After the certainty of Cheteshwar Pujara's unbeaten double century for
India, England's fallibility against spin bowling was even more painful
for them to bear. India have plotted turning pitches, they opened the
bowling with a spinner and in 18 overs of gathering mayhem struck three
times in the closing phase of the second day. Initial evidence at least
suggests that England's Asian nightmare is about to continue.
One of those three wickets was a nightwatchman - Jimmy Anderson, who
prodded the left-arm spinner, Pragyan Ojha to short leg - but that was
small consolation for England. Nick Compton batted reasonably securely
on debut until R Ashwin, who had opened the bowling, found sharp turn to
bowl him through the gate. Jonathan Trott also fell to Ashwin for a
fourth-ball duck, a cast-iron push forward and another catch at short
leg off bat and pad.
What a contrast this was with what had passed earlier. England knew
little of Pujara before the series: a bit of a recce in a warm-up match,
a few shots watched on a laptop, a provisional theory or two about how
best to get him out and a worried expression or two from statisticians
unable to deliver megabytes of data.
England know lots more about Pujara now. When India declared, to leave
England 18 overs before the close of the second day, Pujara had batted
in accomplished fashion for more eight-and-a-half hours. But they still
do not have much idea how to get him out. Not on low, ponderous surfaces
like this, at any rate.
When Jimmy Anderson took the first wicket by an England seamer, in the
158th over, there was an emotional argument for throwing the laptops in
the skip, but England's management stared into them with the staunch,
glassy-eyed futility of a touring party under enormous pressure.
The scorecard showed them that Graeme Swann, valiantly bearing an
onerous responsibility as England's only specialist spinner, had
maintained an immaculate line, bowling in traditional offspinner's
style, to finish with 5 for 144. Swann added one more wicket on the
second day, bowling MS Dhoni behind his legs, a deflection off a glove
as he tried to sweep.
Pujara's progress will have had the connoisseurs purring. He played in
stately and composed manner, producing a masterpiece of strategic
thinking. Rahul Dravid has retired to England's relief and they have
walked straight into another India batsman with an insatiable appetite
for batting. It is understandable how to an Indian eye he might
occasionally resemble VVS Laxman, but his mindset is pure Dravid. He
bats more elegantly but, like Dravid, has no need for flourish or
frippery. The man himself, looking on from the commentary box, could not
fail to be mightily impressed.
Swann apart, for England there was no encouragement. The ball refused to
deviate, in the air or off the ground, for a hard-pressed seam attack
as India's first innings moved inexorably forward. After the
Sehwag-fuelled start on the first day, India ground on, their rate
slowing. By the declaration, they had added a further 198 at 2.82 runs
per over. It was a day in which India's domination was not expressed
noisily but seeped into England's consciousness.
Pujara had rounded off the first day by driving Jimmy Anderson crisply
through mid-off for four, a satisfying finale, but one which left him on
98 not out. England sensed an opportunity.
Stuart Broad allowed him a comfortable leg-side single to move to 99,
and hammed up a vociferous lbw appeal for a ball pitching outside leg;
Swann bowled an intelligent maiden. But he picked off another single in
Broad's next over to reach his second Test hundred and celebrated with a
quiet air of contentment. When he later reached 200 by steering
Anderson past gully, the crowd were ecstatic at the success of one of
Gujurat's own, but Pujara struck you as the sort of level-headed man who
does not dance easily in company.
His innings, characterised by subtle placement and a sober mind, was a
model of restraint and orthodoxy. How England must regret Anderson's
inexplicable misjudgement when Pujara was 8, dashing forward too far at
mid-on as he misjudged the flight of Pujara's leading edge against Tim
Bresnan. The decline in England's fielding has been marked for some time
and, as Anderson showed again, it is afflicting both the best and the
worst.
The most romantic story of all failed to materialise. Yuvraj Singh made a
successful return to Test cricket after treatment for cancer, but there
was no comeback century, that hope ending when he was unhinged by a
groin-high full toss which he whacked obligingly down to long on in the
fourth over of the afternoon. Patel had the good grace to look sheepish.
Yuvraj entertained, though. His skip down the pitch to strike Swann
straight for six was the shot of the morning and was followed by a sweep
that fell short of six by inches. Fifteen came from the over; if India
broke Swann, England really were in trouble. They never did, but Yuvraj,
as a left-hander, had an appetite for Patel, an inconsequential second
spinner. His place at No. 6 is justified by his adroitness against spin
but, in this Test, his own left-arm slows look slightly round-arm and
unthreatening.
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