England bowl out India for 453 in 2nd Test

The England first innings failed to get underway as play was called off due to bad light after India were all out for 453 runs in their first innings on the second day of second Test at the PCA stadium in Mohali on Saturday.

Play was called off after the umpires offered the England openers Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook the light without a ball being bowled. Strauss and Cook were more than happy in accepting the light.

England bowlers took wickets at regular intervals to deny the Indian middle order to build on the contributions of Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid.

The Indian first innings end came when Andrew Flintoff clean bowled Amit Mishra who hit a four and a six in his 23-run knock.

Flintoff took his second wicket when Zaheer Khan (7) was clean bowled off an inside edge.

Before that, India lost captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh in quick succession to be at 418/8 after tea.

Monty Panesar took his second wicket when he had Harbhajan Singh caught by Graeme Swann at mid-off. Harbhajan entertained his home crowd hitting two fours and a six in his 21-ball knock of 24.

In the previous over, Dhoni miscued a hit off James Anderson to mid-wicket for substitute Owais Shah to take the catch after hitting 3 fours in his knock of 29.

Monty took his first wicket of the match when he dismissed Yuvraj Singh (27) to reduce India to 379/6.

Yuvraj came down the pitch to play a flick, the ball pitched in the rough bounced to edge off the glove for Matt Prior to take the catch.

Yuvraj resurrected the Indian innings to an extent by hitting 3 fours and a six and adding 40 runs with his Dhoni.

In the second session of the day, the Indian innings was jolted by losing four quick wickets.

Graeme Swann dismissed Gautam Gambhir (179), Rahul Dravid (136) and Sachin Tendulkar (11) in quick succession before Andrew Flintoff sent back VVS Laxman for a duck to reduce India to 339/5 soon after lunch.

India lost 4 wickets for 19 runs as Flintoff trapped Laxman, who failed to get off the mark after facing 23 deliveries, plumb in front of the wicket with a reverse swinging delivery.

Swann took his third wicket when Tendulkar tried to play a paddle sweep but missed the ball that hit his front pad. Tendulkar hit a single four in his knock.

Swann's second wicket came in the form of Dravid who charged down the pitch, but beaten by the flight was forced to check his shot and mistimed it up in the air for Monty Panesar to take the catch at mid-off.

Dravid hit 19 fours in his rock solid innings and it came soon after the dismissal of Gambhir.

It was more of a case of Gambhir gifting his wicket rather than England taking it as the diminutive opener charged down the pitch needlessly and edged a Swann delivery to Alistair Cook for the catch.

Gambhir's superb innings was studded with 25 fours and a six and he added 314 runs with Dravid for the second wicket.

Gambhir and Dravid took India to 302/1 at lunch.

Dravid brought up the Indian 300 on the last ball before lunch with a boundary off Monty Panesar. With their partnership, Gambhir and Dravid ensured that India is calling the shots in this Test.

Gambhir and Dravid broke the record partnership between a left-hander and right-hander that was of 281 runs and stood in the name of Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly that came against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in 1999.

When he reached 143, Gambhir became the fourth Indian after Virender Sehwag, Tendulkar and VVS Laxman to complete 1000 Test runs in the calendar year.

Dravid hit 17 fours in his knock, while Gambhir's knock is studded with 24 fours and a six.

Earlier, reaffirming that class is permanent and form is temporary, Dravid hit his 26th century that is probably one of the most important centuries of his career because of the constant criticism he was getting from the self-styled cricket critics who were even questioning his place in the side.

But a firm believer in his capabilities that he is, Dravid celebrated in a clam fashion just with a raised bat, no wild celebrations at all as everyone in the Indian dressing room stood up and applauded the effort.

This was Dravid's 4th hundred against England and the first century since March 2008 when he scored 111 against South Africa at Chennai - a knock that was overshadowed by Virender Sehwag's belligerent 319.

With this partnership, that is the highest for India against England for the second wicket and the highest at the PCA stadium for any wicket, Gambhir and Dravid have justified Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to bat first in overcast conditions.

Gambhir and Dravid joined forces on day one to put India on path to a sizable total after losing Sehwag early that left India at 6/1.

This was Gambhir's third century in the last four Tests, second at Mohali and first against England.

Dravid has now been involved in 73 century partnerships, which is the most by any batsman.

After lunch on day one, when he reached 20, Dravid completed 8000 runs at number three in Test cricket.