IAN BELL STROKES HIS WAY TO A SUPERB 159
India lost another Test from a position where they could have played England out the match. England dominated the Test series yet again by putting up a very impressive second innings batting and bowling performance.
The first day of the Test started of on a positive note for the Indians with the skipper MSD winning the toss and putting England into bat. The Indian seam bowlers reduced England to 128 for 8. Barring Harbhajan all three seam bowlers bowled very well.
As he has done so many times in the recent past Stuart Broad rescued England by virtue of some determined stroke making. He and Graeme Swann registered a 73 run partnership of just 11.4 overs. Broad finally fell at the score of 221. If the Indians had an in form spinner or one more seam bowler they could have dismissed England for less than 150 runs.
During the 2007 series England were in a similar situation in the second test at Trent Bridge. They were out for only 198 ,the Indians batted beautifully afterwards and registered 481 without any player making a hundred.
The key point of the Indian reply this time was that there was no first wicket contribution at all as opposed to 147 runs put by D.Karthik and W.Jaffer during the 2007 series. The question still remains as to why Wasim Jaffer is not called into the team in the absense of Gambhir or Sehwag. It did not make any sense to blood an inexperienced player Abhinav Mukund in place of W.Jaffer who could have provided India a good start.
Also the captain played loose shots and gifted his wicket away to some ordinary bowling. It was very imperative for him to stay put on the wicket with Rahul Dravid. Dhoni has played many stellar knocks for India in the past and during occasions when a star such as him does not play well, it may be well worthwhile to consider alternatives such as getting Dravid to keep wickets for the next Test and play Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvraj instead of persisting with his temporary failures
Rahul and VVS batted superbly once again showing how class matters in such closely contested games.There was also good batting display by Yuvraj. Going by this trend it seems that the Indians will drop Abhinav Mukund for the next game and retain Yuvraj.
The Indians fell from a very strong position 269 for 4 to 288 All out. Here is where MSD with his class could have contributed and added at least 100 more runs with Rahul and the Tail. India could have reached 400 with a healthy lead of 180 runs. This would have prolonged the innings time and also given India 360 runs to chase on day 5. From this situation it would have been easy for India to save the game.
As it can be easily seen a better game plan to occupy the crease and build small more effective partnerships and also good accurate bowling could have easily saved Indians both the Tests.
England retailiated with a huge second innings score of 544 what with Ian Bell, Broad, Matt Prior, Pieterson, Trott, Morgan all chipping in with useful contributions. The highlight of the second innings reply was an unusual run out that featured Ian Bell. Bell just walked of for tea thinking that the ball was dead. He had run for 3 runs and the wicket keeper promptly ran him out. Technically he was run out as he was out of his crease when the ball was not dead ( as it did not cross the ropes). India recalled him back as they had recalled wicket keeper Taylor 31 years ago during the 1980 England Vs India Centenary test in Mumbai. It was in good spirits though in my opinion the run out should have been exercised. The batsmen should not be careless and walk out of his crease for any reason whatsoever.
India was left with a daunting target of 478 to win in 1.5 days time. Had they done it it would have been the first instance of any team scoring that much in the fourth innings to win a game. India was bundled out with more than one day to spare.
When a Team that is ranked no 1 by the ICC loses in such a manner, it should serve as a vital point to correct ones’ mistakes. India could look at the other spinning option Amit Misra instead of the tired Harbajan for just one test. Maybe he can provide the much needed fourth bowling option that Harbhajan has not provided the team so far.
All said and done one should not take away credit from England, they have managed to upset the world no 1 two times in a row. It seems as though that the current England team is a very strong team that is capable of beating any other team in the world.
The question that the selectors should consider is the amount of tour practice that was provided to the players who came out of playing 3 Tests in the Carribean just a month ago. This shows the lack of preparation that is required before quality tours such as a “tour of England”. Also the selectors should not refrain from picking reserve players such as Amit Misra instead of big names such as Harbhajan Singh. They should also look at resting MSD for one game and playing with Dravid as the stand by wicket keeper so that regular batsmen such as Yuvraj, Sehwag, Gambhir and Raina play in the next Test. India is certainly missing the services of a quality all rounder. They must look at bringing back Irfan Pathan as he was emering as the quality all rounder. He could have done for India what Stuart Broad did for England.
The Indian players should realize how easily they could have saved both the Tests. One partnership by Dhoni this test in the first innings and another 100 run partnership during the second innings first test would have saved both the games.
