Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy: Prasidh, Siraj pick four-fers as England earn 23-run 1st innings lead

London: Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj led a brilliant fightback for India by picking four wickets apiece as the visitors kept England's lead down to 23 runs after dismissing them for 247 in 51.2 overs on Day Two of the fifth and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Oval here on Friday.

India managed 55 runs in 12 overs losing wicket  of KL Rahul (7) in their second innings.

When England put on an entertaining 92-run opening stand off only 12.4 overs and reached 109/1 at lunch, it felt that they would run all the way to take a huge lead. But from the post-lunch session onwards, Siraj got crucial scalps through his nip-backers and yorkers to pick 4-86 and be the current leading wicket-taker of the ongoing series.

Prasidh then troubled batters with up-and-down bounce as well as sideways movement to take 4-62. For England, Zak Crawley and Harry Brook went on to make half-centuries. While Crawley top-scored with 64, Brook’s 53 helped England take a slender lead and leave the match on a knife-edge, especially with India set to bat for an hour and 40 minutes.

The final session began with Gus Atkinson creaming Siraj and Prasidh each for a boundary. But on the fifth ball of the 47th over, Atkinson couldn’t middle his pull shot and mid-on took a simple catch to give Prasidh his fourth wicket.

Brook then swept Siraj for six in a style reminiscent of Rishabh Pant, before rain caused the proceedings to stop for 40 minutes. When play resumed, Brook brought up his 13th Test fifty off 57 balls. But Siraj managed to finish with four wickets as Brook tried to clip one away but was only left to see his stumps being rattled. With no Chris Woakes available for batting, it brought an end to England's innings at 247, their lowest total of this series.

Earlier, Gus Atkinson was at his fiery best at his home ground to pick his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests as England bowled India out for 224 in 69.4 overs.

London, Aug 1 (IANS) on day two of the fifth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at The Oval on Friday.

Resuming from 204/6, India’s innings ended within 30 minutes and 34 deliveries of the morning session’s start. Atkinson took three of the final four wickets to finish with 5-33 from 21.4 overs, including eight maidens. Josh Tongue took one scalp in the session to end up with 3-57, as India lost their last four wickets for just 20 runs.

The session began with Karun Nair and Washington Sundar taking a boundary each off Tongue. But Tongue bounced back to deliver the first breakthrough for England when he got a ball to jag back in and beat Nair’s inside edge to trap the batter plumb lbw for 57, with the right-handed batter also burning a review.

In the next over, Washington was dismissed for 26 after he pulled a short delivery from Atkinson to deep square leg. Atkinson got his fourth wicket when his fuller delivery crashed into Mohammed Siraj’s off stump to castle him through the gate.

Brief scores: India 224 in 69.4 overs (Karun Nair 57, B. Sai Sudharsan 38; Gus Atkinson 5-33, Josh Tongue 3-57) trail England 247 all out in 51.2 overs (Zak Crawley 64, Harry Brook 53; Prasidh Krishna 4-62, Mohammed Siraj 4-86). IANS

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