Four. That’s the number of tosses Alastair Cook has won on this tour. Never mind his rant after England lost by 246 runs in Visakhapatnam, his luck will cause much jealousy for Hashim Amla and Kane Williamson.
Once again, there wasn’t really any encouragement needed to bat first. The question, however, was over which script the English first innings would follow. Would it be the one from Mohali, where they had been blown away on the first day? Or from Mumbai, where they had found enough resolve to put up a 400-run total?
India, meanwhile, turned to their most experienced pacer, Ishant Sharma, who was picked ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. It made for additional intrigue, since Sharma has always needed some time to hit his groove. It belies his familiarity with international cricket, but that is just the way it is. But when he gets it right from the word go, he understands the requirements of the pitch and bowls accordingly. He is brilliant to watch when in full flow.
Friday was one such day, then, as Sharma hit his rhythm almost immediately. It underlined what skipper Virat Kohli has been repeatedly saying in press conferences – each of his fast bowlers is ready and raring to go. This reflects on the hard work being put in, away from the focus of the TV cameras, at the practice nets, where you could find Sharma plugging away when not included in the playing eleven.
It further strengthens India’s standing as the world’s No.1 ranked Test team. They have a pacer ready to go for every situation, and when the dry Chennai wicket demanded a bowler in Mohammed Shami’s mould, Bhuvneshwar Kumar happily made way.
Sharma returned with 5-4-1-1 in his first spell, hitting the right length as if he had never been away, working up good pace and tempo. It was a pity that this spell came on a benign sub-continental pitch. Anywhere else, he would probably have wrecked the opposition top-order.
He got his reward quickly, getting a nick off Keaton Jennings and troubling Cook no end. Ravindra Jadeja, though, has the English skipper’s number, and with five dismissals in this series, he has proven that the theory of not bowling a left-arm spinner to a left-handed batsman is over-rated. More important, the scorecard read 21/2 at this stage and, once again, the visitors were in some trouble.
Taking Root
If the script thus far was similar to the series gone past, how could India not add their bit to it? Duly, therefore, Lokesh Rahul dropped Moeen Ali at midwicket. Sure, it was a tough chance, but modern day cricket has evolved so much that a poorly-timed jump, wherein the ball only grazes your hand, qualifies as a drop now. And Rahul would go on to regret this mistake.
Meanwhile, Joe Root laid down some order to the proceedings, and steadied England’s rocking boat. There is a reason he is counted among the top batsmen in the world currently. The 3-0 scoreline hides the fact that Root has scored well in all five Tests thus far. His record against India – 1096 runs in 11 Tests at 73.06 – is stellar. When playing here, he has scored at least a half-century in each of his six Tests.
If Kohli’s current form were to be set aside for one moment, Root’s record in India would be sufficient to put him on a higher pedestal. But as R Ashwin reminded James Anderson in Mumbai, conditions do not matter when someone scores 600-plus runs in one Test series. The fact that Root hasn’t been able to convert his scores into something bigger, thus not really helping his team out of dire situations, is precisely why Kohli has stolen a long march on him.
For once though, it can be pointed out that luck wasn’t in Root’s favour. The DRS review to send him back was just a spur-of-the-moment call as most of India’s reviews are. There was no coherence in the decision-making process, no real conviction from Kohli as he signalled to the umpire after listening to Jadeja once again. Snickometer detected a faint edge, and Root had to walk, frustratingly for him.
Enter the centurion
The focus then shifted to Moeen Ali, who has batted at every position from 1 to 9 in the English line-up, and thus cannot call any particular spot his own. This current experiment, at No. 4, hadn’t worked so far either. Ali got 16 and 5 in Mohali, 50 and 0 in Mumbai, underlining the need for time and indeed consistency in his batting approach, given that this was a shortcoming of the team management.
One of the reasons this move didn’t work – barring that 50 in Mumbai – is Ali’s own impulsive nature. By his own admission, he likes to come in when the situation is bothersome and then fight his way out. Naturally, it brings out a counter-attacking approach when he first arrives at the crease.
England have been in troublesome positions throughout, and yet to apply the same method every time will not necessarily bring results, as Ali has found out. But then, Test cricket allows repeated opportunities, and some luck to shine through occasionally. For example, Ali tried to hit out his way again when the score read 21/2 in the morning, and nearly failed. But Rahul let the catch go.
“The way Moeen played through the day was quite excellent. He showed maturity when starting the innings in a tough situation. He has done it through the year with the added responsibility of batting higher up the order. Hopefully he can kick on and bat deep tomorrow. We did not lose in Mumbai because of the first innings, but we should have got 500 runs there. Tomorrow, Moeen can help us get 500 runs so we can put India under pressure here,” said Root.
What would have happened if Rahul had indeed pouched that catch? We will never know, for thereafter Ali tightened up and played steadily, as was the need of the hour – to buckle down and build a partnership with Root, to take over when his partner was dismissed and rebuild with Jonny Bairstow, and, when the latter was gone too, to see out the day without further losses.
Ali scripted survival for England on day one in Chennai. Can he now write another storyline for day two, something very different from what he has been done so far?
Brief scores
England 284/4 (Moeen Ali 120 not out; Joe Root 88; Ravindra Jadeja 3/71, Ishant Sharma 1/25).