After an overdose of T20 funfair month of November sees some much anticipated Test series resume. None more absorbing than England’s winter tour of India.
Alistair Cook’s England arrived in India, with much hopes of exorcising the spin demons that tormented their batsmen on their last winter’s tour to the UAE and Sri Lanka. Winning the toss and batting first India amassed a score of 521/8 with rookie Cheteshwar Pujara top scoring with a magnificent undefeated 206. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag got the hosts off to a perfect start, before Gambhir was bowled by Graham Swann for 45, with the Indian score on 134. In walked Pujara, and along with Sehwag, the duo continued to make the visitors toil. Widely regarded as the new Dravid of Indian cricket, Pujara had little trouble in manoeuvring the rather ineffective English bowling to all parts of the Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad as Sehwag continued in his swashbuckling style at the other end. The opener eventually fell victim to Swann, but not before making a run-a-ball 117. Yuvraj Singh also made a welcome return to Test cricket with an impressive 74, but the show belonged to the young Pujara. Swann was by far the most impressive of the English bowlers, as he finished with figures of 5/144. The rest of the bowlers were disappointing to say the very least. Anderson could do little on this pitch that offered him no assistance. Stuart Broad seems to have lost his sting in recent times, and returned woeful figures of none for 97.Tim Bresnan struggled to find any consistent pace and ended wicketless as well. In hindsight, Andy Flower would have rued not including Monty Panesar – a proven wicket taker in these conditions.
When it was their turn to bat, Flower, Graham Gooch, and co would have been hopeful that the lessons learnt of the recent past would hold them in good stead against the spin threat of Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyhan Ojha. However, any such hopes were quickly diminished. Despite having star batsman Kevin Pietersen back in their ranks following his indiscretions during the South Africa series, England found themselves all at seas once again as the duo of Ojha and Ashwin made quick inroads into the tourists’ top order. At the end of the second day’s play England were 41/3 with Compton, Trott, and night watchman James Anderson all back in the hut. Things went from bad to worse for England on the 3rd morning as Pietersen was bowled trying to follow one that spun sharply off Ojha, and Ian Bell was made to look silly, caught the very next ball attempting an expansive shot to break the shackles of the close in fielders. From then on the tourists were staring down the barrel with the score on 69 for 5. Skipper Alastair Cook was the only top order batsman who looked composed at the wicket and made a dogged 41. Matt Prior was the only other to make a worthwhile contribution of 48, which went a long way in stretching their first innings total to a paltry 191.
Being 330 runs behind, the writing was on the wall with defeat staring them in the face. At that point it seemed to be only a matter of ‘when’ as opposed to ‘if’. England had to conjure up something really special to get them out of the hole they had dug themselves into. MS Dhoni duly imposed the follow on, and Cook and Nick Compton were back in the middle battling for survival. Credit must be given to the pair for the way they played, displaying good powers of concentration given their predicament in the game. It took the hosts till the 45th over to break the blossoming partnership as Compton fell LBW to Zaheer Khan who was finding good rhythm in this innings. England were 123 at the loss of the first wicket. Unfortunately, barring Skipper Cook, the top order once again failed to deliver any innings of substance with Trott, Pietersen and Bell contributing only 41 between them. Pietersen found his furniture disturbed by Ojha for the second time in the game contributing only 2 runs. Samit Patel was adjudged LBW off Umesh Yadav for a golden duck to leave them on 199/5 – still 131 runs adrift of making India bat again. With an innings defeat a distinct possibility, Matt Prior walked in to join his skipper and the two of them batted remarkably well from there on. They showed the rest of the batsmen just how to construct an innings on a slow turning cub-continent pitch. Prior, who has shown tremendous prowess as a wicketkeeper batsman over the last couple of years, proved an able companion to Cook as the pair managed to see out the day taking their total to 340/5. Cook had surpassed yet another classical century to remain unbeaten on 168, with Prior on 84. Being 10 runs ahead with 5 wickets in hand, a glimmer, just a glimmer of hope had now crept into the visitors dressing room.
Unfortunately for the tourists, any such optimism was erased an hour into play on the fifth morning as Prior and Cook’s stubborn resistance finally gave way in quick succession, both falling victim to Ojha. The keeper batsman was unlucky to miss out on what would have been a deserved century by 9 runs while Skipper Cook made a tired looking prod to be bowled for 176 in a stay that lasted 556 mins facing 374 deliveries. Stuart Broad failed with the bat as Bresnan made meagre contributions of 20 and 17 respectively as the innings closed at 406, leaving India just 76 for victory.
In the absence of Gambhir who had to leave the squad due to personal reasons, Pujara joined Sehwag at the top of the innings, and the young batsman simply picked up from where he left off in his first innings. Fifteen and a half overs later, India were home and dry with Sehwag being the only blemish, caught on the rope by Pietersen attempting to put Swann in the stands. Pujara and Kohli saw the home side over the line. The former was rightly presented with the ‘Man of the match’ award for amassing 247 runs in the game, being unbeaten in both innings.
For India, they will be delighted with the form of their new find, as well as the performance of spin twins Ashwin and Ojha who collectively picked up 13 of the 20 wickets to fall. Zaheer Khan also made a very valid contribution whilst Sehwag seems to have got his eye in again. The only worry would be the form of the little master, Sachin Tendulkar who has now had a string of poor scores dating back to the New Zealand tour. The management as well as the cricket mad public will be hoping for a big contribution come his home Test in Mumbai. There are also injury concerns over paceman Yadav. Should he not be fit in time, one would imagine Ishant Sharma or even the charismatic Harbhajan Singh to fill in should India decide to play three spinners. They will look to win the 2nd Test as well, and if they do, one would think they would go on to grate England into the dusty surfaces that would be served up and effect a white wash.
England will do well to learn from their skipper and Matt Prior, just how to bat on these turning wickets. But they will take a lot of heart from their second essay and look to replicate that same application come the Second Test. There is immense pressure on the selectors to drop the struggling Ian bell for the promising Jonny Bairstow, and we may see that happen. Monty Panesar should be another certainty to play, given that he presents a very different threat to that of Swann and both should complement each other. One would think he would come in at the expense of either Patel or Bresnan. To win a game you must be able to take 20 wickets, and Panesar will be called upon to deliver. However, all will be in vain if their batsmen fail to put runs on the board. It’s time for the big guns to fire, and cometh the hour let’s hope KP rises to the occasion. Can’t wait for the moment of truth to unfold in Mumbai.
