Welcome to India. The greeting came from Virender Sehwag and, this being
Sehwag, rather than scatter rose petals on the bed he scattered England
fielders in all directions with a buccaneering century which brought a
rousing start to the opening Test in Ahmedabad. This being India, where
Test cricket no longer draws the crowds, there were only a few thousand
in the stadium to watch it.
That England recovered some ground by the close of the first day was
almost entirely due to Graeme Swann, who, as their only specialist
spinner on a chronically slow surface, bore an onerous responsibility
and took all four Indian wickets to fall. In the process he passed Jim
Laker as the most successful England offspinner in history. Roughly half
of them have been left-handers, an advantage Laker never enjoyed in an
era when lefties were in shorter supply.
Only Swann, late in his innings, was able to stem Sehwag's progress as
he struck a run-a-ball 117, his first Test century for two years. It was
a strange first session, dominated by Sehwag, who was adventuresome but
far from explosive. His innings was typically more reliant upon eye
than footwork as he manipulated the ball with disdain, drove at an
excess of wide deliveries and defended only as an afterthought.
He is a character cricketer in the manner of Chris Gayle or Kevin
Pietersen, an unconventional batsman with a commanding presence and a
style all of his own and, at 34, especially on low, ponderous pitches
such as these, he is not quite done yet.
Swann's wickets served to strengthen the conviction that England had
erred in omitting a second specialist spinner in Monty Panesar. This is a
virgin surface, of lower clay content and with no time to bed down,
which threatens to drive the pace bowlers to distraction and turn
sharply as the Test progresses. Doubts about Stuart Broad's fitness will
have made England especially reluctant to field only two fast bowlers
and they will wave all manner of statistics to support their selection
but the evidence of the game was against them.
Swann's success was in strict contrast to the mood elsewhere. The only
impression England's pace bowlers made was on the footholds. Anderson
was wearing his worried expression, his new-ball spell limited to four
overs. Broad stubbornly dug balls into an unsympathetic surface, saw
them bounce no higher than the top of the stumps and looked at them
quizzically as if he could stare it into behaving differently. Tim
Bresnan went at nearly six an over. It was a huge toss for India to win.
By lunch, at slip, Alastair Cook pondered whether his elevation to the
Test captaincy really was a good idea after all. By the close, Swann had
reminded him that in a four-Test series Sehwag's assault was merely the
beginning, but a trial by spin still awaits England.
Gautam Gambhir was Swann's first victim after an opening stand of 134 in
30 overs, bowled trying to fashion one of his high-risk carves through
point and beaten by a hint of turn and weary bounce. Sehwag had briefly
fallen into contemplative mood in mid-afternoon, as if recovering energy
for his next assault, when he was bowled, sweeping.
Swann's third wicket the most remarkable of all, that of Sachin
Tendulkar who lofted to deep midwicket in an extraordinarily
misconceived manner only a few minutes before tea. Finally, Virat Kohli,
who had played circumspectly, was deceived in the flight and bowled
through the gate.
Smart stats |
A Gujarati hero emerged for the crowd to applaud. Cheteshwar Pujara,
upright and accomplished, was two runs short of his second Test century
by the close and looked a convincing replacement for Rahul Dravid in an
understated innings, showing a collected manner and good timing. But he
needed a let-off on 8 as his gentle leading edge against Bresnan was
misjudged by James Anderson, who ran in too far at mid-on.
England spurned three other opportunities. Sehwag was dropped on 80,
glancing Anderson, whereupon Matt Prior spilled a difficult chance and
Prior also missed a stumping against Gambhir. The most embarrassing
drop, though, belonged to Jonathan Trott, who fluffed a slip catch off
Swann from Kohli and rolled the ball into the turf before shamelessly
claiming the catch in a slightly perplexed manner. The umpires sought
replays; for Trott they did not look good.
Gambhir and Sehwag had been an alliance in decline, and fleetingly there
were hints of vulnerability, but these were not conditions to ask
questions of defensive technique. Gambhir had proclaimed before the
match that they were the best opening duo in the country and few would
find much cause to question that as India sailed to 120 without loss by
lunch. It was their first century opening partnership since India faced
South Africa in Centurion in 2010.
Sehwag spoke of playing watchfully,and met by a deep point, he did glide
regularly to third man, but his 50 still came in only 45 balls and by
lunch he had 79 from 66 with 12 fours and a six. England's pace attack
strayed wide too often and runs came at a tempo that Test cricket rarely
sees: 50 by the 12th over; 100 by the 20th. Sehwag possessed a hunched,
insouciant air that suggested the match was of little consequence and
he was just having a bit of a bash.
England calculated that the ball might reverse for Bresnan, as it did as
early as the ninth over in a warm-up match on the adjacent B ground,
but Bresnan had a dispiriting day, never worse than when Sehwag took him
for 4-4-6 in his sixth over, the second boundary, a drag through mid-on
against a ball that crept past the fielder verging on the insulting;
the six over wide long-on that followed, a full swing at a length ball.
India have never lost a Test at home after beginning with a century
stand. That statistic tells England that their chances are already slim.
It was all a long way from England's domination of India in English
conditions last summer.
