India have only themselves to blame for the situation they find themselves in, for not only did they bowl poorly, but also dropped Strauss just before lunch when the batsman was still struggling to recapture his touch. The toss too went England’s way and while no blame can be attached to Dravid for getting it wrong, he would have been well served if his bowlers had taken advantage of the cloud cover that was present pretty much throughout the day’s play. The sun did peep out occasionally, but in the main, there was a cloud hanging overhead, which helped the ball to move around in the air, and there was movement off the seam too. Only the bowlers did not bowl in the right areas and thereby allowed the batsmen get a good look at the way the pitch was behaving and play accordingly. It is here that the need to play more warm-up games becomes evident, as players need to get used to not only the weather and pitch conditions, but also how to bowl with a different ball. In India, there is a different ball used in Tests and ODIs than the one in England, so it does take time to get used to the leather and seam of the ball and get it to grip on the pitch as one likes to. That’s why it is crucial to play a few more warm-up games than the two that India have had so far on this tour.
Then, the catching and fielding of the team was also of no help to the bowlers when it was most needed, as England built partnership after partnership. The Strauss-Cook partnership was allowed to get away to a great start with the bowlers bowling at the pads and letting the batsmen get some easy runs and also bowling wide of the stumps and letting them get a good look at what the pitch was doing. The one man who as always looked as if he had something was Anil Kumble, who was on the spot and made the batsmen watch him and give him respect. Sreesanth bowled a bit better once the right-handed Vaughan came on, but even he was guilty of trying too much and losing his line. His outswinger is a good weapon, but unless he bowls it right, he is not going to be a threat, and that’s what happened. Even the experienced Zaheer was way off the mark and so England’s opening pair had an easy time, as they could do pretty much what they liked. Cook fell to change bowler Ganguly, who observed the principles of line and length and looked the most dangerous, and that word is used loosely here. Andrew Strauss was under pressure for his place in the side, and so should have been put under pressure, but with the bowlers not making him play in the earlier overs, he was allowed to settle down and play himself in some sort of form. He also benefited from a let-off by Karthik, but he didn’t get a century, which was there for the taking, when he went down the pitch in a premeditated manner and let Kumble know his intentions. The bowler thus bowled one wider, and had Strauss stretching for the ball and edging it to Dravid at slip. He went away hitting his helmet with his bat, for he knew that he had missed out on a century after all the hard work he had done to get in a position to do so. Test centuries don’t come every day and Strauss had missed out on one. Michael Vaughan had amassed lots of runs against India in 2002, and he looked in the same touch as soon as he came in to bat and the ball hit the middle of the bat quite ominously. The fact is that he has been out of the game for a long time, and so, while physically he will be fit, it’s the tension of a Test match that can tire a player out, and that is what he needs to get used to, for getting a big hundred in a first-class game and a Test match are two entirely different things.
England have taken the honors on the first day and India have a hard time ahead of them unless something breaks their way. India are definitely on the back foot and will need every ounce of determination and luck to stay in the Test.
