Sreesanth and Zaheer lead India comeback

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India's pacemen led a stirring fightback on the second day at Lord's as England lost their six remaining wickets for 26 in less than 11 overs. Play was delayed for two-and-a-half hours after torrential morning thunderstorms, but it was soon India making the lightening strikes as the second new ball did the damage. Zaheer Khan claimed the vital wicket of Kevin Pietersen before Sreesanth plucked three with his full, late swing, reports Cricinfo.
Pietersen was involved in a dramatic few minutes of action as he returned to the crease after initially believing he was out before falling a few moments later. The much-vaunted strength of the England's middle order failed for the first time this summer as Zaheer and Sreesanth transformed themselves from their laboured showing on the opening day. From Michael Vaughan's wicket late on the first day, India claimed eight for 46.
After another amazing mopping up operation from the Lord's groundstaff meant play began at 1.50pm despite the outfield resembling a lake less than two hours earlier. It again showed the value of the drainage system Lord's invested in as on most other grounds the volume of rain that fell in the morning would have left no chance of any play.
There was a noticeable bounce in India's step as RP Singh cleaned up Ryan Sidebottom, the nightwatchman, in the first over with the new ball before the extraordinary passage of play involving Pietersen. Firstly he edged a drive off Zaheer low to MS Dhoni who claimed the catch and Pietersen walked with Simon Taufel then raising his finger.
However, before Pietersen reached the boundary replays showed the ball hadn't carried and team-mates waved him to stay in the middle. The third umpire confirmed the ball didn't make it to Dhoni, but two balls later another edge off Zaheer flew comfortably to the wicketkeeper and there was no way back for Pietersen this time.
With Matt Prior at No.8 because of the nightwatchman, England's batting was deep but India continued their resurgence through a double-wicket maiden from Sreesanth. He trapped Prior playing across the line and three balls later had Chris Tremlett stone dead for a duck on his debut. Monty Panesar fell in similar circumstances, caught on the crease as the ball swung back late into the pads.
Scorecard
England 1st innings:
AJ Strauss c Dravid b Kumble 96
AN Cook lbw b Ganguly 36
MP Vaughan c Dhoni b Singh 79
KP Pietersen c Dhoni b Khan 37
Collingwood lbw b Kumble 0
RJ Sidebottom b Singh 1
IR Bell b Khan 20
MJ Prior lbw b Sreesanth 1
CT Tremlett lbw b Sreesanth 0
MS Panesar lbw b Sreesanth 0
JM Anderson not out 0
Extras: (b 9, lb 10, w 7, nb 2) 28
Total: (all out; 91.2 overs) 298
Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Cook, 14.4 ov), 2-218 (Strauss, 63.6 ov), 3-252 (Vaughan, 76.4 ov), 4-255 (Collingwood, 77.6 ov), 5-272 (Sidebottom, 82.5 ov), 6-286 (Pietersen, 85.1 ov), 7-287 (Prior, 86.3 ov), 8-287 (Tremlett, 86.6 ov), 9-297 (Panesar, 90.4 ov), 10-298 (Bell, 91.2 ov)
India 1st innings:
KD Karthik lbw b Sidebottom 5
W Jaffer not out 45
R Dravid c Prior b Anderson 2
SR Tendulkar not out 26
Extras: (b 4, lb 6, nb 1) 11
Total: (2 wickets; 31.6 overs) 89
To bat: SC Ganguly, VVS Laxman, wicket-keeperMS Dhoni, A Kumble, Z Khan, RP Singh and S Sreesanth
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Karthik, 8.3 ov), 2-27 (Dravid, 11.5 ov)
Toss: England, who chose to bat first.