Pietersen ton takes England to a comfortable 305/5 at tea

SPORT-IND-TEA
 Pietersen ton takes England to a comfortable 305/5 at tea
       By Ashish Shukla
       London, Jul 22 (PTI) Kevin Pietersen was back in form
 with a gritty century against India on the second afternoon of
 the first Test at Lord's here on Friday.
       The South Africa-born batsman shrugged off his
 indifferent form with a patient 115 as England reached a
 commendable 305 for five at tea as visitors struggled due to
 the absence of pace spearhead Zaheer Khan.
       Pietersen reached the three-figure mark with possibly the
 best of all his 10 boundaries --- a scorching on-drive that
 raced past the ropes. It was his 18th century in his 75th
 Test and his fourth against India, the fifth at Lord's and
 first in the last seven Tests. It was a battle of attrition
 for him as he faced 216 deliveries in the process.
       Pietersen was the bedrock on which England innings was
 built—the tall right-hander was involved in two significant
 stands of 98 and 110 for successive wickets with Jonathan
 Trott (70) and Ian Bell (45).
       KP as he is known in the cricketing fraternity, has so
 far kept a 345–minute vigil at the crease and faced 245 balls
 with 12 hits to the fence.
       His characteristic pulls and whips across the line were
 on display as well as the occasional scratchiness due to his
 recent run of poor scores.
       India too earned respect for its unyielding spirit,
 no-one signifying it better than Praveen Kumar who has so far
 bowled 17 overs today and picked up all the three wickets to
 fall, two of them in one over.
       Though Praveen trapped Trott leg before with the old
 ball, he mesmerized the batsmen with the second new ball,
 taken after 87 overs. PTI AS
 ASR

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       The spirited Uttar Pradesh seamer tried to bowl a fuller
 length and repeatedly drew the batsmen forward and was
 rewarded in his third over with the second new ball when he
 had both Bell (45) and Eoin Morgan (0) caught behind by Dhoni
 in a space of four deliveries. His spell with the second new
 ball read 7-2-20-2.
       Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni himself signified the
 spirit of world’s best team by bringing himself on to bowl
 straightaway after lunch, sending five overs on a trot.
       Pietersen was batting on 73 when Dhoni angled one into
 him and it looked like the batsman nicked it to part-time
 keeper Rahul Dravid. Umpire Billy Bowden had raised his finger
 but Pietersen decided to review it and was adjudged not out.
       Although he didn't trouble Ian Bell too much, Pietersen
 did survive a confident leg before shout in the first ball
 of his spell. The decision went in favour of the batsman as it
 apparently struck Pietersen outside the line of stumps.
       Though Dhoni has previously turned his arm over in Tests
 three times, he has never ever bowled beyond the first over.
 He bowled for the first time in a Test match against Pakistan
 at Faisalabad and then against England at Mohali and New
 Zealand at Ahmedabad.
       Interestingly Dhoni has a wicket in ODIs against West
 Indies. He had bowled Travis Dowlin in an ICC Champions Trophy
 match at Johannesburg. PTI AS
 ASR