India vs England: Visitors' pace trio reap rewards for perseverance as hosts collapse after dour batting display

If England’s first innings ploy was to stonewall and tire out a 4-man bowling attack in the hope of plundering them in the second, they had another thought coming. The strategy seemed to be on course for much of the day, as a lunch score of 68 for 1 in 28 overs and a tea score of 123 for 1 in 59 overs, seemed to suggest. England were barely crawling at two runs an over against the toned down attack but the fact that they had preserved wickets augured well for them. India had chosen to jettison their 5-man bowling pack in favour of a four-bowler approach and England probably felt emboldened to wear it down with relentless plodding and dogged defence. [caption id=“attachment_5141801” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Indian pacers went wicketless in the first two sessions on Day 1 of Oval Test before bagging a handful of wickets in the final session. AP[/caption] But the best of plans can come unstuck against a persevering opponent. India’s trio of fast bowlers who were kept at bay by a combination of dour batting and indifferent catching, stuck to the task of probing unyieldingly at the batsmen’s technique before striking pay dirt in the form of a clutch of wickets in the last session. Tellingly India’s selectors had not been dogmatic with their choice of playing eleven for the final Test. Earlier they were conscious of the need to conserve bowlers for the long haul of five Tests and hence had opted to field five of them to share the workload. Else one or two would have been bowled to the ground long before the final Test. There were no such compulsions in this last match of the tour. The team required just four fit and well paced-out bowlers who could share the fifth bowler’s load. Simultaneously this reduction of one bowler allowed the team to shore up the batting department. They opted for a genuine batsman, rather than continuing to bank on Hardik Pandya whose limited skills with the bat in the longest format had not positively impacted the score line. The only sore point was in the choice of that extra batsman. Karun Nair who seems to have been treated shabbily by this set-up, despite scoring a rare Test triple ton (only the second Indian, after Virender Sehwag to register the feat) has every reason to be peeved. He has scored tons of runs in Ranji Trophy (including a triple ton), had a good tour of England as skipper of India A and had proven himself at the highest level of the game. His talent and ability deserved a longer, continuous run in Test cricket. Instead news coming out of England suggests that he was hardly given an opportunity even in the nets! The tour selection committee went with Hanuma Vihari, another good young batsman. His bowling skills are probably on par with Nair’s. But it was for his batting that he has been chosen and hopefully Kohli and company’s gut feeling could come good in the best interests of Indian cricket. Of course the disconcerting aspect of Vihari’s Ranji Trophy statistics is that the runs have come in Group C where the weakest teams are plonked. But he has good scores for India A and those should enable him to take a lot of confidence to the crease. England’s openers Alistair Cook and Keaton Jennings, probably bogged down by poor form and the former’s determination to make an impression in his last Test, were excessively defensive. While this kept the fast bowlers at bay, particularly during the first session when they were expected to make inroads, it also allowed India to control the pace of the game. Jennings knock of 23 off 75 balls was ungainly. Equally painful to watch was Cook’s 71 from 190 balls and Moeen Ali’s laborious 50 from 170 balls. Of course poor catching by Ajinkya Rahane at gully and Kohli at third slip had deprived pacers of early wickets. Thus India’s quickies who had made such a huge impression on the tour went wicketless for two whole sessions. However Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma made amends spectacularly after tea to leave England’s innings in tatters. But for some bad luck they, along with the impressive Mohammed Shami would have wrapped up the innings by close of play itself. Certainly the trio firing on all cylinders even towards close of play was a sight for sore eyes.  Each of them bowled on an average of around seven overs per session while left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja averaged eight. Hopefully the new ball will help mop up the remaining three wickets quickly. Additionally, India’s batsmen would do their bowlers a huge favour if they could bat long enough to enable the bowlers to put up their feet and recoup for the final assault on England’s batsmen. Like so often on the tour the onus is now on India’s batsmen to come good. May be the Oval setting would be ideal for them to at last make their presence felt!