Zaheer injury, Trott reprieves rock India

India spearhead Zaheer Khan left the field injured as England fought back on the first day of the first Test at Lord’s on Thursday.

England, having lost the toss in overcast seam bowler-friendly conditions, were 127 for two when bad light forced an early tea, despite the floodlights being switched on.

Jonathan Trott, missed twice, was 58 not out and Kevin Pietersen 22 not out with the two South Africa-born batsmen’s unbroken third wicket stand so far worth 65.

Left-arm fast bowler Zaheer had been the pick of India’s attack, with two wickets for 18 runs in 13.3 overs, when he suffered what appeared to be a hamstring injury and slowly walked off the field with England 107 for two.

Shortly afterwards, Trott drove off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for four. But he was lucky to be at the crease at all by that stage.

Before lunch he’d been missed on eight when, to Harbhajan’s first ball of the match, he got an outside edge that slip Rahul Dravid could not grasp.

And Trott should have been out for 32 in the second session when, having nicked Zaheer, he saw India captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni inexplicably fail to move across to his right for a catch that was never going to carry to first slip Dravid.

Instead he went on to complete a valuable 89-ball fifty with seven boundaries.

India had held England to 43 for one off 21 overs at lunch in the 2,000th Test match of all time and the 100th between the two countries after the start had been delayed by 30 minutes. Zaheer had in-form opener Alastair Cook lbw for just 12, the first time in seven Test innings the left-hander had failed to make a fifty.

Shortly after lunch, India did reduce England to 62 for two when captain Andrew Strauss miscued a pull off a Zaheer bouncer straight to Ishant Sharma at long leg and was out for 22