Cricket, Chennai and Chepauk always evoke memories of the greatness of the game, celebrated and acknowledged in this southern coastal city, in all its glory and nuances.
Sachin Tendulkar’s blitzkrieg against Shane Warne, Pakistan’s historic win in a Test between the nations after 13 years, Virender Sehwag’s whirlwind triple ton decimating the Proteas and M.S. Dhoni’s only double hundred in Tests are among the great Tests this correspondent had watched from the stands. On Friday, he was there with the thousands of fans who always turn up to watch a Test at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk.
For many, the final match of the India-England Test series may not hold much interest as Virat Kohli’s men have already won the series convincingly at 3-0 with an innings victory at Mumbai.
As if to testify that Tests should be played here often, Friday saw crowds swarming the stadium from 8.30 a.m. itself. Some could not believe that tickets were almost sold out.
“So many to watch [Murali] Vijay defend ball after ball, it’s unbelievable,” a middle aged person chuckled. By then, England had won the toss and Alastair Cook had decided to bat. With the toss won, the Englishmen were hoping for a reversal.
The crowd had a few surprises when they saw Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra in the playing eleven when the Indian team took the field after observing a minute silence to former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and the singing of the two national anthems.
Singing match
As soon as the game started, the Barmy Army on tour began a song aloud with lots of pride despite the “perfect revenge” Virat Kohli and his team had delivered. The moment they stopped, the locals beat up their own slang-song with ‘ooh, aah’.
The game began with a fumble in the field by Amit Mishra at mid-off. Till lunch, he could not even collect the ball cleanly much to the amusement of the crowd wondering why he replaced Jayant Yadav.
Like a trace of bullet
Ishant Sharma bowled brilliantly from the Wallajah Road end and had Keaton Jennings nick one behind. When the crowd was expecting Ashwin, the home boy, to replace him, Virat changed Umesh Yadav’s end only to see an edge fly past him and Vijay in the second slip “like a trace of bullet”.
Ravindra Jadeja’s belief in his own bowling has been a cause of confusion for his captain when it comes to DRS. On Friday too, he spun one down the leg and the stadium saw it missing leg stump. Initially thinking of asking for a review, Virat changed it. Soon, he caught Cook off Jadeja.
Fluid batting
Fluid batting
Fluid batting
Finally, Ashwin was introduced in the 18th over much to the delight of the crowd and he was getting the ball to turn and bounce from the Pavilion end by the final over before lunch.
As the afternoon stretched, Root and Ali swept and lofted the cherry with so much of ease and finesse, toying with the spinners. Mishra was conceding a boundary per over.
Ashwin continued from the Wallajah Road end but had no purchase from the pitch that Mahesh, a TNCA official from the districts, said, “It looks like a 600 pitch”.
Standing ovation
The breakthrough came when Root nicked one behind. While Jadeja, the bowler and Virat, in first slip, were convinced, the wicket keeper, who took the catch was not even appealing. DRS confirmed an inside edge to send the crowd delirious. The Pavilion Terrace gave Root, a standing ovation despite him playing a silly shot in the eighties — again.
Crowd disturbance
By now, Ali was leaning in and driving the ball fluently in the covers to reach his century and a thousand runs for the year. Chepauk’s crowd may be the most knowledgeable in the world but at times, Ali had to wait for the visitors in the Pavilion terrace to sit.
One such lapse in concentration cost Jonny Bairstow, his wicket. He knew he missed a fifty by one run, and possibly a hundred, and threw the gloves and bat in desperation walking back into the dressing room. There were a few in the crowd who wanted to know if his hair was really red and how could it be so.
A no show
Despite the engaging sessions of cricket capped by brilliant batting by Root, Ali and Bairstow, the home crowd was disappointed as Ashwin went wicketless, the entire day. Post-tea, led by a little boy, the crowd chanted up his name and clapped but the local lad could not scalp even a single wicket.
They will be back on Saturday hoping that he will clean up the English middle order and tail early. So that they could watch another home boy, Murali Vijay, and Virat Kohli bat. Bat. And bat.
