The Hindu : Sport : England in a commanding position

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England in a commanding position

S. Dinakar

Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood are the men of the moment

— Photo: K. Pichumani

DEFIANT KNOCK: Harbhajan Singh, about to be snapped up by Ian Bell off Monty Panesar, played a crucial innings that whittled down England’s lead.

Chennai: England holds all the aces in the first Test at Chepauk. On a dry pitch encouraging spin, Kevin Pietersen’s men lead by 247 runs with seven wickets remaining.

Batting last on a surface baked by sunshine and heat could be extremely demanding. Andrew Strauss (73 batting, 149b, 5x4) and Paul Collingwood (60 batting, 128b, 6x4) were the men of the moment in the sub-continental cauldron.

The two Englishmen batted with technique and heart. The fourth-wicket pair has added 129 undefeated runs. At stumps on the third day, England was 172 for three after securing a 75-run first innings lead.

Missed chance

India fought back but a precious opportunity appeared and disappeared in a hurry. Skipper and ’keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni grassed Strauss — England was 43 for three — when the opener edged a delivery spinning into him from leggie Amit Mishra.

Dhoni had twisted his ankle while batting earlier in the day. The Indian team-management confirmed the injury was not serious. Strauss, looking at a second century in the Test, frustrated the pacemen with his jugdement around the off-stump.

He relied on back-footed play against the spinners. The left-hander got behind and on top of the ball to keep it away from the close cordon. He was also decisive in travelling back and playing the ball late.

Spinners struggle

The Indian spinners struggled to make the alterations in length. When they over-pitched, Strauss milked them off the front foot. Collingwood, arguably the most reliable player of spin in the English ranks, displayed floating, non-committal footwork. He has an initial movement forward but does not commit himself to the front foot. He can transfer his weight in a jiffy to defend, cut or pull off the backfoot.

The gutsy batsman used the crease well for strokes square of the wicket. Collingwood also danced down the track to hustle Mishra.

Harbhajan Singh disappointed. The off-spinner began by bowling the wrong line — middle and leg — to the right-handers and was not the force he can be on such tracks. While getting the batsman caught bat-pad at short-leg from such a line is an option, Harbhajan is so much the better bowler when he spins the ball both ways from the off-stump.

Perhaps, the off-spinner was undone by the left-right combination of Strauss and Collingwood. Harbhajan could not switch his line effectively.

Mishra consumed Ian Bell with a top-spinner; the batsman stretched forward but needed to counter the delivery with softer hands. After his initial success, Mishra tried too hard on a conducive pitch.

Losing focus

In attempting to use the rough outside the right-hander’s leg-stump, he lost focus on the other aspects of his bowling. It was baffling why Yuvraj’s vastly-improved left-arm spin was not used more. Yuvraj prised out Kevin Pietersen with an arm-ball but did not bowl more than two overs. On a turning track, a left-arm spinner is always in with a chance.

Zaheer was coped well by the Englishmen, who left as much as they played. Ishant Sharma ran into serious no-balling problems but did produce a peach of a delivery from round-the-wicket that left and dismissed southpaw Alastair Cook.

Earlier, Dhoni (53, 82b, 5x4) and Harbhajan (40, 58b, 7x4) revived the Indian hopes. Apart from the odd wristy blow, Dhoni nudged and pushed. He moved across — this makes him a candidate for leg-before decisions — but worked the ball effectively to the on-side.

His exceptional bat-speed ensured that he made contact on most occasions.

Harbhajan’s hand-eye coordination was on view. The loose-limbed batsman swept and reverse-swept Panesar, punched Harmison between point and cover. Panesar ended the 75-run seventh-wicket partnership that whittled down England’s lead.

A flighted delivery followed a series of flatter offerings and a surprised Harbhajan turned the ball into short-leg’s hands.

Quality spinner

Panesar mixed his length and pace cleverly; the hallmark of a quality spinner. He pivots well, gets his body behind his action and is beautifully side-on in his release. His flight is largely subtle. On Saturday, Panesar relied chiefly on the arm-ball and the one straightening at the right-hander than spinning it away.

He is also not the easiest of spinners to dump into the stands due to the revolution on the ball. Dhoni came down the track but holed out at long-off.

Flintoff’s speed and full length signalled the end of the Indian innings. This English attack has bite and variety.

SCOREBOARD

England — 1st innings: 316.

India — 1st innings: G. Gambhir lbw b Swann 19, V. Sehwag b Anderson 9, R. Dravid lbw b Swann 3, S. Tendulkar c & b Flintoff 37, V.V.S. Laxman c & b Panesar 24, Yuvraj Singh c Flintoff b Harmison 14, M.S. Dhoni c Pietersen b Panesar 53, Harbhajan Singh c Bell b Panesar 40, Zaheer Khan lbw b Flintoff 1, A. Mishra b Flintoff 12, I. Sharma (not out) 8; Extras (b-4, lb-11, nb-6): 21; Total (all out in 69.4 overs): 241.

Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Sehwag), 2-34 (Gambhir), 3-37 (Dravid), 4-98 (Laxman), 5-102 (Tendulkar), 6-137 (Yuvraj), 7-212 (Harbhajan), 8-217 (Zaheer), 9-219 (Dhoni).

England bowling: Harmison 11-1-42-1, Anderson 11-3-28-1, Flintoff 18.4-2-49-3, Swann 10-0-42-2, Panesar 19-4-65-3.

England — 2nd innings: A. Strauss (batting) 73, A. Cook c Dhoni b Ishant 9, I. Bell c Gambhir b Mishra 7, K. Pietersen lbw b Yuvraj 1, P. Collingwood (batting) 60; Extras (b-5, lb-8, w-2, nb-7): 22; Total (for three wkts. in 54 overs): 172.

Fall of wickets: 1-28 (Cook), 2-42 (Bell), 3-43 (Pietersen).

India bowling: Zaheer 14-3-21-0, Ishant 10-0-31-1, Mishra 11-0-47-1, Yuvraj 2-1-7-1, Harbhajan 11-0-31-0, Sehwag 6-0-22-0.

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