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Day 1 to India as Poms struggle |
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Written by Akshay
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Wednesday, 01 March 2006 |
 The day began well for the new English Captain Andrew Flintoff in Nagpur, as he won a crucial toss in his first test as captain. Predictably he chose to bat first on what looked like a placid surface which would take turn from day 3. His openers gave England the perfect start with a quick 50 partnership and it looked as if England could put up a good total on the board. They were helped by some ordianry bowling by the Indian new ball bowlers who, in their defence got no assistance from the pitch. The debutant opener Cook looked specially impressive with an uncomplicated technique and positive attitude. It took another debutant, S Sreesanth to break the opening partnership as he induced an edge from Andrew Strauss who went for an expansive drive on the offside, VVS Laxman hanging on to a stunner.
The spinners were called into action pretty early by Dravid since he was playing just the 2 pacers and 2 spinners. Harbhajan caused quite a few problems to the no.3 batsman Ian Bell, eventually getting him caught at slip off the doosra, another brilliant catch, by Dravid this time. England went into lunch at 89/2, not what they wouldve wanted after winning such a good toss.
After lunch, Dravid opened with Sreesanth and Kumble. Sreesnath bowled a brilliant spell as he started to reverse swing the ball both ways. He had Kevin Pieterson in all sorts of trouble in one over as he edged one but was dropped by Laxman at second slip. The drop didn't cost India much as Pieterson chopped one onto his stumps after just a couple of balls.England at 110/3. Collingwood then joined Cook, who at the other end was going about his job well with a 50 on debut. Pathan then brought back into the attack got one to swing into the left hander, too hot to handle for Cook as it went through his defences to bowl him out for 60. England were in trouble now at 136/4 and Flintoff walked in. He seemed unperturbed and along with Collingwood he consolidated the innings to take the english score till 200.
Kumble then brought about a crucial dismissal as he trapped Flintoff lbw with a googly. Replays showed that the ball could be sliding down the legside. The Indian bowlers and fielders then tightened the screws as runs were hard to come by. Collingwood was joined by G Jones who semed uncomfortable and not in the best of nick. Pathan trapped him infront of the wickets, a brilliant decision by Umpire Alim Dar, the bowl hitting pad first then bat. Ian Blackwell was the next man in and just as commentator, former English captain was building him up as a very useful batsman, he chopped one from Pathan onto his stumps. Hoggard and Collingwood negotiated the rest of the day, Collingwood completing his 50 and also showing a bit of aggression against Kumble hitting him for a six over long on. The score at the end of the day was 246-7, clearly a disappointing effort by England. They wouldve hoped to put up a big total on a pitch devoid of any evils on day 1. The Indians on the other hand would be very pleased with their efforts, specailly Sreesanth, who impressed everybody on a helpless pitch.Batting will get tougher on day 3 & 4 as the pitch begins to take turn and one fears the English team will have to battle really hard from now on in this test.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 01 March 2006 )
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