Indian fans, who stood patiently around the barricades near the team bus outside Trent Bridge, were a happy lot here on Sunday evening.
Having witnessed the drubbing that M.S. Dhoni’s men suffered during the 2011 tour, the men and women, who waved the tri-colour, belted out bhangra and even advised Ishant Sharma during the Joe Root-James Anderson last-wicket partnership, had lots to cheer.
The bogey of the defeat in first Tests in series overseas has been shed for now. It wasn’t the case earlier.
At Lord’s in 2011, India lost by 196 runs. At Melbourne, the same year, India suffered a 122-run loss.
And then when scepticism shadowed a young team that had lost its stalwarts, hope floated in at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, last December. If ever there was a nail-biting draw, this was it as the Proteas, chasing 458, finished with 450 for seven.
India lost the next Test at Durban, with Dale Steyn inflicting the bruises. Moving over to New Zealand, another first Test was lost, this time at Auckland’s Eden Park but there was a semblance of honour in defeat as the visitors, chasing 407, fell short by 40 runs. Slowly, the team has shed the self-doubt associated with previous tours. On the flip side, it can be argued that India is not winning matches that it dominates. But the team is bound to acquire that skill if it can build on these positive signs.
Double delight The batting does lean heavily on Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, but Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane and to a certain extent, Shikhar Dhawan, have shown that they too can contribute as was evident in their varied displays across South Africa, New Zealand and here.
To make it doubly sweet for Dhoni, the tail wagged and showed that it can survive in a post-Laxman era in which the stylist’s calm ways and an arm around the lower order batsmen, are being missed.
The first Test could have eased into England’s grasp but for Stuart Binny’s rescue-act. Even that is a tale of redemption. The presumptions around a probable seam-friendly pitch forced Dhoni to drop Rohit Sharma and field Binny. As a bowler, the debutant didn’t make any impact on a dead track. His selection under scrutiny and with R. Ashwin warming the benches and India having lost Dhoni in a wilting second innings, Binny strode into a pressure-situation and emerged unscathed.
It lent hope to Dhoni. “I feel it is nice that some individuals stood up when the pressure was put on us,” the captain said and hoped that Binny the bowler too would deliver. “Though Stuart bowled only 10 overs, I felt it was a good effort. As the series progresses, we will watch him as he is someone who can swing the ball and can give rest to the other bowlers. He will be more effective on pitches that offer some assistance to the bowlers,” Dhoni said.
Major worry Yet, India is staring at a selection headache ahead of the second Test at Lord’s from Thursday. If the pitch is slow, would the management still plump for Binny, or will there be a temptation to somehow get back Ashwin?
And the way the bowlers failed to prise out England’s last-pair would still rankle despite Ishant’s spell on the third afternoon or Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s first five-for. The inability to get 20 wickets in an overseas Test remains a worry. That is one bogey that Dhoni is desperate to shed.
Statistical highlights
Whenever India has drawn the first Test of a series in England, it has gone on to either win it (1-0 in 1971 & 1-0 in 2007), or share honours (1-1 in 2002)
The only occasion India won the first Test was in 1986 when Kapil Dev’s side triumphed by five wickets at Lord’s. The visitors clinched the three-match series 2-0, their biggest-ever series victory in the Old Blighty
Stuart Binny’s 78 is the highest by an Indian No. 8 on debut, against England in England. Three Indians have scored centuries while batting in that position in England: Anil Kumble (110 n.o., The Oval, 2007), Kapil Dev (110, The Oval, 1990) and Ajit Agarkar (109 n.o., Lord’s, 2002). Incidentally, these were the only hundreds made by Kumble and Agarkar in their careers!
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the second player, after Peter Siddle of Australia, to make a 50-plus score in both innings of a Test, batting at No. 9 (58 & 63 n.o. at Nottingham). Siddle’s effort (51 & 50) came against India in Delhi, 2013.
This is the first time in the history of Test cricket two 100-plus partnerships have come for the last wicket in the same game (111 between Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami; 198 between Joe Root and James Anderson) — R. Narayanan
