Chennai, Dec 12: Some clinical performances by the five-man English bowling attack reduced India to 155/6 at stumps on Day 2, still 161 runs adrift of visitor’s first innings total. All the Indian batsmen were guilty of throwing away their wickets at crucial junctures, succumbing to soft dismissal after initial hard work was done.
In reply to England’s first innings score of 316, India got off to a poor start as Virender Sehwag failed to provide an encore of his last Test innings in Chennai, when he had hammered the Proteas for 319 runs in just over a day. The Delhi Dasher fell early for just 9 runs when he dragged an away going delivery from Steve Harmison back onto his stumps.
With the early impetus conceded, Indian batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid went into a defensive shell as the visitors cut down on all scoring opportunities. The sustained pressure on the batsmen paid off when debutant spinner Greame Swann announced his arrival on the Test stage in a spectacular fashion. Just over a month after Australia’s Jason Krejza had made his baptism into Test cricket by fire in this country, Swann too created a flutter in the Indian ranks with wickets of Gambhir and Dravid in his very first over.
After trapping an indecisive Gambhir LBW for 19, he trapped Dravid, playing the wrong line, LBW for 3, to leave India reeling at 37/3 at tea.
It was left to the old stalwarts- Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman to dig India out of the deep hole they found themselves in. The duo batted sensibly and displayed much needed serenity. Inch by inch they tried to rebuild the Indian innings. While Laxman donned the mantle of sheet anchor, Tendulkar was the aggressor as the hosts’ desperately tried to wrest the momentum back from England.
Turning back the clock to his glory years, Tendulkar looked in an ominious touch as hit some glorious drives and cuts through the off-side. He also heaved a mighty slog sweep of Swann for a six over mid-wicket.
However, just when it seemed that the Indian innings had been anchored to safety, Monty Panesar struck with the wicket of Laxman. After getting his eye in, the stylish Hyderabadi displayed a rare moment of uncertainity, when his hard hit drive was latched on to by Panesar of his own bowling, spelling former’s doom for 24 runs. He hit 3 fours.
Calamities for India seemed to be striking in pairs as in the very next over, Tendulkar was felled by Andrew Flintoff, caught and bowled again, for 37 as India slumped to 102/5.
Birthday boy Yuvraj Singh was the last wicket to fall on what was undoubtedly a miserable day for Dhoni’s men. Making a comeback into the Test team, Yuvraj failed to display the grittiness his predecessor at the number 6 spot, Sourav Ganguly was renowed for, falling for 14 to Harmison. His unnecessarily extravagant drive outside the off-stump landed into the safe hands of Flintoff at second slip as Mahendra Singh Dhoni was left stranded in company of tail-enders.
Earlier in the day, a gritty unbeaten half-century from England’s stumper Matt Prior (53) nullified any advantage India might have gained from Flintoff’s early dismissal. After the Lancashaire all-rounder fell to Amit Mishra’s guile without adding to his overnight tally, Prior hug around, ably supported by the tail-enders, to take England’s score to a healthy looking 316.
Having done all the right things on the second day, England would be now looking to polish off the Indian tail as early as possible, before setting India a massive target on the wicket expected to aid spinners heavily.
Indians meanwhile, would look back at the day with disappointment. However, they cannot refute the claim that they themselves were to be blamed for the mess they are in. An ‘England-like’ determination is the need of the hour if hosts hope to crawl back into the match.
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