India struggling at 205/8 despite Dhoni's unbeaten fifty

Birmingham, Aug 10 (PTI) India were struggling at 205 for
eight at tea despite Mahendra Singh Dhoni's counter-attacking
unbeaten half-century on the opening day of the third cricket
Test against England, here Wednesday.
The India skipper finally produced an innings of
substance as he helped India cross the 200-mark after being
reduced to 111 for seven at one stage, with Tim Bresnan (four
for 62) and Stuart Broad (three for 47) doing the maximum
damage.
Dhoni had smashed 61 off 72 balls and put on 84 runs for
the eighth wicket with Praveen Kumar (26) after rival skipper
Andrew Strauss put the visitors in.
The visitors, 75 for four at lunch, lost the wickets of
Suresh Raina (2), VVS Laxman (30) and Amit Mishra (4) in no
time on resumption, before Dhoni and Kumar did the recovery
work.
Dhoni took 16 balls to get off the mark — through a
pre-determined push to covers off Bresnan — but then took the
attack to the opposition camp on an increasingly slow
Edgbaston pitch.
He straight drove and pulled James Anderson for fours and
then played Stuart Broad off the backfoot before pulling him
for a four.
In his groove, Dhoni smote Anderson over mid-on for six
and then lifted Tim Bresnan over midwicket for another
maximum.
He reached his half century when he off-drove Graeme
Swann, introduced into the attack in the 47th over, having
faced 63 balls. He hit seven fours and two sixes.
Kumar, at the other end, was an ideal foil to his
skipper. He too hit some effective boundaries, showing no
respect to Swann, whom he also lofted for a six.