The Hindu : Sport : India edges ahead on penultimate day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 13, 2006

Sport

Sport

India edges ahead on penultimate day

S. Ram Mahesh

— Photo: S. Subramanium

NERVOUS NINETIES: Rahul Dravid was once again the backbone of the Indian innings but got out for the ninth time in the 90s.

Mohali: A Test wending its way to a weather-blighted draw, shook off grog and transformed on Sunday. After only 65 overs of play were possible on the first two days, middle Saturday gave a little teaser of what could have been and what might still be: nine wickets fell for 249 runs as the scales of power oscillated wildly all day.

A tub-thumping, bugle-blowing holiday crowd was treated to an even better fourth day that has set things up rather nicely. After India wrenched a 38-run lead from England's jaws thanks to Dravid's ninth score in the nineties and some spirited, intelligent, and skillful batting from the tail. Then things began to happen, the likes of which are endemic to Indian conditions.

Anil Kumble scalped three as England spluttered to 112 for five — its early defensive batting could cost it dear. Ninety-eight overs of nerve-jangling cricket remain, weather permitting. India will fancy its chances of going 1-0 up.

High-octane

After Munaf Patel removed Alastair Cook in a high-octane spell of pace with its accompanying bloodlust — touching 90 mphs — Andrew Strauss stonewalled for a while. His partner Ian Bell was busier and the pair took the score to 50 when Straus under-edged a sweep on to his boot for Dhoni to take the gentle lob.

Harbhajan beat Pietersen's sweep with bounce, but was lucky to get his man as ball went to Dravid off forearm — just the slice of fortune the Sardar needed. Kumble then coerced Collingwood to edge low to a pumped up Dravid at first slip before getting Bell (57, 137b, 7x4) caught at the wicket.

The man from Karnataka ripped vicious, fast-spun leg-breaks through Flintoff's forward press defense, but the English captain survived. The result of this fascinating contest will determine how things end.

Earlier, Dhoni started off much the same way he had ended Saturday evening, with a square drive that involved hitting Harmison's unwieldy pace and bounce on the up. But the six-foot-five-inch Durham speedster cranked out a bouncer about as pleasant as an unwashed gangster, and twice as tough to evade. It grew big on the Jharkhand wicketkeeper, cramping him and brushing glove.

Dravid in his element

Five for 153 — India's decision to play five bowlers meant all of them bar Munaf were batting a spot higher. A quick couple more, and the heebie-jeebies would have set in. Not for nothing though is Dravid considered one of the finest practitioners of his art, and with Pathan — displaying genuine all-round credentials — the Indian skipper went about stitching the lower order together.

Dravid ensured England didn't capture the momentum it so craved, by plugging one end with an obligingly obdurate bat. Pathan, at the other, drove magnificently through the line, and picked Mudhsuden Panesar for a six so flat, it existed in two dimensions.

Dravid relaxed his guard enough to conceive some memorable strokes: once he drew his arms in, softened his hands and allowed a short Flintoff delivery to slip off willow to the third-man fence; another time he leant as recommended into a cover drive off Plunkett. But Flintoff let him have one that pinched in off the seam, simultaneously keeping a trifle low. At that pace, there's little even Dravid (95, 208b, 10x4) could have done — the chop-on was terminal.

Tail wags

India, at that stage, was still 71 behind, but Pathan, Kumble and Harbhajan — each in his singular style — took India past England. Pathan, after some early nervy moments against the short ball, decided to dispense with the back-foot fend-off and drew out the hook and the pull. This caused him to step into more correct positions, and he was much the better for the choice. Kumble, his gut-wrenching resistance in Nagpur still fresh in the mind's eye, was resolute in his springy-heeled effort that contained a couple of quite stunning late cuts.

Harbhajan was special. Blessed with extraordinary wrists and a half-decent eye, he used his afore-mentioned radiocarpals for some of the best strokes of the day. On-drives and even cuts — strokes that needed participation of the arms — were dismissed with at the stage of the wrists. Such was his confidence that he once had the gall to polish the new ball before returning it to the bowler.

SCOREBOARD

England — 1st innings: 300.

India — 1st innings: W. Jaffer c Flintoff b Panesar 31, V. Sehwag c Jones b Harmison 11, R. Dravid b Flintoff 95, S. Tendulkar c Strauss b Flintoff 4, Y. Singh c Bell b Hoggard 15, M.S. Dhoni c Jones b Harmison 16, I. Pathan c Collingwood b Flintoff 52, A. Kumble b Plunkett 32, H. Singh c Jones b Flintoff 36, P. Chawla c Collingwood b Hoggard 1, M. Patel (not out) 11; Extras (lb-25, nb-8, w-1): 34; Total (in 96.2 overs): 338.

Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Sehwag), 2-96 (Jaffer), 3-103 (Tendulkar), 4-134 (Yuvraj), 5-153 (Dhoni), 6-229 (Dravid), 7-260 (Pathan), 8-313 (Harbhajan), 9-321 (Chawla).

England bowling: Hoggard 18-6-55-2, Harmison 28-9-60-2, Flintoff 22-3-96-4, Plunkett 9.2-1-37-1, Panesar 19-3-65-1.

England — 2nd innings: A. Strauss c Dhoni b Kumble 13, A. Cook c Dhoni b Munaf 2, I. Bell c Dhoni b Kumble 57, K. Pietersen c Dravid b Harbhajan 4, P. Collingwood c Dravid b Kumble 14, A. Flintoff (batting) 16, G. Jones (batting) 1; Extras (lb-1, nb-3, w-1) 5; Total (for five wickets in 51 overs) 112.

Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Cook), 2-50 (Strauss), 3-55 (Pietersen), 4-88 (Collingwood), 5-109 (Bell).

India bowling: Pathan 6-1-16-0, Munaf 5-2-10-1, Harbhajan 19-5-37-1, Kumble 17-4-41-3, Chawla 4-2-7-0.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail