Dhoni, Jadeja hold fort for India at lunch

India added 83 runs in the morning session of the second day of the first cricket Test against England to go into lunch with the scoreboard reading 342/5 at Trent Bridge here Thursday.

Opener Murali Vijay, who scored his fourth Test century Wednesday, added another 24 runs to his tally before departing for a deserving 146. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja were batting on 81 and 24, respectively, when lunch was called.

Resuming the day at 259/4, Vijay and Dhoni saw off the first few nervy overs and added another 45 runs in the first hour to their 126-run fifth-wicket partnership, seeing the visitors cross the 300-run mark.

However, soon the centurion was trapped leg before wicket by pacer James Anderson (3/95), who picked up his third wicket of the innings.

The skipper, however, was joined by Jadeja, who came out in a mood to score quick runs. The left-handed batsman scored 24 runs from 18 deliveries which included two huge sixes off spinner Moeen Ali in the same over to add to two fours he hit earlier.

The duo stuck it out in the middle to make sure India lost only one wicket in 28 overs and scored 83 runs at a run rate of 2.96 in the morning session.
(IANS)