Even Stevens

An unexpected and improbable run chase made for a thrilling finish to the first Test match between India and England in Nagpur. The spectacular assault on England’s bowling in the final session of the match, masked the fact that India were outplayed for the better part of four days by a green England side. This was a Test match where Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh claimed only 4 wickets in 136 overs; a Test match where the fast bowlers did most of the damage; a Test match where three, nearly four, maiden centuries, were scored; a Test match where India’s batting was rescued by the new generation.

Yes, it may mask a lot of things, but what an assault it was! The intent and the imagination was a revelation. The captain started the charge, the tyros continued the aggression and the batsman formerly known as the best batsman in the world made us whoop with delight with a cameo that reminded us of the destroyer that he once was. This was a stark contrast to India’s meek capitulation to Pakistan on a similar fifth day situation less than a year ago. That collapse left such a bad taste that even though the Test series was tied 1-1, it felt like a humiliating defeat for India. The captain and coach have changed, and with all due respect to Sourav Ganguly and John Wright, they were running on empty by then.

The mighty Indian batting line up continues to deceive. For the last two years the Indian batting line up has been merely Virendar Sehwag and Rahul Dravid, if either of these two fail, India struggle and if both of them fail; India lose. Not a happy picture there; that is why it was heartening to see Wasim Jaffer step into the opener’s role and bat like he belonged there. Sehwag has proved that there is no such thing as a classical opener and that it is all about scoring runs, but Sehwag is one of a kind. Jaffer has been India’s best opener in domestic cricket for the last few seasons and in Nagpur he showed that it is a deserving tag. He scored in both innings against the best pace attack in world cricket at present. He is definitely a man for the future. I was very impressed with Wasim Jaffer when I saw him play in the West Indies and have been rooting for him since then. In the Caribbean in 2002 he was extremely strong square off the wicket, but this time he was more watchful and left the majority of the balls outside the offstump. He patiently waited for the bowler to err and scored predominantly on the legside. He played the cover drive and the square drive perhaps only a couple of times in the entire Test match, he even worked Monty Panesar against the spin through mid on.

VVS Laxman’s returns have been pretty bleak over the last two years and he was unlucky to be given out LBW in the first innings when the umpire failed to spot an inside edge on the ball. If he fails in the next two Tests, there is no doubt that he will be dropped from the team. Kiran More, the Chairman of selectors, has been in a punchy mood of late, and there will be no kid gloves for Laxman. Yuvraj will be back for the Mohali Test and Laxman’s rival for the middle order slot, Mohammad Kaif, was tremendous in this Test. In the first innings when India were on the ropes, Kaif found an unlikely ally in the batting revival of Anil Kumble. Way back in the past Kumble used to get some runs for India in the lower order and even has a highest score of 86 against South Africa but his batting has fallen off and this indeed was a timely revival. Maybe Pathan’s all round skills have inspired him, whatever it was, the Kaif and Kumble partnership went a long way in saving the Test match for India.

England’s bowling and batting showed dogged determination and their fielding was outstanding. Andrew Flintoff was simply superb while fielding off his own bowling and plucked slip catches like he was picking up daisies. In contrast the Indian fielding completely unraveled on the fourth day after the most atrocious decision by a television umpire in the history of the game. Umpire Shivram declared Kevin Petersen not out after he hit a return catch to Kumble. It was just unbelievable. But, that is no excuse for the complete fielding implosion that followed. Shreesanth and Harbhajan dropped sitters and Mohd. Kaif capped a horrible display at forward short leg by running all around a skier from Pietersen before making a hash of it. It is to Jaffer and Dravid’s credit that they didn’t let the poor fourth day affect their batting on the fifth day.

It is proving to be an extremely competitive series and one waits with trepidation for the Mohali pitch. The last Test match played there was a draw with the pitch easing out and Pakistan batting comfortably on the fifth day.