India could blame the weather but that would still sound like an excuse. When England bowled in the morning, there was cloud cover and rain. Late in the afternoon when Indians got the ball in hand there was bright sunlight. Data also showed that the swing and seam movement dropped drastically as the day progressed. Indian pacers surely didn’t get favourable conditions but they didn’t help their cause by having their worst day of the tour.
Pedestrian first spells by the entire pace unit helped England to pull away. The 166-run opening-wicket stand between Ben Duckett (94) and Zak Crawley (84) at over 5 runs per over tilted the balance of the game on England’s side. At 225/2, England trail by 153 runs. By the end of the day, India’s first innings total of 358 looked insufficient on this track that kept changing its character based on the cloud cover and sunshine.
This clearly was a game of two halves. After the engrossing session-and-half in the afternoon, the evening lacked drama or intrigue. Jasprit Bumrah had an off-day—he was off-target and his pace too was off. Debutant Anshul Kamboj didn’t live up to his promise of being accurate and owner of the ‘heavy ball’ that troubles batsmen. Mohammed Siraj lacked sting. Shardul Thakur was ineffective.
After the pace department had collectively failed and were wicketless in the early part of the England innings, captain Shubman Gill threw the ball to Ravindra Jadeja. On the second ball of India’s spinner-in-chief’s first over, England opener Crawley stepped down the surface and smashed the ball over long-on for a six.
It was at this point, probably for the first time in the series that India looked deflated. Nothing seems to be working for them. The England opening pair of Crawley and Duckett hadn’t looked this solid in the last three Tests like they did at Old Trafford. Forget getting them out, they weren’t even beaten in the first couple of hours of their stay. Like was the case when the Indians batted, there was hardly any play and miss. But for a couple of balls that Bumrah bowled from round-the-wicket and beat Duckett’s bat, it was the case of tight batting against undisciplined bowling.
Stingless Bumrah
Bumrah bowled to a packed off-side field to Crawley. The plan was to invite him to swing his bat freely and try one of his booming drives. It wasn’t that the England opener had gone into the shell, it is just that most times the ball was so wide outside off stump that the batsman wasn’t tempted. The famous Bumrah consistency was missing and even his pace seemed to have dropped. When attempting to change his line, he would often drift down the leg-side.
Siraj looked tired. There was nothing amiss in his action, his stride had the usual rhythm, the jump too was also in place but the balls lacked the zip. Like most bowlers with diminishing energy levels, Siraj’s effort balls would tail on the leg of the batsmen, making the off-side heavy field redundant.
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England commentator Nasser Hussain made a sharp observation about the two England openers Duckett and Crawley. He said they both had it in them to punish the bad balls but Duckett was more focused and apt in dealing with the good balls. But at least in this Test, Crawley’s shot-selection had improved. There was a Thakur over where he bowled a couple of great balls—they came in, bounced and seamed away. These balls he left and when the bowler erred in his length he pulled it to square leg for a boundary.
Duckett, like he always does, jumped on loose balls and there were many. If a ball was marginally short on the off-side, he would bring out his tight jab to the cover region. When the ball was short, he didn’t go blind to the fielders on the fence, like the Indians. India’s two left-handers Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar were both out to Stokes’ leg-side trap. He would bowl a sharp short ball that climbed towards the head of the batsmen. Sudharsan and Washington both ended up guiding the ball into the hands of the lone fielder on the fine-leg boundary. India too tested Duckett with the short ball but he had control over his shot, he kept it down and played square of the wicket.
Both Duckett and Crawley missed their centuries. First Crawley edged a Jadeja ball to slips and Duckett was out flashing at a Kamboj short ball outside the off-stump. They certainly weren’t top wicket-taking balls but they got the batsmen to commit unforced errors.
As the day ended and players were in the dressing room, two worried men, in India blues, walked up to the pitch. After a brief inspection, coaches Gautam Gambhir and Shitanshu Kotak walked on the turf, talking while staring at the grass blades. India might be feeling the ground under their feet shaking.
