PUJARA GETS BUSY TO CASH IN ON HIS GOOD FORM
Just like Rajkot, this pitch at Vizag is also a typical win-the-toss-bat-first-pitch. But unfortunately for England, that’s where the similarities between the surfaces end. The pitch for the first Test had a firmer surface and more grass but the one for the second Test, quite expectedly, has no grass. This pitch is likely to deteriorate at a much faster pace than the one in Rajkot.
Winning the toss in the first Test put England in a position of strength but on this pitch, winning the toss was akin to almost winning the contest i.e. if India bat well in the first innings.
Now that India have batted well on the first day, only a collapse of gigantic proportions on the second day will give England a sniff. India, on the other hand, would have looked to bat England out of this game and in my opinion, they were about 180 runs away from achieving that. So let’s look at the dominant features of yesterday’s action. England struck early India didn’t get off to the start they’d wished for as Anderson and Broad reduced the hosts to 22-2. That’s when the Indian team must’ve realised that winning the toss was only half the job done, for the outcome depended on making the first innings count.
In Pujara and Kohli, India had the two finest Indian players of this generation to steady the ship. Right from the beginning of their partnership, the intent to keep the scoreboard moving stood out, especially against spin.
While the seamers managed to stem the run-flow with line outside off, backed by a heavily guarded off-side field, the spinners simply couldn’t stitch enough dot balls together. England bowled only 10 maidens in the day and the spinners’ contribution to this was only two overs.
England’s spinners may have bowled a little better than India’s in Rajkot, but the lack of quality was exposed in Vizag, for the pitch here had a lot more to offer if only the spinners had been consistent. Pujara Pujara’s method against spin is the oldest method known to batsmen: use the feet to get to the pitch of the ball and then go deep inside the crease to work off the back-foot. Moeen’s flatter trajectory or Ansari’s deliveries leaving the bat didn’t stop Pujara from dancing down the pitch and though he didn’t step out that often against leg-spin, he made up for it by driving from the crease instead.
Ever since he was dropped in West Indies, he seems to have made a conscious effort to remain busy throughout his stay. No longer can anyone raise an eyebrow about his strike-rate. In Rajkot, Pujara was hit on the helmet a few times and it was only fair to expect the same ploy in Vizag, but the little adjustments he’s made to his technique kept him in good stead.
Yesterday he was neither committed on the front-foot nor was he going across, and that allowed him to stay in a good position to negate the bouncer threat. Pujara has got three hundreds on the bounce and, like all good players, he surely knows how to make this good form count. Kohli If Pujara is ice, Kohli is fire. It’s heartening to see how Kohli is channeling the aggression he’s born with into a hunger for runs.
The journey from good to great is covered by players who are acutely
“England’s spinners may have bowled a little better in Rajkot than India, but the lack of quality was exposed here in Vizag ”
aware of a good opportunity and make it count. From the moment Kohli walked in, he knew that this was an opportunity to score big. He did the same in Antigua and Indore against West Indies and New Zealand respectively.
Kohli’s demeanour suggested that he felt it criminal to waste an opportunity to bat first on a good pitch and on both occasions he scored a double century. The muted celebrations after reaching milestones was a giveaway that he was eyeing another big score.
Apart from the unflappable temperament, Kohli’s magical wrists stood out. Bowling to Kohli was like bowling to a revolving door, for it was almost impossible to stop him rotating the strike. Anderson – the master India could’ve run away with the honours if Anderson hadn’t struck with the second new ball. It was a brave decision to rest the best English bowler from the first Test, Woakes.
But Anderson’s class ensured that Cook didn’t cut a sorry figure at the end of the day, for irrespective of the experience, it was a gamble to play someone who hadn’t played a game since August ahead of your best bowler. The ball that dismissed Vijay at the start showed his understanding of the Indian conditions (bowled cross-seam) and Rahane’s dismissal proved that swing is still the king.
While Anderson has saved England blushes on the first day, Cook will desperately need his spinners to come to the party.
Kohli and Pujara have put India in the driver’s seat and it would be nothing short of a miracle if England walk away from Vizag without conceding their first loss of the tour.