England, India register contrasting wins

Two Test matches were played in the previous week, and there were interesting results to both. Apart from the winning teams, credit must be afforded to the curators of the grounds at Birmingham and the P Sara Stadium, for producing a ripper of a track.

At Birmingham, England took on Pakistan in the second Test match of the series. For some strange reason, Pakistani captain Salman Butt wanted to bat first under cloudy and swinging conditions and this meant that the side were bowled out for a paltry 72 in their first innings of the game. James Anderson followed up his 11-wicket haul in the previous game to grab four wickets.

In reply, England were well and truly on top at 177/2, but Saeed Ajmal’s five-wicket haul meant that the lead was restricted to 179 runs only. It looked enough for England though, as they looked to be running away with the game when the Pakistani side slumped to 101/6. This was where the resurrection came, as Zulqarnain Haider and the rest of the tail propped up the Pakistani total to 296 – thereby setting a target of 118 to win.

England strolled to a win after the early loss of Alastair Cook, winning it by nine wickets. With this, they have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. The third Test will be played at the Oval.

In the other game of the week, India went into the PSS Test match 0-1 down and when they lost the toss, it looked like the game was going against them. Sri Lanka scored 425 in their first innings and in reply, India evened it up by getting to 436. Batting in the second innings was such a problem for the Sri Lankans, that they slumped to 87/7 at one stage, before recovering to post 267 in their second innings.

Chasing 257 for a series-levelling win, India lost four wickets for 62 before VVS Laxman joined Sachin Tendulkar, slammed a century and guided the Indians through to a win. He went on to win the man of the match award, whereas Virender Sehwag won the man of the series award.

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Tags: Alastair Cook, England, India, James Anderson, Pakistan, Sachin Tendulkar, Saeed Ajmal, Salman Butt, Sri Lanka, Test match, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Zulqarnain Haider