. We can't rest on our laurels and expect to get 200-2 tomorrow.

"We've got to work really hard. India will be keen to make inroads tomorrow and it's our job to combat that."

Light rain delayed the start until 1030 GMT, with India winning the toss and opting to bowl, looking to exploit the overcast conditions.

The ball misbehaved persistently, forcing England's openers to make a tentative start.

India bowled three successive maidens before England got off the mark when Cook glanced Praveen Kumar for four at the start of the fourth over.

Strauss could then have been run out for just three runs when he set off for a suicidal single to Kumar, but was spared when Ishant Sharma, fielding at mid on, missed the stumps.

The breakthrough came in the 11th over when Cook was given lbw to an inswinger from Khan.

With the umpires unable to review lbw decisions under the revised terms of the Decision Review System for this series it was a brave call by Asad Rauf. However, the television replays that he — and the capacity crowd — were unable to see, vindicated him, showing the ball would have clipped the top of leg stump.

Harbhajan was brought on 10 minutes before lunch and his first delivery drew an edge from Trott that was put down by Dravid at first slip, to the bowler's audible disgust.

Having survived a treacherous morning, Strauss (22) squandered his wicket early in an extended afternoon session with a risky attempt to pull Khan and was caught by Sharma at fine leg.

Yet while Khan proved both penetrating and miserly, his partners weren't as effective, allowing England some respite.

When Khan returned after an hour he drew an edge from Trott that flew between Dravid and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni to the boundary — the first runs off his bowling for 34 balls.

However, Khan aborted his run up in the 42nd over and immediately left the field, giving the crowd what appeared to be a farewell wave.

His departure seemed to shift the momentum behind England.

Trott reached his 50 from 89 balls and Kumar was warned for running on the wicket.

Trott and Kevin Pietersen (22 not out) put on an unbroken 65 for the third wicket, but with the light deteriorating the floodlights were turned on.

After 10 further minutes play was suspended at 1450 GMT and although the players went off before it actually started to rain, it proved a prophetic move as within moments a deluge began.

The weather eased and after a pitch inspection the umpires decided play would resume at 1730 GMT, but one minute before the restart the rain returned, to the exasperation of the paying public.

AP

 

Scorecard

England 1st Innings

Andrew Strauss c Sharma b Khan 22

Alastair Cook lbw b Khan 12

Jonathan Trott not out 58

Kevin Pietersen not out 22

Extras: (8b, 4lb, 1w) 13

TOTAL: (for two wickets) 127

Overs: 49.2.

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-62.

Still to bat: Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Chris Tremlett.

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 13.3-8-18-2, Praveen Kumar 17.3-5-46-0, Ishant Sharma 11.2-3-33-0 (1w), Harbhajan Singh 7-1-18-0.

Toss: India.

Umpires: Billy Bowden, New Zealand, and Asad Rauf, Pakistan.

Third umpire: Marais Erasmus, South Africa. Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle, Sri Lanka.