England turns on the screws while India disintegrates
The day’s play included a now familiar sight of a despondent audience witnessing a Sachin Tendulkar failure, his decline so rapid, so defining, everything else paling in significance.
Away from the body, static in the crease, his bat a timid weapon and an inside-edge to an incoming ball; the Tendulkar we knew would have covered.
But this is a different Tendulkar, a cricket mortal, a man under intense, at times ruthless, scrutiny. Hence, every failure makes a humungous impact on the dressing room. On his future too!
In 15 innings thus far this year, Tendulkar has only two 50-plus scores. Obviously his wretched form has left the team bleeding.
Not that his approach lacks effort. He is still the most enthusiastic, dedicated and disciplined player; passionate and fiercely involved even from third man and fine leg where he fields mostly these days. But cricket has turned its back on Tendulkar.
England, resumed at 199 for five, and prospered to 330. The 131 runs added on Friday morning came through Graeme Swann (56), Root (42) and Matt Prior (33), the last two carrying on from the confidence acquired overnight.
Desperate day ahead
By close, India, at 87 for four, was looking at a desperate Saturday with Mahendra Singh Dhoni needing to play the innings of his life, an innings that would save the series and his reputation as someone who believes in leading from the front.
If the batsman excels the pitch must have eased; little credit is given to his skills. If the bowler dominates, obviously the pitch must have helped; again few appreciate his prowess. It can be a cruel game but cricket is basically quite uncomplicated.
You score runs if you bat well but you don’t always get wickets by bowling well.
Joe Root shone for England by batting sensibly. Piyush Chawla picked four wickets but not all for incisive bowling.
The second day’s play had an element of incongruity — the good and not so good shared the limelight.
Root was a pleasant change from batsmen who appear in a hurry to make an impact. He loves to follow the old school fundamental of batting — play straight and look to bat long.
To do that, a batsman has to raise his game and Root was comfortable, building his innings, pacing his shots, essentially concentrating on cementing his place and putting England in a strong position.
England dominated the day. It batted with purpose and bowled to a plan. Root was involved in two fruitful partnerships — 103 for the sixth wicket with Prior and 60 for the eighth wicket with Swann.
Dominant and enterprising
He was the dominant partner and the more enterprising too. He had read the pitch well to emerge with an innings that did justice to his talent. He was the inspiration for Swann to exhibit his batting potential, a gritty half century, his first in three years.
Prior was the day’s first victim, when he misread the line from R. Ashwin bowling round the wicket. Tim Bresnan went cheaply and then fell Root, his intended drive flying back to Chawla.
The English bowlers then took over. Virender Sehwag earned his seventh duck against England when he played inside the line, the ball wobbling in and sending him out.
Cheteshwar Pujara, the new hope, got a rough decision. It looked rough only in replays, not from umpire Rod Tucker’s position, as the ball grazed the forearm and nicely nestled in the forward short leg’s palms.
Tendulkar’s dismissal created pressure and Gautram Gambhir succumbed, driving ambitiously, a shot that was always fraught with danger against James Anderson, who produced an outstanding spell to rattle the Indian camp.
The match is not lost yet but the fight to save it has only intensified.
Brief scores:
The scores:
England – 1st innings: A. Cook lbw b Ishant 1 (28b), N. Compton c Dhoni b Ishant 3 (12b), J. Trott b Jadeja 44 (133b, 7x4), K. Pietersen c Ojha b Jadeja 73 (188b, 10x4), I. Bell c Kohli b Chawla 1 (28b), J. Root c&b Chawla 73 (229b, 4x4), M. Prior b Ashwin 57 (142b, 6x4), T. Bresnan lbw b Ishant 0 (2b), G. Swannlbw b Chawla 56 (91b, 6x4), J. Anderson c Pujara b Chawla 4 (17b), M. Panesar (not out) 1 (5b), Extras (b-5, lb-12) 17, Total (in 145.5 overs) 330.
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Compton), 2-16 (Cook), 3-102 (Trott), 4-119 (Bell), 5-139 (Pietersen), 6-242 (Prior), 7-242 (Bresnan), 8-302 (Root), 9-325 (Swann).
India bowling: Ishant 28-9-49-3, Ojha 35-12-71-0, Jadeja 37-17-58-2, Chawla 21.5-1-69-4, Ashwin 24-3-66-1.
India – 1st innings: G. Gambhir c Prior b Anderson 37 (93b, 4x4), V. Sehwag b Anderson 0 (2b), C. Pujara c Bell b Swann 26 (72b, 3x4), S. Tendulkar b Anderson 2 (13b), V. Kohli (batting) 11 (39b), M.S. Dhoni (batting) 8 (27b, 1x4), Extras (b-1, lb-2) 3, Total (for four wickets in 41 overs) 87.
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Sehwag), 2-59 (Pujara), 3-64 (Tendulkar), 4-71 (Gambhir).
England bowling: Anderson 9-2-24-3, Bresnan 10-1-25-0, M. Panesar 14-4-24-0, Swann 7-3-9-1, Trott 1-0-2-0.
Keywords: Nagpur Test Day 2, India vs England
Gentlemen: There was nothing wrong with the public statement made by
Mohindher Amarnath regarding Dhoni. India is a democracy where freedom
of speech is respected and appreciated. Additionally - the performance
of Dhoni in England and Australia has been below par; his field setting
has always been defensive; there is lack of aggression in his setup when
India is fielding. Dhoni needs to make a move.
As you have obliquely mentioned, the dead wood celebrity should leave the team or be sacked; otherwise there is no redemption,revival and rejuvination prospect for the team. And the time is NOW.
A great player should have the wisdom to know when to call it a day. One should retire when your admirers ask 'why' and not 'why not'. One should exit gracefully when one is still at peak performance. Unfortunately in this day & age of big time money in sports, such attributes are rare. Sachin Tendulkar, one of the cricketing greats of all time will go down in cricketing history as one who let commercial considerations hold sway over better judgment & grace. He looks pathetic on the cricket pitch & a sorry figure. Irrespective of what he scores in the second innings of the present test, the selectors should have the courage to show him the exit gate.
An person is judged whether he is performing or not performing under the current situation and not what was done 10 or 20 years back. In India, here is someone who came in because he got a chance, he performed and stayed. But he continuous to stay even when he is under-performing because of the past glory denying career for many budding cricketers.
So let BCCI keep Tendulkar and make him face humiliation by getting out cheaply. India is reduced to a laughing stock. May be more matches could be arranged against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe or Canada so that Tendulkar can "achieve" more records.
The question is What else do you expect ? The problem is of discipline and committment. Is there fire in their belly ? India is known to have fighters - in this team however, they all have been chickens - including SRT - Chickens to the Kill.
The fact lies that since the world cup -when the cup brimeth full - the discipline for playing at the topmost level has disappeared. The fallacy that with a ODI mindset one can play test matches has lead MSD and his team to go loose on training, discipline and committment - what with the parties that lead to advertisements and more moolah.
So now the problem that stemmed from ODI and IPL has lead to a total discovery that he team for Tests has to be different, independent and more importantly resilient with the thinking that is needed with the patience to play the game for 5 days - India and the current Indian team lack both the temerity as well as determination to play 5 day cricket - they are ready for the kill - Nagpur will make it 3-1.
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