London: India's long tail wagged as Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah shared an unbeaten 77-run stand off 111 balls to extend the visitors' lead to 259 at lunch on day five of the second Test against England here on Monday.
This is the highest ninth wicket partnership by an Indian pair at the Lord's. The previous record, 66, was held by Kapil Dev and Madan Lal in 1982.
Resuming the day at 181 for six, India lost Rishabh Pant early but Shami (52 batting off 67)and Bumrah (30 batting off 58 )produced a sensational stand to defy the hosts and reach 286 for eight in their second innings. It was Shami's second fifty in international cricket.
The pacer, whose previous best in Test cricket was 34, scored unbeaten 52 with a five boundaries and a six. His strike-rate was 77.61.
Bumrah, meanwhile, scored 30 off 58 balls with the help of two fours.
With two sessions remaining on the fifth day, England need 260 runs to win the Test while India will look for 10 wickets to take 1-0 lead in the five-Test series.
Shami has been outstanding in this series. Apart from his Monday's heroic with the bat, he also took six wickets in three innings. He will have chance to increase his tally when England will walk to bat in the fourth innings of the Lord's Test.
In the first Test at Nottingham, he took four wickets and at Lord's he got the scalps of Rory Burns and James Anderson in England's first innings.
Brief scores:
India: 364 all out and 286/8 in 108 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 45, Ajinkya Rahane 61, Mohammad Shami 52 batting; Mark Wood 3/51)
England 1st innings: 391 all out.
