India in control of Second Test

India assumed a position of substantial control in the Second Test at Trent Bridge as they knocked-over the remaining 3 England wickets without great difficulty and built an impressive total on the back of a sizeable opening stand.

The England dressing-room would have been mildly heartened to see Chris Tremlett and Ryan Sidebottom mix a few confident slaps with a large number of edges early on. Tremlett, especially, looked near enough clueless against Anil Kumble, and eventually justice was done as the bowler uprooted the leg-stump in the 60th over. Before long the innings was over, as Zaheer Khan produced a beauty to coerce Monty Panesar into an edge to second-slip where VVS Laxman took a simple catch, and James Anderson did a reasonable impression of Tremlett as he totally misjudged a Kumble delivery and saw his off-pole removed. England had fallen just short of 200, but with 198 on the board, the ball still offering plenty through the air despite clear skies, and memories of an impressive collective showing at Lord’s, would have headed into the field with plenty of hope.

Despite finding swing in satisfactory quantity, however, the opening bowlers could not hit the lines they had managed in the previous game, and allowed Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik to leave plenty and find gaps too often. The Indian openers did their job admirably, nonetheless, and unlike several England batsmen resisted the temptation to drive wide, swinging deliveries which could have caused problems. They reached lunch at a comfortable 40 without loss after 16 overs.

After the break, the lack of penetration continued. Chris Tremlett did his best, and rarely strayed from a pinpoint line just outside off, but on the rare occasion a nick was found it went into a gap. Ian Bell even managed to get a hand on one loose drive from Jaffer, an over after Anderson had just failed to reach an uppish drive from Karthik, but neither fielder had any decent chance of taking the catch. Several extremely close lbw shouts were turned-down, too, mostly by Ian Howell. Only once could the bowler have been said to be unquestionably unfortunate, when Panesar’s opening delivery struck Karthik’s front pad as he attempted to sweep. Soon after, the batsman completed his half-century, and as Anderson and Sidebottom began to tire runs came gradually more easily. Jaffer soon followed-suit, and as frustration built in the England bowlers words were frequently exchanged.

The openers were unperturbed even by this, however, and pressed-on to a partnership of 147, India’s highest opening stand in England since 1979 when Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan put-on 213 at The Oval. Finally, with the 1st ball of the 43rd over, Tremlett broke through as Jaffer finally nicked one that moved away on a perfect line, and Prior made no mistake. Nonetheless, India would have been happy to take tea at 149 for 1, with their Big Four still to bat.

Panesar struck with the opening delivery after tea, however, as Karthik attempted to turn a delivery from over-the-wicket to leg, and succeeded only in getting an edge onto his front pad and offering Alastair Cook at short-leg a low chance, which the fielder snapped-up, reassuringly given some of his fumbles close-in in his career to date. This brought Sachin Tendulkar to the crease, keen, as he has been for most of the last 4 years, to demonstrate that he still had plenty to offer at the highest level.

Panesar allowed him to get off the mark straight away, but the left-arm spinner and the tall Hampshire seamer continued to keep a tight rein on things in the first 6 overs after tea. When Anderson was reintroduced, though, he once again struggled with his lines, drifting down leg and wide of off. Nonetheless, in his second over he produced a short delivery that reared back at Tendulkar and which the batsman failed to sway away from, taking a fierce blow straight on the front of his grille. It did not rattle him in the slightest, however, and indeed his composure and judgement of his off-stump, against a ball that was still swinging plenty, was first-rate. Vaughan rotated his bowlers regularly, trying all front-line seamers, Panesar, and Paul Collingwood’s slower seamers, but the batsmen refused to have their equilibrium disturbed, and always found something loose from someone, the admirable Tremlett (20 overs for 32) excepted, before too long. Tendulkar raised his 81st Test half-century off 99 balls in the 75th over, which was twice the number he had when completing 11,000 in Tests.

With the light beginning to deteriorate, however, Dravid failed to get to the pitch of a flighted Panesar delivery outside off, and drove uppishly straight to Bell at short-extra-cover. Ganguly faced just 10 deliveries before the light was offered, but found time to play one sumptuous drive out of rough areas which were beginning to widen. Tendulkar remains, having played one of his most imperturbable knocks of recent times, and with Ganguly in seemingly fine nick, plus Laxman and Mahendra Dhoni to come, England have it all to do tomorrow and on Monday to avoid being batted completely out of the Test.

England 198
Alastair Cook 43
Zaheer Khan 4-59, Anil Kumble 3-32

India 254 for 3
Dinesh Karthik 77, Wasim Jaffer 62, Sachin Tendulkar 57*
Monty Panesar 2-50

India lead by 56 runs with 7 wickets remaining in the first-innings