England 57 for 2 at lunch

Mohali, Dec 21 (PTI) India's new ball colleagues Zaheer
Khan and Ishant Sharma struck in their first overs to reduce
England to 57 for two at lunch on day three of the second and
final cricket Test here Sunday.

At the lunch break, England captain Kevin Pietersen (28)
and Alastair Cook (25) were in the middle, having scored runs
at a brisk rate.

The visitors still trail India by 396 runs in their first
essay.

A thick fog hung over the Punjab Cricket Association
Stadium, resulting in a 90-minute delay but India didn't have
to wait for long to get the breakthrough.

In fact by the time the seventh ball of the day had been
bowled, England looked in a hole as the first two runs they
scored cost them as many wickets.

On a high after his twin tons in the Chennai Test, Andrew
Strauss was brought down to earth by a fuller Zaheer Khan
delivery that rapped him in front and umpire Daryl Harper felt
it would have his the stumps.

Ian Bell (1) did slightly better than his scoreless
opening partner by at least opening his account.

But like Strauss, his too was a three-ball knock brought
to an end by Ishant Sharma's first ball that took an inside
edge before uprooting the middle stump.

His side in the doldrums, it was clearly an unenviable
position as Pietersen walked out to bat. His Indian
counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni stunned all by replacing
Zaheer with Yuvraj Singh after the left-arm seamer had removed
Strauss in his first over.

The ploy, apparently prompted by the fact that Yuvraj had
trapped Kevin Pietersen in the second innings of the Chennai
Test, didn't pay off and Zaheer was soon back in the attack.

Pietersen was not ready to allow the pressure to bog him
and down and decided not to hold himself back. He clipped
Ishant for his first four and then hit Zaheer for two
boundaries in the same over – a flick wide off the leg-slip
and an on-drive – to signal his intentions.

Having witnessed both the setbacks from the other end,
Cook was understandably cautious and the first two boundaries
flowing from his bat were immaculate straight drives. The
left-hander went on to hit Zaheer for two boundaries in the
same over – last one being an elegant pull. PTI AY
NIK
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