Old master Jimmy keeps a lid on the stroke players
ATTACKING instincts are a hallmark of England under Ben Stokes, but as a captain in indian conditions you still need the level of control Jimmy Anderson provided on an even-stevens first day.
His ability to turn in displays of one for 30 from 17 overs was the reason i’d have played him in the first test. On these roads, seam bowlers are not going to pick up five-wicket hauls, but experience of bowling in Asia over the years has developed the skill and discipline necessary to keep a check on the run rate.
Since 2010, no overseas bowler has sent down more test maidens in india than Anderson and, as seen with the dismissal of Shubman gill, there is still wicket-taking potential there, while after tea he got the ball to reverse swing. that spell directly contributed to two wickets in the final hour and his value should never be underestimated. Surrounded by young spinners who have not quite mastered control yet — Shoaib Bashir bowled pretty well on debut, to be fair — he used all of his vast nous and gave the kind of performance to justify his inclusion. in the end, taking six wickets on a belter of a pitch was a seriously good effort.
On what could be one of the best batting days of the series, the bowlers stuck to their task well and india left the door ajar, as they did in their first innings in Hyderabad, with soft dismissals. Having won the toss, Rohit Sharma should have booked in for bed and breakfast against a 41-year-old and three spinners with three caps between them. A world-class player such as Rohit must dream of days like this — so to poke the young off-spinner around the corner to leg slip would’ve been frustrating. Others were nicking drag downs or being caught at point off short balls, and india were thankful for the brilliance of Yashasvi Jaiswal. it looks like india have found another batting master. He got the balance between defence and attack spot on.
During that first hour, he was saying to himself: this is a pitch for me. But he did not go into his shell and block. When the match-up suited, like when the slow left-armer Hartley turned the ball into him, he belted it. Hartley showed his worth in a match-winning second innings in Hyderabad, but again his control of length in the first innings was not where he’d want it to be. Bashir offered nicer control, bowling a very attacking line. Using the old Shane Warne policy of attacking with the ball, defending with the field, Stokes helped Rehan Ahmed in particular. As did holding the leg-spinner back until later in the day, following a bit of a knock to his confidence at the end of the first test. the only thing Stokes might have done more of was replicating a trick used by new Zealand’s Stephen Fleming, one of the great captains, of not moving away from an opponent’s strength but playing on it.
Jaiswal loves belting the spinners through the off-side, and setting a 7-2 off-side field with men in unorthodox places, throwing the ball up outside off, might be a plan going forward.
But it is india who must accept they were not as ruthless as they needed to be, finishing day one with a good score but one below expectation. this was a 350 for four day-one pitch.