India have taken a firm grip on the Test match by batting with great cricketing sense and taking a lead over England that will give their bowlers enough of a cushion to dismiss England in the second innings. Mind you, it won’t be easy as the pitch is quite clearly ironing out nicely for batting, and it will take as good an effort from the bowlers to get England out cheaply second time around as in the first innings. The weather also has improved considerably, and that won’t help the swing and movement in the air, so it will be much harder work than in the first innings.
What will happen of course is that the lead will enable Dravid to have more men in catching positions than in run-saving ones, and that can often mean the difference between a wicket or a missed opportunity.
India owe a big ‘Thank you’ to the openers Karthik and Jaffer for getting their team off to a such a fine start. When the middle order gets runs, the contribution of the openers is often forgotten as the later batting stays in memory than the earlier one, but here, if the openers had not batted with the determination and confidence that they did, it may not have been as easy for the middle order as it was in the end. While Karthik was the more adventurous of the two, the solidity, calm and elegance of Jaffer was the perfect foil for the partnership to flourish. So frustrated were the England bowlers that they had to resort to some verbals to try and unsettle the pair. Karthik, having learnt from the first Test, just laughed it away, and Jaffer at the best of times is so laidback as if to be comatose. Still, it was that beginning that gave the platform to the others down the order to bat in the confident manner that they did. The openers wore down the England bowlers. Jaffer got a beauty to be out caught behind, and Karthik was out first ball after tea, and that meant that two new batsmen were at the crease, but of course they were also two of the most experienced batsmen in the world, and they were aware of the wonderful opportunity that the bowlers had given them by dismissing England so cheaply. Sachin Tendulkar, as always under great expectations from Indian cricket-lovers, looked good enough to get his 38th Test ton, but he was denied by an umpiring decision. That surprised him, and later Ganguly too didn’t seem happy with his decision. The important thing was that the partnerships between the batsmen had ensured that England were kept on the field for a long, long time, and the lead kept increasing.
Panesar has shown that there is a bit of turn in the pitch, which can be exploited by Kumble. Not that Kumble needs much help from the pitch. The Indians will have to show a lot more energy when there may be a partnership, and keep their chin up, for with the pitch getting drier and better they will be doing a lot more bowling than in the first innings. It’s been a good, solid team effort so far, and if the weather doesn’t interfere too much, then India should go one-up in the series.
