Murali Vijay backed Ravindra Jadeja to be a last-day hero as India closed in on a coveted Test win against England at Lord’s.
Both players had a Sunday to remember although, in opener Vijay’s case, it was bittersweet as he just missed out on a place on the Lord’s honours board by making 95.
But his painstaking knock laid the foundation for India’s second innings 342, a total bolstered by a dashing eighth-wicket stand of 99 in just 100 balls between Jadeja (68) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (52).
Left-arm spinner Jadeja then took a wicket with his first ball to have Sam Robson lbw.
At stumps, England were 4-105 — still needing a further 214 runs to reach their victory target of 319 — with both captain Alastair Cook and fellow senior batsman Ian Bell out cheaply.
Jadeja promises to pose particular problems for England’s remaining four out of six left-handers — Gary Ballance, like Cook, fell tamely on Sunday — in Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad and James Anderson as there is now significant rough outside their off-stump.
“The game is really well-placed,” Vijay told reporters.
“It is doing a lot for the spinner because of the foot marks and they have six left-handers so it is going to be tough for them.”
The 30-year-old Vijay was on the brink of making hundreds in successive matches, following his excellent 146 in the drawn first Test of this five-match series at Trent Bridge when, after more than six hours at the crease, he fell an agonising five runs short when caught behind off James Anderson with the new ball.
“It is disappointing but I will take it any day if we pull off a win tomorrow (Monday),” said Vijay, now in his 24th Test.
“Jadeja played really well, carrying through his aggressive intent and obviously Bhuvneshwar was hitting the ball. They both put us in a very good position.”
India are now on the brink of their first away win in 16 Tests, their last overseas victory coming against the West Indies in Jamaica in 2011.
And were they to go 1-0 up in the series, it would also represent only India’s second win in 17 Tests at Lord’s following their 1986 success at the ‘home of cricket’.
“We are all pumped up to do something special,” said Vijay. “We are here to prove a point, we are here to win a game.”
