England registered an emphatic 10-wicket victory over India in the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday and brought the four-Test series level at 1-1.
Not for a moment did the England openers Alastair Cook and Nick Compton give the slightest impression of delaying the inevitable in the fourth innings chase of 58; instead they attacked the spinners and completed the formality in 9.4 overs with R. Ashwin’s wayward leg-side delivery racing to the fence announcing a superb win for the visitor 35 minutes before the lunch interval.
Restrained celebration
Cook and Compton celebrated the victory in a restrained manner and the captain made it a point to pick up a stump from each end to take home as a souvenir. It was England’s third Test win in India in 27 years; so assiduously worked out by the two batsmen — Cook and Kevin Pietersen, who was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match — and spinners Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann, who shared 19 wickets in the match.
The fourth day began with Harbhajan Singh thumping Panesar for a boundary, but he could not deal effectively with a Swann off-break that gained height and the right-hander’s attempted cut shot landed in the hands of Jonathan Trott at slip.
Then Zaheer Khan could not resist the temptation of launching into a big slog-sweep and the resultant top-edge off Panesar gave enough time for Matt Prior to move to his left and complete the catch; it was Panesar’s 11th wicket that placed him on par with Hedley Verity’s 11 wickets, the best by an England spinner in India.
Verity’s figures in the 1934 Test match at Madras were 11 for 153 and it will have the exalted place as it is better than Panesar’s match figures of 11 for 210 by a big margin of runs conceded.
Tough for umpires
It had not been an easy match for the umpires, Tony Hill and Aleem Dar, at Motera and here, as they had to adjudicate several bat-pad decisions. Hill upheld an appeal from Swann against Gautam Gambhir, the last Indian wicket to fall, in the second innings; but apparently Hill did not notice the inside-edge.
Swann’s four wickets gave him match figures of eight for 113. But apart from the number of wickets that boosted his tally beyond the 200 Test-wicket mark in this Test, what caught the attention was his ability to impart adequate spin to obtain a lovely flight path that curled away from the right-hander and cut in off the wicket.
Four extras (byes) may have brought an end to the match, but Compton’s charge against Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha provided the fireworks and a quick finish well inside lunch on the fourth day. The right-hander even stepped out and struck the left-arm spinner for a straight six.
Now it’s almost sure that Compton will be Cook’s opening partner for the remaining two Tests.
Scoreboard
India — 1st innings 327
England — 1st innings 413
India — 2nd innings
G. Gambhir lbw b Swann (109b, 5x4) 65
V. Sehwag c Swann b Panesar(14b, 1x4) 9
C. Pujara c Bairstow b Swann (5b, 1x4) 6
S. Tendulkar lbw b Panesar (19b, 2x4) 8
V. Kohli c sub (Root) b Swann (13b, 1x4)7
Yuvraj c Bairstow b Panesar (10b, 1x4) 8
M.S. Dhoni c Trott b Panesar (17b) 6
R. Ashwin c Patel b Panesar (10b,1x6)11
Harbhajan c Trott b Swann (5b, 1x4) 6
Zaheer c Prior b Panesar (11b) 1
P. Ojha (not out)(19b, 1x4) 6
Extras (b-6, lb-3) 9
Total (in 44.1 overs) 142
Fall of wickets: 1-30 (Sehwag), 2-37 (Pujara), 3-52 (Tendulkar), 4-65 (Kohli), 5-78 (Yuvraj), 6-92 (Dhoni), 7-110
(Ashwin), 8-128 (Harbhajan), 9-131 (Zaheer).
England — 2nd innings
A. Cook (not out) (30b, 1x4) 18
N. Compton (not out) (28b, 4x4, 1x6) 30
Extras (b-8, lb-2) 10
Total (for no loss in 9.4 overs) 58
Keywords: India-England Test series, England's tour of India
On the same day , an old warrior by name J.Kallis defied odds to bat
for 100 odd balls to do his part in saving the game for his country.On
the other hand,we have egotists who care less about the team and more
about themselves.I say so ,because if they had not been
egocentric,they would have genuinely called for introspection after
the dismal 8-0 loss.
Bad !! Bad !! Bad !!
Dhoni no longer deserves a place in the 15 member test squad -his
records are a proof !! What did Bhajji do to command a return to the
squad ? Please start rewarding Ranji performers - see PUJARA .
Dhoni is not a wise captain -he was a captain surrounded by 10 wise
men.He had ,Kumble ,Dravid,Saurav,Sachin ,Laxman at their peak-
Expect some spine from the selectors for the new T20 squad atleast.
Its the time to think very positively. In the previous test our
captain wanted a spinning track, but he himself failed to take note
that apart from Gambhir, nobody is sure playing spin. The effect can
be seen on Wankhede. And Aswin, our captain's trump card, has gone
50 overs wicket less. Never I seen an aggressive move from our
captain. If I am correct he is now a burden...So please think and
its time to change.
About Sachin. Let somebody remind him to say adieu. Otherwise, it
will be as bad as the things to happen for him also
the result proves that if we put up a wicket that suits our spinners, it can backfire very badly on us !!.
Kudos to england, they were simply outstanding in all the departments,
it was a lovely game of cricket which awestruck the spectators.
I am sure that English batsmen practiced a lot on the nets with Swan
and Panesar bowling at them, our team despite having some of the best
spinners couldn't perform at all. Indian's are known to be good
players of spin bowling, what lacked here was match practice, our
esteemed batsmen have not played domestic cricket lately and thus they
are out of practice of playing spin bowling. They must now get back to
the roots and play some domestic cricket.
The series has become exiting now. As it was expected by general public that there will be white wash which will not be the case, so Indian team should now be cautious playing England bowlers......So team...forget the defeat and move forward..Mr.Dhoni & Mr.Tendulkar, enough of greatness has been thrust upon you guys, now is the time to perform.
It might be the weather conditions which is not suiting the Indian cricket.. they need a perfect weather which will dehydrate English players..
Dhoni asked for it England gave it to him. It's the worst defeat Indians
have confronted in India.
Must make some major changes in the team. Stop trying to pamper players who are not
performing.
I am hoping for more mails on the test match. It will be interesting to see more of some good considered views of the esteemed cricket enthusiasts to shed light on the current condition of the tems and truthful exposition of the state of affairs. Of course, this will be different from current and former players and other related officials for obvious reasons. Then readers like us have to sort the grains from the hay.. thanks and regards...by the way..Well done England team and players ... excellent performance. Well done Indian bowlers and under the circumstances..the India Captain MSD and Pujara.
The english spinners should now teach the Indian bowlers and the
english batsmen to the so called Indian legendary batsmen how to play
on their( indian) own soil. Disgusting and disappointing display by
the rank indian team. However this sorry state affairs will continue
till there is no infusion of young and responsible players into the
Indian squad. The present bunch are mostly past their prime but they
would stick around despite of several defeats thats the only regret.
If they ever save a match from defeat think that this is a life long
achievement for them.The crowd will have to have lot of patience to
continue seeing the same bunch year after year.No changes in sight !
It is time for Sachin and Dhoni to stay out of the test
I have to agree with Amit. It is not that we are targeting Sachin because we lost, but I fear that he may not bow down gracefully. Rahul Dravid says his experience is needed, but he doesn't necessarily have to be there in the team to help. He says he will stop when he feels that he is no longer enjoying the game, but the question is, are the others enjoying his game, and is that of any benefit for the country? He should have gone after the world cup, but didn't and lost a golden opportunity there. I never used to believe that he was selfish, but he completely lost my vote when he announced last year that he wouldn't go to the West Indies because he "wanted to spend time with the family", and then when he played for Mumbai Indians the following month.
The Performance of the Indian Team in the Second Test was simply
nothing it was a senseless stupid batting by Indians. The spinners should know to flight the ball and bowl a fuller length to get the turn & bounce most important to make the batsman play forward using their feet.
Sir
"curled away from the right-hander and cut in off the wicket". What exactly did you
mean by that statement ?
It's bad enough getting beat by England away from home but getting comprehensively beaten at home by England's spinners is just not on. IPL is the scourge of cricket and as long as the focus is going to be on minting money by having fun on the flat IPL pitches, this is exactly what will come to pass when the real cricket begins.
Hi Sachin,
A humble request from a cricket fan in India...please give your slot to a youngster who is waiting to represent his country, as you did a couple of decades ago. No dearth of talent in India. The new comer may score a hundred or get out cheaply. It does not matter.
He would atleast be happy, India gave him a chance. Unintentionally, you may be stopping that. Your stature and class is so high that no selectors want to open the topic of removing you from team. We are not asking you to retire from cricket; You can still serve the country by giving quality training to youngsters; you got everything you wanted. Any more desire seems to bordering greediness, in whatever disguise it may be presented.
Sachin should make way for youngsters, Its shame he still battling low, players like Suresh Raina could have accommodated his seat.
I want England to win so that this win will enable seniors to retire and youngsters to take seat.
As usual the North Indian lobby of cricket would drop Aswin as they did for Venkat
There are two intriguing points. One, the England spinners were able to turn the ball more than what the Indian spinners could do. Second, though we are accustomed to playing spin bowling from times immemorial, our batsmen struggled and failed in both innings against the English spin attack, while the England batsmen blasted our spinners all over the field, on a turning track ! One wonders how Dhoni could explain away this strange set of facts.
There is no mention of the life that was awarded to Ojha by Umpire Aleem Dar! Ojha was clearly out caught, when India's 2nd Innings lead was 50!
Panesar ,the Bishen Singh Bedi of England?
It is a pathetic display They crumbled to spinners in home conditions,
not sure what excuse they have this time.. Someone please remind them
that this is Test cricket and not IPL.
OK. WE lost. But see, still we have so called SENIOR Player ( hi - hi
- hi), in the team. Sachin has never played during critical moments. He should understand that age of retirement in Sport is not 58. How come he be a legend, if he cannot play to save the match forget winning innings!!!! Can we expect any new player to be in Team, with such failures. Yes Legend can be in Team even they cannot save or make match win. After all they are legends!!!!!1
Please Email the Editor