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England took on India in the 2000th Test match in cricket history at Lord’s Cricket Ground, a symbolic venue for one of the game’s milestone Test matches. This was the first Test of the four-match series, with the Three Lions coming in with their backs against the wall after having lost to the same opponents in 2011. India were smelling an opportunity with a dominant batting lineup and were looking to start the series with a win.
Being put into bat, England found themselves under the pump early after Zaheer Khan removed openers Alistair Cook and Andrew Strauss. Jonathan Trott was joined in the middle by Kevin Pietersen, with the pair going about repairing England’s innings. The two batters put on a stand of 98 runs before Trott fell to Praveen Kumar. Ian Bell joined Pietersen and the pair put on a 110-run stand. Bell was dismissed for 45 by Praveen Kumar, the latter of whom also removed Eoin Morgan in the same over. Pietersen motored along and was joined by Matt Prior, who scored a brilliant 71 before falling to Kumar. He then removed Stuart Broad off the next ball, before Pietersen was joined by Swann. Pietersen was the star of the innings, motoring along to score an unbeaten 202, a knock which contained 21 fours and one six. England declared their innings at a score of 4744 for 8, with Praveen Kumar picking up a five-wicket haul.
India’s openers gave the team a solid start before being reduced to 77 for 2 after Stuart Broad picked up both their wickets. Rahul Dravid came in at number 3 to hold an end for the side, and stitched a partnership with Sachin Tendulkar before the latter also fell to Broad for 34. The rest of the Indian batting lineup were unable to offer much resistance as Dravid motored along at the other end. He remained unbeaten on 103 as India were bowled out for 286, conceding an 188-run lead.
England found themselves reduced to 107 for 6 in their second innings, with Ishant Sharma picking up four wickets before Matt Prior scored a 120-ball 103 to pull them back into the contest and set them up for a dominant position. Prior was joined by Stuart Broad, who scored 74 off 90 balls as the pair scored an unbeaten 162-run stand off 166 balls as England declared on 269 for 6, leaving India with a total of 458 to chase.
Abhinav Mukund fell early to Broad, before Dravid, promoted up to open, and Laxman stitched a partnership for the second wicket. Dravid fell to Anderson on the morning of Day 5, who also removed Laxman for 56, and Gambhir fell to Graeme Swann. Tendulkar scored a laborious 68-ball 12 before falling LBW to Anderson. India kept losing wickets at the other end despite Suresh Raina’s defiant rearguard. Raina was the penultimate batter to fall, with Anderson ending his resistance at 78 to finish with a five-wicket haul. Broad then had Ishan trapped in front to seal a 196-run win and take a 1-0 lead in the series.
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