The CouchExpert

Chandrasekhar Jayarama Krishnan

Head of Cricket, CouchExpert

26 July 2011

Day Five was clearly a case of poor shot selection metastasizing into embarrassing giveaways. Barring a few, the Indian outfit looked less an eminence champion than a pithy self-promoter that had the tendency to go off the target message.

The build up to this test match, having been served by record-driven statistics, had everything that a modern day test match should – most important of them being a result on the final day. A catastrophic default in a typical Lords test, inflicted by weather and/or a flat track, was thankfully avoided to add to the significance of this historic test.

This Lords test, in reality, backed the modern day selector’s trend of adopting a myopic “One-Test-at-a-time” approach towards team selection. Those who had their performances being viewed under the microscope, from both teams, came out with cementing performances.

Most notable of them being an unlucky Stuart Broad, who should’ve seen a larger number under his wickets tally this test had it not been for very ordinary catching, and a couple of incorrect decisions from umpire Billy Bowden.   A crucial partnership with Prior in the second innings, where he scored an unbeaten 76 to move England from a position of relative danger to acute comfort, offered the selectors a bed of roses to recline on with respect to the depth of their batting.

James Anderson didn't require overcast conditions to topple the Indians

The day’s targets seemed easier for England than it was for India. The situation appeared to be infinitely more complicated with the injured Gambhir and Tendulkar batting out of positions. India’s only comfort lay centric around that nascent hope linking Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and their feats at Kolkata and Adelaide.

By the time MS Dhoni arrived at the crease, with the brilliant Suresh Raina holding fort at the other end, the skipper was probably leery of the short term ascetic measures that could hurt a seemingly tepid recovery.  With his dismissal, one that added to the growing list of poor shot selections by Indians this test, given the situation, an English victory was only around the corner.

In the end, England unraveled a lot more positives than they would have imagined prior to the start of this test. Jimmy Anderson’s second innings performance, Broad’s rise in ascendancy, and a collective unit’s ability to ride with the momentum and seize the initiatives presented stood atop the tallest monument at the Lords.

With the gradual insolvency of the Great Indian Dream featuring Sachin Tendulkar, the optimistic English dream of dethroning India gained momentum with this comprehensive home team victory.

This series, apart from featuring two teams battling for pole position, also involves what possibly could be described as the two most ‘feared’ media entities in the world. The Indian and the British media are known for their ruthlessness during the dark times, and their mollycoddling nature when things look bright.

Before the blamestorming and hero-worshipping pieces are out, it is wise to surmise that it stands 1-0 England now. With India’s pride and Fletcher’s early reputation at stake, we could be in for a thriller at Trentbridge.

 Goutham Chakravarthi

 23 July 2011

Kevin Pietersen is either a genius or he is not. I know not which one. He may have looked out of his depth as a captain when he came to India – both with England and as captain of Royal Challengers in the IPL. But he always seems to have a sense of big occasion whilst batting. He has made many left-arm spinners look like Bedi, but also has dominated the better bowling of his time like few others have.

It is difficult to pin his success to one thing. Most keen observers think it is his desire in wanting to be the best as the reason. Even as early as 2002, when he was still two years away from being eligible to represent England, he spent the winter in Sydney playing grade cricket. Why? Because he wanted to learn more about off-spin and Sydney University had Greg Mathews in its ranks. He has had this immense desire in wanting to associate himself with champions all through his career so that he could be one himself. Of him wanting to be the best, he has never doubted.

Kevin Pietersen was scintillating on day two of the Lord’s test

His early years are quite revealing. He went to Maritzburg College, and reckons he never missed school on Tuesdays as it was cricket day. Even more telling is the culture that was built there to win and KP can’t remember losing more than two games in six years of cricket for the school. Almost as a rule, Kevin could never settle for ordinary. His early years never had many people marking him out for outright greatness. If anything his off-spin got him into the Natal team only for him to lose it to a coloured spinner from Guateng as the quota went up to three from two. He picked a fight with Dr. Ali Bacher on this matter and then decided to consider a future elsewhere. Clive Rice from Trent Bridge offered him a future there, Bacher advised against it, but Peter Pollock told him to go for it. The rest is well documented.

Coming in to this test there was the story of Kevin Pietersen saying he was a “South African” and he only “worked in England”. Although Kevin Pietersen has publicly pledged his allegiance to his adopted country, it has been quite a debated topic. Kevin’s professionalism can never be in doubt as he never leaves anything to chance. His methods have never been the most traditional and his penchant to impose himself on the game and the opposition has often been his way. But he bided his time battling tough conditions and the swing of Zaheer and Praveen on Thursday and cashed in on the start all through Friday. His discipline to the innings showed his remarkable ability to seize the moment. Not having to face Zaheer would have been an obvious plus, but to have resisted going after the bowling knowing its limitations showed his match awareness. Strauss got out after doing the difficult bit; he wasn’t going to give away a good start.

He constantly shuffled across to the seamers and his battle with the cagey Praveen Kumar was worthy of a chess match with two Grand Masters plotting moves to check-mate the other. Praveen Kumar would perhaps have benefited had Ishant found his rhythm and gave him better support. Nonetheless, a swinger of gentle speed but with skills of a trapeze artist against the most gifted English batsman of his generation was engrossing. Praveen bent the ball both ways from over and around the sticks. Pietersen shuffled to the off-side, chipped down the wicket to upset the bowler. Praveen Kumar, every now-and-then tried bowling Pietersen around his legs and tried trapping him in front. Suffice to say it was the battle of the day and quite an enjoyable one between the two heroes of the day. Pietersen survived a few close calls, but emerged victorious in the end.

Kevin Pietersen’s last fifty was a breeze. He had spent enough time at the crease to do as he wished and Ishant looked short of ideas bowling to him. He composed an array of audacious flicks and drives and got to his double ton so quick he gave England a chance to bowl at the Indian openers for 30 minutes.

The wicket still has a lot on offer for good bowling and as Kevin Pietersen has shown, batting isn’t impossible either. India, hamstrung with Zaheer’s absence, will hope to bat long and well in the first Innings so as to take this test to safety from their view point. England will want to bowl out India cheaply and consider batting for a bit to tire the three-man bowling attack further with the second Test starting just three days post this test.

Lot to look forward to on day three. Day two belonged to Kevin Pietersen.

Chandrasekhar Jayarama Krishnan

Head of Cricket, CouchExpert

22 July 2011

The occasion could have so easily gotten on to you! A series, unheard of in Mathematics, constantly buzzed through the minds of ardent cricket lovers yesterday: 2000, 100, 100, 100, and 100? The statisticians have clearly had a ball of a time during the build up to this series: 2000^th Test Match in the history of the game, 100^th test match contesting India and England – the earliest of which was played in the Pre World War II era – back in 1932, Duncan Fletcher – former coach of England and current coach of the Indian team – approaching his 100^th test match as coach, the batting trio of Tendulkar, Dravid & Laxman approaching a grand total of 100 test centuries between them, and finally, to the common spectator and billions of Indians from around the world, Tendulkar – approaching his 100^th international ton in a career that has spanned over 22 years.

And the drama was to take place at Lords – a befitting venue for an occasion of such titanic magnitude!

And all this before a wet outfield delayed the start of the game, much to the agony of a packed Lords. The conditions, gloomy and overcast, didn’t require too much thought over what the teams would favor to choose on winning the toss. MSD’s call at the spin of the coin was probably one of the few calls that went India’s way yesterday.

After an alarming batting performance against Somerset, it probably wouldn’t have been the greatest start to the series to have the top order up against the world’s leading swing bowler in overcast conditions.

But having said that, the Indian bowlers never really came across as attempting to use the conditions – especially through the tricky first one hour of play – to their favor. The lengths weren’t full enough, the pace was a few yards short, and the lines never really made the batsman play.

The best of the Indian bowlers, Zaheer Khan, who hasn’t played first class cricket in a long time, seemed like the only one who could trouble the openers, both left-handed and within Zaheer’s zone of predatory instincts. The English openers were happy to graft and leave during the first hour of play. It took a ball that zipped on to Cook’s pads, after he moved considerably across his stumps, to create India’s first breakthrough of the day in the 11^th over. Getting rid of the dangerous Cook, for a few paltry runs, was pretty much about the only positives of the day for the Indians.

Zaheer's hamstring pull was the last thing MSD would've envisioned

Zaheer’s bunny Strauss stayed in, after getting through the difficult initial session before his attempt to pull a ball wide outside off-stump was top-edged to safely land in to the hands of Ishant Sharma at fine leg, who barely had to move. The English skipper would definitely look back at that shot with disgust, especially after having got through the tricky passages of play during session one.

What surprised me, and many to my knowledge, is the positioning of Dravid at first slip all day. There was a belief that he was standing too deep, a thought that was reflected during the Caribbean tour by many. This theory was justified when Trott was dropped twice – both difficult chances. The first was off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh, when an outside edge died down on its path to first slip. Maybe if Dravid was closer, he would have clung on to it – nobody can doubt his test catching record! He is the best in the business.

The second chance was probably more Dhoni’s than it was Dravid’s. Zaheer’s around the wicket approach to Trott, a tactic that worked so well with right handed batsmen during India’s previous tour to England back in 2007, enticed the number three batsman to have a poke at a ball that was moving away from him. The outside edge flew between Dhoni and Dravid, who once again might have clung on to it had Dhoni not initially appeared to go for the catch, which in all common logic, he should have. It was quite evident once again that first slip was positioned a touch too deep as the ball died down on its way.

Whether India will live to regret dropping Trott twice will be evident soon after he battled his way to a half century. Trott, England’s most consistent batsman over the last 18 months, proved his worth once again by neutralizing England’s early setback of losing both their openers with a gritty knock. Trott has always looked calm and assured at the crease, and he did leave Dhoni plenty to think about. Trott’s strengths on the leg-side invoke most captains into setting a stronger leg side field for him, which would mean that the slip cordon would be trimmed by one. The frustration on Ishant’s face was vivid when Trott edged one down to the third man boundary, a trajectory that 3^rd slip would have happily settled for any day.

Unglamorous, but effective - Jonathon Trott

It is still early days in this test match, and MSD will surely look back at this day as one where many an opportunity was buried. Kevin Pietersen looked vulnerable on the front foot, and had it not been for Zaheer’s injury, India might have scalped another couple of wickets before play was called off due to bad light.

In hindsight, the first day of play didn’t quite live up to the build up to this test match. With the weather forecast not looking too promising over the next few days, this test match could well be about the battle of morale. With Zaheer’s absence inevitable, the Indian think-tank has plenty to ponder over.

It should be an interesting second day.