India’s riposte in pursuit of England’s substantial first innings total was magnificent. The home team’s plight in the opening Test of the five Test series may not have finished by a long shot with another six sessions to be played on a declining surface and with a probability of a chasing a tricky target in the fourth innings, but the courage of conviction shown by opener Murali Vijay, afflicted by a stiff wrist and a commanding display by Cheteshwar Pujara while approaching a task in hand, wiped out the bad memory of left hander Gautam Gambhir being prised out by seamer Stuart Broad in the seventh ball of the third day’s play and also dashed the hopes of the England spinners.
Both Vijay and Pujara have proved to be tough nuts to crack in the past and on Friday England did not find its seam and spin department reaching the expected efficiency levels to break the second wicket pair’s will for nearly five hours and deliver the goods to its liking in order to take the upper hand in the match. Vijay and Pujara’s partnership of 209 runs ensured that India would avoid the follow on, but the fall of Vijay and Amit Mishra in the extended half an hour session excited the England spinners.
Vijay dropped anchor for eight hours and five minutes, but it was Pujara’s day out in the middle at the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium in presence of a modest turn out. He put his best foot forward, faced 206 balls, was solid in attack and defence and he brought out his repertoire of strokes against the seamers and spinners alike before gifting his wicket, by offering a straightforward catch to the England captain, Alastair Cook, the only man at widish slip. Pujara had a slice of luck going his way though, when on 86, he successfully appealed against the decision of umpire Chris Gaffaney who had adjudged him leg before.
Though left arm spinner Zafar Ansari’s orthodox delivery beat the right hander’s forward play and found its way to strike the back leg, the umpire Decision Review System (DRS) confirmed Pujara and Vijay’s judgment that the ball would have gone over the stumps. But the second ball claimed promptly at the conclusion of the 80th over, presented England its second wicket after 67 deliveries when Pujara directed a wide delivery from Ben Stokes to Cook. Pujara showed disgust at the shot he made, but after the replay confirmed that Stokes had not overstepped the popping crease, he had to leave.
Nothing, not even the exacting exercise of chasing a total of tall order or the three blows he took on his shoulder and helmet of the bowling of Chris Woakes, flustered the local native who in fact brought relief to the Indian camp with a flurry of shots soon after Gambhir’s departure in the second over after four byes and single was added to the overnight total.
The probability of Pujara not making some runs and make an impact in a match at the two venues in the town are low and when he converted Broad’s full pitched delivery into a spanking off drive everybody at the venue knew the local had shown the first sign of striking form. Very soon he gave the rough treatment to off-spinner Moeen Ali, hitting him for three fours on either side of the wicket. Unable to sway away from the short balls from Woakes, he appeared clumsy turning his face away and taking blows on his front shoulder and the helmet grille, but soon he did his bat dominate against Ben Stokes.
Vijay, always a doughty customer and equipped to deal with difficult situations, showed exemplary restraint, cut out all frills, blocked with the straight bat for many hours, but danced down the pitch to lift three straight sixes that illustrated his control over the circumstances that did not make appear batting a pleasure to watch. The dark patches in close proximity to the batting crease at both ends of the pitch and cracks around the good length areas did not make things easy to score off the three spinners; Ali, left arm spinner Zafar Ansari and leg spinner Adil Rashid.
India advanced by 99 runs in the first two hours, but was contained by a consistent one-side bowling in the second session, especially with Broad introduced in the post lunch to hit short of good length areas where the cracks had begun to open up. India was allowed to score only 66 in 29 overs of the second session. Cook went back to his seamers because of the inability of the three spinners to make any impression; once he turned down Rashid’s pleas for a DRS against Pujara.
There were occasions when the ball jumped and turned and as predicted there will be more purchase for the England spinners on the fourth day. Kohli will try and lead the challenge with the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and hope to get nearer to England’s 537 or even surpass it. ``The two wickets in the last session has given is a lift, not an edge,’’ said Paul Fabrice, England’s assistant coach.
Scoreboard
England (1st Innings) 537
India (1st Innings) Murali Vijay c Hameed b Rashid 126 (485m, 301b, 9 x 4s, 4 x 6s), Gautam Gambhir lbw b Broad 29 (106m, 72b, 29), Cheteshwar Pujara c Cook b Stokes 124 (298m, 206b, 17 x 4s), Virat Kohli batting 26 (83m,70b, 3 x 4s) Amit Mishra c Hameed b Ansari 0 (3m,2b), Extras (b-12, lb-1,w-1) 14, Total (for the loss of 4 wkts in 108.3 overs ) 319
Fall of wkts: 1-68 (Gambhir), 2-277 (Pujara), 3-318 (Vijay), 4-319 (Mishra)
England bowling: Stuart Broad 20-7-54-1, Chris Woakes 23-5-39-0, Moeen Ali 22-6-70-0, Zafar Ansari 17.3-1-57-1, Adil Rashid 16-1-47-1, Ben Stokes 10-1-39-0.
