Murali Vijay hits first century
Murali Vijay hits first century away from home as he helped India edge day one of the first Test with England as they finished on 259-4 at Trent Bridge.
It looked like being a long day at the office for the hosts when the tourists made it to lunch on 106-1, with Shikhar Dhawan the only man to fall for 33 off the bowling of James Anderson.
India’s batsman appeared set for a big score on a flat wicket at Trent Bridge but their progress was hindered after lunch when they lost two wickets in the space of 10 balls.
Anderson struck again to get rid of Cheteshwar Pujara for 38, the Lancashire seamer getting the ball to reverse back in to Pujara whose shot brought an outstanding one-handed catch from Ian Bell.
Bell was on hand again one over later to get rid of the dangerous Virat Kohli for one, taking the catch at slip off the bowling of Stuart Broad.
Ajinkya Rahane and Vijay made it to tea without any further drama but the break again appeared to interrupt India’s concentration as Rahane bottom edged his shot to skipper Alastair Cook from a short Liam Plunkett delivery.
That brought India skipper MS Dhoni to the crease and alongside Vijay they managed to bat out the day, Dhoni ending on 50 not out as the partnership reached 81.
It was Vijay who was the star of the show though as he scored his fourth Test century in 23 appearances, finishing the first day on 122 from 294 delivers.
The 30-year-old put his excellent performance down to the homework he had done on the England bowlers before the start of the series, coupled with a lifeless pitch.
Vijay said: “I’ve worked a lot with videos of James Anderson. The first 15 minutes are the toughest thing as an opener. I wanted to play straight and late.
“It’s a good batting wicket. After lunch, there was period when it was doing a bit, so that was a good experience for me.
“Duncan Fletcher has helped a lot because he knows how things work in these conditions. We were working for two weeks before we came out here.”
Betting….
India will resume on 259-4 on Thursday and are priced at 5/2 to win the first Test, with England 9/2 and the draw 4/6.
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