The Hindu : Sport : England faces an uphill task to square the series

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Monday, Aug 13, 2007
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Sport

England faces an uphill task to square the series

S. Ram Mahesh

Dravid plays it safe, decides not to enforce the follow-on; skilful knock by Sourav Ganguly

London: There was a touch of intrigue at The Oval on Sunday, the kind Inspector Clouseau would have bumbled into, beret, buttons, Pepe le Pew moustache et al. The inept detective wasn’t present this side of the Thames, but several others rose magnificently to fill the void. The intrigue concerned Rahul Dravid’s decision on the follow-on in the third Test: it provided a rich seam to mine for pundits and propagandists.

When Anil Kumble finally ended a 40-run tenth-wicket partnership on Sunday morning, framing Monty Panesar with a stream of slower, over-spun googlies followed by a flatter leg-break, England was 319 behind India’s first innings score of 664.

With half-hour short of six sessions remaining — and a 1-0 margin to improve in the final Test of the series — how would India react? As it turned out, Dravid chose to bat again, and India, thanks to Sourav Ganguly’s emancipating 68-ball 57, the captain’s curiously static but contextually vital 96-ball 12, and V.V.S. Laxman’s and M.S. Dhoni’s enhancing efforts, set England 500 in a possible 110 overs.

Good start

Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook took their side to 56 for no loss at close on day four. India has 90 overs on Monday to make it 2-0. It’s almost certain, however, that the Pataudi Trophy will travel to India.

By close, hindsight had conferred on Dravid’s decision a sort of irrelevance. The majority had been of the opinion that it was negative — an opinion that grew particularly strident when India bent to 11 for three in its second innings, and, again, when the declaration after tea took time coming.

But, often in such matters, not everything is as it seems. Imran Khan, the astute former Pakistan captain, once said, the more nuanced the grasp of the game, the less certain the opinion — in short, fools rush in.

That said, let us examine the decision. The one thing that could have made Dravid’s mind up is information the public — save those with the most reliable of moles — isn’t privy to. Only he knew if his bowlers were adequately fit.

In England’s first innings, Zaheer Khan bowled 22 overs, S. Sreesanth delivered 21, R.P. Singh ran up for 18, and Kumble wheeled out 29.1: not back-breaking workloads by any measure. But, it became evident on Sunday evening that Zaheer was nursing a thigh strain. He went off the field with the physio during his opening spell to get it strapped. There was a clue earlier: Dravid didn’t open on Sunday with Zaheer and Kumble as he had at Trent Bridge when he had needed to dismiss the tail.

It’s tough enough taking ten wickets with four fit bowlers; doing it with a tiring three and a half, even on a wearing track, is impractical. So, was Dravid, in not enforcing the follow-on, giving India its best shot at winning the Test or was he ensuring the series couldn’t be squared? Or, was he taking the tactical middle path — first ensuring all hope for England evaporated, then scraping the parched opponent off the ground?

The answer, as ever, lies in the fact that perception is a tricky thing. Anil Kumble on a fifth-day strip with bounce is about as attacking as it gets. Add to it the nugget that England has never batted out 110 overs in the fourth innings at The Oval, and both the follow-on and the declaration are made to look positively menacing. A case for enforcing the follow-on can be made just as easily.

And, indeed, it was being made as a poor leg-before decision against Wasim Jaffer — who misread a James Anderson in-swinger and shouldered arms — opened the floodgates. The cloud cover was allowing England’s bowlers to swing the ball, making strokeplay difficult. Chris Tremlett got a ball to bounce and leave Dinesh Karthik. Anderson then duped Sachin Tendulkar with a fine bit of swing bowling, though in fairness, skill was aided by fortune.

The seam left Anderson’s fingers pointing to second slip; Tendulkar read the swing and brought out the expansive cover drive — surprising given his recent preference for denial; the ball never did curl outwards, offering to move in instead, and cut back to break the stumps off the inside edge.

Counter-attack

A collapse at this stage could have conceivably left England less than 400 to get in the fourth innings; not easy, but heaven after conceding 664. Ganguly, however, glided through gully and finessed past cover, threading seven of his nine fours through the eight-man off-side to arrest England’s momentum.

It was an exceptionally brave and skilful counter-attacking innings.

Dravid’s was a curious stay. His presence was paramount: he and Ganguly fed off each other, their contrasting efforts giving to the same cause.

Dravid struggled greatly, taking 91 balls to get to double-figures, and contributing five to Ganguly’s 45 when their partnership realised 50.

SCOREBOARD

India - 1st innings: 664.

England - 1st innings: A. Strauss c Sreesanth b Khan 6, A. Cook c Singh b Kumble 61, J. Anderson lbw b Singh 16, M. Vaughan c & b Kumble 11, K. Pietersen c Dravid b Tendulkar 41, P. Collingwood lbw b Sreesanth 62, I. Bell c Dhoni b Khan 63, M. Prior c Tendulkar b Sreesanth 0, R. Sidebottom c & b Khan 2, C. Tremlett (not out) 25, M. Panesar lbw b Kumble 9; Extras (b-16, lb-12, w-10, nb-11) 49; Total (in 103.1 overs) 345.

Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Strauss), 2-78 (Anderson), 3-119 (Cook), 4-124 (Vaughan), 5-202 (Pietersen), 6-288 (Collingwood), 7- 303 (Bell), 8-305 (Sidebottom), 9-305 (Prior).

India bowling: Zaheer 22-13-32-3, Sreesanth 21-2-80-2, Kumble 29. 1-7-94-3, R.P. Singh 18-3-72-1, Ganguly 5-1-8-0, Tendulkar 7-0-26-1, Laxman 1-0-5-0.

India - 2nd innings: D. Karthik c Collingwood b Tremlett 8, W. Jaffer lbw b Anderson 0, R. Dravid c Strauss b Collingwood 12, S. Tendulkar b Anderson 1, S. Ganguly c Strauss b Collingwood 57, V.V.S. Laxman (not out) 46, M.S. Dhoni c Prior b Tremlett 36, A. Kumble (not out) 8; Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-6) 12; Total (for six wkts. decl. in 58 overs) 180.

Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Jaffer), 2-10 (Karthik), 3-11 (Tendulkar), 4-76 (Ganguly), 5-89 (Dravid), 6-158 (Dhoni).

England bowling: Anderson 15-8-34-2; Tremlett 15-2-58-2; Collingwood 10-1-24-2; Panesar 18-1-58-0.

England - 2nd Innings: A. Strauss (batting) 23, A. Cook (batting) 27; Extras (lb-3, w-3) 6; Total (for no loss in 20 overs) 56.

India bowling: Zaheer 6-0-15-0, Sreesanth 5-3-5-0, Kumble 5-1-21-0, R.P. Singh 3-1-6-0, Tendulkar 1-0-6-0.

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