Karthik misses ton, India pacers get good workout
CHELMSFORD: Arriving in England, the one department in the India team that looked forward to typically English conditions was the pace department. But Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma, besides Shardul Thakur, may have reservations ahead of the Test series against England starting in Birmingham.
The second day of India’s only practice game, the three-day tie against Essex, saw the visiting pacers bowl a disciplined line and length but the green pitch that had initially troubled the visitors’ top-order had lost most of its life under the baking sun.
India were 395 all out before lunch on Day 1 and Essex came through the test by the visiting pacers to reach 236/5 at stumps.
It was clear that India’s focus was on giving their batsmen and pacers a good workout. India’s main spinners, R Ashwin and chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, stayed out of the action. Shami, who had not played whites cricket since the South Africa tour due to personal problems, and Umesh Yadav bowled lively spells either side of lunch break. However, Shami returned none for 59 in his 14 overs.
Umesh Yadav did much better considering the flat pitch, returning 14-7-23-2 while Ishant Sharma too was impressive, claiming 2/38 with Shardul Thakur, the back-up seamer, rewarded for his hard work with the wicket of Essex skipper Tom Westley, who miscued to third man for 57. Michael-kyle Pepper top-scored with 68 (74b, 115m, 15x4) before Ishant foxed him with an in-coming delivery, which he played on to the stumps.
Although 56 overs were share by India pacers with Jadeja bowling just two, India may not be quite sure what to expect in Edgbaston. Far from seamers threatening to run riot, the Test series is being played under the threat of the harsh summer turning it into a contest between the spinners of both sides. They only benefit would be India’s likely pace trio getting long spells after the batsmen had useful stints.
Brief Scores: Indian XI 395 all out in 100.2 ovs (M Vijay 53, V Kohli 68, KL Rahul 58, D Karthik 82, H Pandya 51, Paul Walter 4/113, Matt Coles 2/31); Essex 237/5 in 58 ovs (T Westley 57,
MS Pepper 68, U Yadav 2/23, I Sharma 2/38. There is always going to be focus on Virat, he is a great player; doesn’t matter what series he is playing. KL Rahul score a hundred in the T20, (Cheteshwar) Pujara is a rock, he can bat for long periods of time, and Shikhar (Dhawan)… if they can get some momentum… Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah are injured, so it is going to be interesting. That is going to be the tipping point. England’s bowling will just tip (over) India’s. It will be a high-scoring series. But I think England are going to score a bit more than India.
If I was a coach I would probably would not have bought me either. Last year (IPL 2017) I had a broken shoulder and made myself unavailable. This year, I put my name in the auction but just before it I landed in a foot-hole and messed up my foot. One thing about IPL is that you are buy- ing players for a lot of money; I don’t want to buy a product that does not work — if you get what I am saying. I don’t blame anyone. It was not an issue because there are always other options.
One thing I know about Pujara is that he likes to bat for long hours. If wickets are flat in England, India are going to have that source on whom they can rely.
On Pujara’s utility
Great for TV! I think if you have a series without some mettle about it, it will be very boring to watch. This series had a lot. Sandpaper, Nathan Lyon’s ball-drop, hundreds, fifers, KG (Kagiso Rabada) getting into trouble, off-field stuff, David Warner exploding, bans — a little bit too much, like soap opera-ish but cool. Doesn’t matter. It is done. That was long time ago. No issues at all. 100 per cent.