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Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Gary Ballance took the plaudits on day two of the second Test between England and India at Lord's and it will be interesting to see which side grabs the bull by the horns and takes control of this Test match, which at the moment is perfectly poised.
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The match is scheduled for a 3.30 pm IST (11 am local time, 6 am ET) start with live coverage on the Star Sports (Star Sports 1, 3 and HD1) network in India. The match is also available for live streaming online in India via Starsports.com. Viewers in England can watch the match on Sky Sports 2, with the live streaming option available HERE or HERE. US viewers can catch the action on ESPN 3, while the match can also be live streamed HERE.
Ballance's century was crucial in helping England end with a score of 219 for six at the close of play on the second day, with Bhuvneshwar doing most of the damage for India with four of the six wickets.
The green pitch at Lord's has browned considerably, and even if there is still a little bit of help for the bowlers, the batsmen also have the odds a lot more in their favour than on day one.
"It's a great feeling," Ballance, who struck a second straight hundred at Lord's after breaching the three-figure mark against Sri Lanka told ECB's official website. "I wanted to get us out of a hole and put us in a decent position come tomorrow. It's a great feeling and it's a shame I didn't kick on and be there tonight.
"It's obviously a great place to play cricket. The pitch this week has done a bit more from when I have played on it before. If you get in and play good shots and be patient, you can score quickly."
With two new batsmen – Matt Prior and nightwatchman Liam Plunkett -- at the crease, after the late wickets of Moeen Ali and Ballance, India will be keen to pick up those final four wickets quickly; because, as Ballance mentioned if you spend some time in the middle on this wicket, then it gets extremely difficult to send the batsman packing.
India did reasonably well with the ball on day two, a performance which Bhuvneshwar described as their best overall, but there is still room for improvement with all the bowlers needing to be on the money from ball one on day three.
"The wicket eased out a lot today and the ball didn't swing like it did yesterday," Bhuvneshwar said on Friday. "It is much easier to bat on now. But there's still a lot in there if you bowl in the right areas.
"I think it was our best day of bowling as a bowling group because despite the conditions being more in favour of the batsmen, we really kept them quiet and stopped them from scoring freely."
With only two days gone, a result looks quite possible in this second Test; but much will depend on the first session on day three – if the England batsmen continue to frustrate the Indian bowlers, then we could be in for another long grinding day of Test match cricket. If the bowlers find their mojo in the first 15 or so overs, though, then the Test match might just open up from the visitors' point of view.
