Fast bowler Mohammed Shami scored his second Test century as India increased its lead against England to 259 runs on the fifth and final day of the second Test at the Lord’s Cricket Ground on Monday. 

With wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant falling early in the innings, the tail was under pressure to score runs and get India’s lead close to the 200-runs mark. 

And the tail responded, with Shami and Jasprit Bumrah digging in and surprising everyone with a dogged performance, stitching a 77-run partnership so far. While both were relatively new to the crease, the English pacers turned on the heat with some fierce bouncers – exacting revenge for Bumrah peppering James Anderson with short deliveries earlier in the match. 

But the two survived everything the English threw at them, picking up a few handy boundaries along the way. Skipper Joe Root then changed tactics, sending his fielders to the boundary ropes as he hoped for the tail-enders to mishit a short delivery.

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That only opened up options for Shami and Bumrah to take more singles, as they kept the scoreboard ticking and further frustrating the hosts. 

Shami really came into his own when Moeen Ali got a few overs under his belt, cover driving the off-spinner for a delightful boundary in the 99th over.

He then smashed Ali for a boundary at long on, before bringing up his fifty in style with a four and a six in consecutive deliveries. Shami first slogged one to find the mid-wicket boundary, before dancing down the track to send the ball a distance of 92m and get his second Test fifty. 

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Shami’s first Test century also came in England, in the series opener at Trent Bridge in 2014, when he scored an unbeaten 51 in the first innings.

India started the day with a lead of 154 runs, with Pant and Ishant Sharma unbeaten from Day 4. Pant was expected to shoulder much of the scoring responsibilities, but failed to deliver as Ollie Robinson forced an edge for Jos Buttler to catch behind the stumps. 

Robinson got his second of the innings when a slower knuckle ball trapped Sharma in front of the off stump as he tried to shuffle across. 

India will now look to add a few more runs to the lead after the Lunch interval, then pile the pressure on the hosts to try and win the match and take a 1-0 lead in the series.