India have their task cut out

The 97-run lead in the first innings, add to it another 77 runs, England already 174 ahead at close of the third day’s play, with eight wickets in hand. Another two full sessions of play here, rain forgiving, now appears enough to hand India further complications that could arise out of this game.

That however, isn’t India’s worry at the moment. There are, in fact, bigger problems on hand that need to be taken care of, regardless of the result of this match.

Coming into this first Test, the hype had returned to India once again. The seniors—read: Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman—were to take charge of the batting and lead the way, the idea of going in with seven batsmen merely turning out to be a psychological advantage if not anything else. As defensive as the decision may have been, it has failed to give the team any advantage in fighting the opposition. The big four collectively managed a mere 87 runs as India were bundled for a paltry 201 on the morning of the third day.

No amount of analysing this game would be sufficient to explain why even a single batsman didn’t manage to stick around in the middle, given their stature. Dravid failed against a superb James Anderson delivery that moved away from him late, getting the edge of his bat, leaving him clueless until it went into wicket-keeper Matthew Prior’s gloves.

Tendulkar had failed to negate Anderson’s swing when the ball came in late, moving almost an arm’s length off the wicket. The bowler struck again to remove Ganguly too, the ball finding his off-stump through the bat and the pads when the left-hander failed to get in its line. Laxman fell to Sidebottom, a thick edge getting him caught behind.

While it can be said again that the two bowlers came up with exceptional performances, it India’s batting was was disastrous. In hindsight, it was for lack of judgment more than form that worked against Dravid’s line up.

The batsmen failed to go back to the basics where leaving a delivery is the primary weapon to tackle conditions that aren’t helpful.

The Indians, instead, buoyed by the late outburst of their bowlers that had restricted the English tailenders, decided to go ahead and maintain a decent scoring rate— given the unpredictable rain here— which mainly led to the downfall. But the batting will have to drastically improve for India to have any hope.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND 1st Innings: 298

INDIA 1st Innings (Overnight 145/4): S Ganguly b Anderson 34, RP Singh c Anderson b Sidebottom 17, VVS Laxman c Prior b Sidebottom 15, MS Dhoni c Bell b Anderson 0, A Kumble lbw Sidebottom 11, Z Khan c Strauss b Anderson 7, S Sreesanth not out 0

Extras (b4, lb7, nb4): 15; Total (All out, 77.2 overs): 201

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-27, 3-106, 4-134, 5-155, 6-173, 7-175, 8-192, 9-197

Bowling: R Sidebottom 22-5-65-4, J Anderson 24.2-8-42-5, C Tremlett 20-8-52-1, P Collingwood 3-1-9-0, M Panesar 8-3-22-0

England (2nd Innings): A Strauss c Tendulkar b Khan 18, A Cook lbw b Khan 17, M Vaughan batting 16, Kevin Pietersen batting 15.

Extras: (b9, lb1, w1) 11. Total: (for two wickets, 27 overs) 77.

Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-43

Bowling: Khan 14-3-36-2, Sreesanth 8-2-25-0, RP Singh 5-2-6-0.