Here’s Ali Martin’s day one report:
Summary
“Intriguing” is an overused word in Test cricket, sometimes used to mask shortcomings, but this match genuinely is intriguingly set up. Yashasvi Jaiswal has given India a platform with a Test innings of supreme, judicious class but none of his teammates stuck around for a truly decisive partnership, and Ben Foakes’s fine instinctive catch to remove Shreyas Iyer might be deemed a turning point in the day for an England side who’ll be happy to be into the tail. The tourists bowled a lot better than they did in the first innings at Hyderabad, with each spinner (bar perhaps Joe Root) contributing to the sense of control, no mean feat given three of them have only four caps between them. And it was all backed by tireless, intelligent seam bowling from Jimmy Anderson. You’ll be wanting to join us tomorrow. Thanks for your emails and company today. Bye.
In other cricket news, Australia’s white-ball team atoned for their recent red-ball setback:
Now Shoaib Bashir speaks, of a day that was “something you dream of as a kid and I’m just so grateful for”. Asked what Jack Leach said to him on handing him his cap, he says: “We just had a throwback of when I first got into the team and how proud I was and my family was. [Getting Rohit] was my highlight, he’s such a good player of spin and to get that as my first wicket was very awesome. [Ben Stokes] just said in the huddle to go out and enjoy it and remember why you started playing the game, the guys have been so supportive and so welcoming.
“It was a tough pitch to bowl on, didn’t offer too much, but I thought the way the bowlers went about the job was awesome – we’re in a good position going in to tomorrow.”
Jaiswal speaks: “I had in my mind that I had to make sure that if they were bowling well then I played out that spell and then scored. Initially the pitch was a bit damp and spin and bounce. It was seaming also but I thought if I can get that ball in the right place I can score boundaries and I wanted to make sure I was there till the end. I would like to double it up and make sure I keep going for my team. A few times the pitch played differently in the afternoon it was settled and as the ball got older and older they were getting more spin and bounce, and I just had to manage my shots.”
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“Rising to Mike Jakeman’s reply,” rises Brian Withington, “can I but bow to his mastery of subtle pitch differentiation, and also the predictive powers of its deterioration. I must confess that at first I thought he had mischievously labelled Karachi as ‘flaccid’ but realised my mistake before embarking on a more pithy if not spirited rejoinder. Meanwhile, is it fair to say that England might be doing all right here on whatever this wicket is?”
They certainly are. England’s day overall I think
Yashasvi Jaiswal earns hearty pats on the back from teammates as he returns to the dressing-room. He’s carried his side today with style and confidence. No one else has surpassed 34, and India would be in big trouble without him. England will be the happier side with that session. Skittle India in the morning tomorrow and their batters can go out and build something.
Stumps, India 336-6
93rd over: India 336-6 (Jaiswal 179, Ashwin 5) Rehan Ahmed, who’s had an impressive day, bowls the final over of the day. Ashwin is nicely tucked up on the offside but – game recognising game – then picks Rehan’s googly and sends it high over the in-field to the long-on boundary for four. It’s the final scoring shot of a high-class day of Test cricket.
92nd over: India 332-6 (Jaiswal 179, Ashwin 1) The penultimate over of the day is bowled by Bashir, with England fielders swarming round the bat of the new man, Ashwin, who gets off the mark with a push to mid-off.
91st over: India 330-6 (Jaiswal 178, Ashwin 0) So it increasingly looks as if England won’t take the new ball tonight – Jimmy’s call? – as Rehan continues in what’s beginning to look like early-evening gloaming. He jags one nicely past Bharat’s outside edge, and then snares him, caught cutting. Vindication.
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Wicket! Bharat c Bashir b Rehan 17, India 330-6
A late-evening breakthrough. Another cut in the air to backward point, and Bashir returns the favour, taking the catch to give Rehan his second wicket.
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90th over: India 329-5 (Jaiswal 177, Bharat 17) Bharat isn’t hanging about, and he clubs Bashir across the line and over the deep midwicket boundary for SIX. It’s the only scoring shot of the over.
“Do not diss the King of Spain,” cautions Jeremy Smith. “Remember this:” Fair dos – I always liked Giles the player to be fair, a very relatable cricketer.
89th over: India 323-5 (Jaiswal 177, Bharat 11) Still no second new ball, as Rehan continues, and is expensive here. He sees a rare short one smacked to the long-on boundary for four by Bharat. More runs ensue when a sharp edge beats slip for three before Jaiswal equals his Test-best with a nudge for two. And, showman that he is, he surpasses it with a soaring straight SIX. What a prospect this man is, stepping up in an injury-ravaged lineup.
88th over: India 307-5 (Jaiswal 168, Bharat 4) Bashir continues, with an agreeably assertive field against the new man Bharat, who nonetheless seizes the opportunity to clear it with a legside swipe over the in-field for four. Other than that, it’s good, positive and controlled stuff.
87th over: India 302-5 (Jaiswal 167, Bharat 0) Rehan finds a modicum of bounce and spin on a pitch not massively imbued with it, which will please England. Another wicket tonight would be a huge boost.
“This pitch seems pretty much a throwback to the ones in the subcontinent during the 00,” writes Farhan. “Very batting friendly for the first couple days and then starts getting difficult as the match progresses. Expect spin later as the pitch breaks down and footmarks appear all over the place. England’s batting up next will be crucial. Also important will be how they’ll negotiate Bumrah reversing the older ball.”
Talk of Indian pitches in the Noughties stirs memories of Ashley Giles lobbing it into the rough outside Sachin Tendulkar’s leg stump, the literal antithesis of Bazball.
86th over: India 301-5 (Jaiswal 166, Bharat 0) Bashir strikes, ending what was looking a bothersome partnership, as Axar miscues a cut. Local lad Bharat comes to the crease and plays out the over. England will feel the momentum’s potentially swung back to them with this.
Wicket! Axar Patel c Rehan b Bashir 27, India 301-5
Bashir gets a second! And it’s an unwise shot from Axar, cutting lazily to backward point. Axar is not happy with himself.
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85th over: India 300-4 (Jaiswal 165, Axar 27) Rehan keeps it tight and sends down a judicious maiden.
More from Brian Withington: “Inspired by the Tom Robinson references and the encouragement to ‘men of a certain age’ to embrace the OBO safe space, can I recommend this banger from the immortal TRB. Bought the album as a student back in the day, and still smile at the glorious, epoch defining lyric:
‘Furlined seats and lettered windscreen
Elbow on the windowsill
Eight track blazing Brucie Springsteen
Bomber jacket, dressed to kill’”
The TRB were a bit before my time to be honest, but I liked his solo ones from c1983 – War Baby and Atmospherics.
84th over: India 300-4 (Jaiswal 165, Axar 27) The Barmy Army trumpeter is belting out the England travellers’ most tuneless song, to the unreserved delight of everyone in the ground no doubt. The 50 partnership comes up with a Jaiswal single off Bashir and the 300 comes up with another one.
“Re Brian Whittington (over 78),” honks Phil Deans, “some friendly advice: we can agree it’s not B**B*** but please do not google S&M Ball on your work computer.”
83rd over: India 297-4 (Jaiswal 164, Axar 25) An over of easy singles from Rehan. This partnership beginning to look useful.
82nd over: India 292-4 (Jaiswal 162, Axar 22) Bashir beats Axar for bounce outside off – I like the pace and bounce he’s getting – and he rounds off the over by tempting Jaiswal into an uncharacteristically ill-advised slog and miss. The umpires review for a stumping but his foot was grounded.
The pitch debate continues with a response from Mike Jakeman, pointing out that not all subcontinental pitches are the same. “Hello Brian Withington! I think there’s a subtle but important difference between a true pitch (Vizag) and a placid one (Karachi). In Pakistan the assignment was how can we force a win on a surface that is not going to give us anything over 5 days. Vizag ought to turn in the second half of the Test, so the job is to get a big first innings score up by playing sensibly and hammering the bad balls and then trying to make the most of any turn with England’s four twirlers.” Yeah, England are more than capable of making hay on this pitch as it’s currently playing.
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81st over: India 289-4 (Jaiswal 161, Axar 20) The floodlights are on, we’re 80 overs in, but England don’t take the new ball just yet. Rehan continues with the old one, and finds some decent turn into the left-handers. Just the two singles from the over.
80th over: India 287-4 (Jaiswal 160, Axar 19) Half-chance! A fine ball on off from Bashir is hacked sharply towards slip by Jaiswal but it was travelling at a hell of a lick and it beats the fielder, Root, zipping to the boundary for four.
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79th over: India 282-4 (Jaiswal 155, Axar 19) Root delivers the penultimate over before the new ball is due, and it’s a lot better than his previous one, but Axar still manages to find the boundary with a really smart backfoot drive to long-on, showing excellent footwork.
More on England’s usually-vindicated approach from William Vignoles: “Re Mike Jakeman’s point about the pitch not being the sort that necessitates Bazball - not sure I agree to be honest. Several times during the Ashes and in Pope’s innings last week, what was notable was how they forced the fielding captain to be reactive and defensive to stem the runs - losing close catchers and posting boundary riders. As soon as that happened, they were much happier to just take ones and twos from as many balls as they could - in an ODI or T20 that’s fine as conceding four or five an over usually wins you the game. However, test bowling is so much about building pressure, particularly in the subcontinent where things often get on a slow boil - if India’s spinners can’t just land the ball in the same place every time with three men round the bat, they’ll be so much less dangerous.
“The way England bat is about balancing risk and reward, so it won’t work all the time, but surely there’s enough evidence now from the past 18 months that usually, it is a good idea, if only because it seems to get the best of their resources.”
78th over: India 277-4 (Jaiswal 154, Axar 15) A double bowling change, as Bashir replaces Rehan Ahmed. Jaiswal threads a classy square cut through the field for a hard-run three. The bowler responds well by beating Axar with a ripper outside off. But the runs are flowing freely now, and England need to refind some control. And that’s drinks.
“In reply to Mike Jakeman,” replies Brian Withington, “surely some of the wins in Pakistan were achieved by aggressive batting on placid wickets, creating both scoreboard pressure and the overs bowling needed to take 20 wickets. I think as good a judge as Nasser Hussain placed at least one those wins in the upper pantheon of inspired captaincy and a testament to the Stokes/McCullum method (as ever I refuse to call it the reductive ‘B**B*** and suggest the universal adoption of ‘S&M’ in future, although traditionalists might prefer ‘M&S’, of course).”
77th over: India 272-4 (Jaiswal 151, Axar 13) Anderson gets a rest after an excellent spell in tandem with Rehan, and Root comes on to take us through to the new ball. Jaiswal responds by flaying him through the covers for four to bring up his 150. His Test best of 171 is well within sight now. Axar then comes to the (suddenly-declared) party by punishing two poor short deliveries with fours to long on and deep square leg respectively.
76th over: India 259-4 (Jaiswal 146, Axar 5) Rehan drops short – a rare bad ball – and Axar clobbers it to the square leg boundary for four.
“Sorry to be a pain , reiterating the fact over and over again,” says Anand G, not being one at all. “I reckon Jimmy Anderson should be discussed more in the “one of the best ATHLETES ever” category more often. We speak of the Ronaldos,Bolts,Novaks and Kipchoges. I feel it’s pure injustice that,the world sporting community fails to ignore this man and only confining him to the world of cricket.” That, and the fact that almost his entire career has been hidden behind a TV paywall in the UK. But I agree – Anderson in full flight has been one of the most aesthetically pleasing sights in all sport, ever.
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75th over: India 255-4 (Jaiswal 146, Axar 1) An attacking stroke off Anderson! From Jaiswal, natch, a classy back-foot punch to deep backward point for two. Everything else is necessarily watchful though, as Anderson continues to be wholly on the money.
“And bawl if you’re glad to be bald,” honks John Starbuck in response to my Tom Robinson ad-lib earlier. What a haven this place is for men of a certain age.
74th over: India 253-4 (Jaiswal 144, Axar 1) Rehan continues, conceding a single to Jaiswal before an expansive cover drive by Axar is cut off and they take another run. Rehan has found much more rhythm than he found in the first Test
73rd over: India 250-4 (Jaiswal 142, Axar 0) More parsimonious probing from Anderson, mostly outside off, against the two left-handers. He’s conceded only five runs since tea and is doing just the job England require of him.
“Unlike Hyderabad, this doesn’t seem like the sort of pitch where Bazball gives you an advantage relative to playing traditionally,” reckons Mike Jakeman. “Baz balling on a turning or unreliable pitch might give you extra runs if you accept that there is likely to be an unplayable ball at any moment. But if the pitch is true, you want to aim for 200 off 270 balls, not 45 off 30. Let’s see which Zak Crawley turns up tomorrow.” We’ve been saying this “it sometimes pays to be cautious” stuff for a while now though, yet Bazball always seems to pluck something out of the hat.
72nd over: India 249-4 (Jaiswal 141, Axar 0) Rehan breaks the partnership, inducing Patidar to play on. The field is up now for the new man, Axar, who is also foxed outside off and plays it awkwardly down onto the ground. But in the past 20 overs or so only Jaiswal has really opened his shoulders. England can sense a go at India’s long tail.
Wicket! Patidar b Rehan 32, India 249-4
Beauty. Patidar bamboozled by another spitter and dabs on to his stumps. Rehan has deserved that.
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71st over: India 249-3 (Jaiswal 141, Patidar 32) Anderson swings a beauty off the seam and outside Jaiswal’s outside edge in another fine probing over.
“As someone who (dimly) remembers Jimmy making his debut,” writes Mark Slater, “I wonder if the follicle dyeing is to hide the fact of Mother Nature’s tinting of his hair. Of so, I recall that the young Jimmy also wore blue downlights as was the fashion when we were both a lot younger. If he is attempting to hide the grey, perhaps he should try a blue rinse - grandmothers recommend it!” Fair point, but I’ve always just let nature take its course. Sing, if you’re glad to be grey.
70th over: India 249-3 (Jaiswal 141, Patidar 32) Patidar cuts Rehan square for a single; Jaiswal pushes another to long-off, before another square-cut one. I didn’t catch the early play today but England’s spinners have looked better here than in the first innings at Hyderabad.
69th over: India 245-3 (Jaiswal 139, Patidar 30) Anderson is bowling pretty flawlessly here without being at his most menacing – has any England pace bowler ever bowled better in India overall through their career? – but Patidar is up to it, playing him adeptly off the back foot, an approach which brings him a nudged single through the legside.
68th over: India 244-3 (Jaiswal 139, Patidar 29) Just as I typed that the bowlers had been on top since tea, I hit delete and salute another extraordinary whack against the spin over long-off for SIX by Jaiswal. A crunching four follows. No fault for the bowler particularly but this is, again, stunning batting from Jaiswal. He’s some player.
67th over: India 234-3 (Jaiswal 129, Patidar 29) Jaiswal dabs a lifter from Anderson behind square for a single before Patidar once again shows us his defensive smarts with some Test-ready blocks and fends. Anderson offers him little opportunity do do owt else.
“A hundred per 30 overs, or thereabouts, is pretty much standard for test cricket, so India must be reckoned to be on course,” says friend of the OBO John Starbuck. “We should expect, on this basis, to watch a typical match with either a crushing win/loss, or a petering-out draw.”
Has a single match under Stokes’s captaincy “petered out”.
66th over: India 232-3 (Jaiswal 128, Patidar 29) Rehan gets a bit of extra spit off the pitch and Patidar dabs awkwardly in the air. A silly point would have caught it, though KP on comms reckons these field-placings are confidence building – he’s not being clattered to the boundary. Three singles and a two ensue.
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65th over: India 227-3 (Jaiswal 126, Patidar 26) Here’s Jimmy. Anderson gets his first bowl for a while. Patidar plays him out respectfully for a maiden. Not sure about Jimmy’s highlights – perhaps there’s a circularity to him restoring his hair to a similar style to how it was when he first introduced himself to us all those decades ago – but it’s got an air of fading Radio 1 DJ to it.
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64th over: India 227-3 (Jaiswal 126, Patidar 26) Rehan Ahmed gets the evening session under way, still to a fairly defensive field. Jaiswal nudges a single before Rehan rips a beauty past Patidar’s outside edge – extra pace and turn there. Then Patidar pushes a single through te covers.
Following up Chris Nobles, TNT studio backdrop query, it does indeed look like the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium upon which cricketers are superimposed. But it’s not beyond the bounds that it’s some Modi-dome or other.
A word for England’s over rate, which has been criticised aplenty of late: they’re well on schedule here, having sent down an old-school 63 overs in the two sessions though we’ve not seen Jimmy for a while
India’s session, overall, with Jaiswal dictating things, but England are still in this. I’m off to forage for some breakfast. Back in a bit.
Tea, India 225-3
63rd over: India 225-3 (Jaiswal 125, Patidar 25) Bashir has an lbw shout for the hell of it against the advancing Patidar but it was bat-pad I think, but good to exert a bit of pressure. He’s prepared to change angle too, switching to around the wicket mid-over. He’s right in this game, the young Somerset man, and that’s tea.
62nd over: India 223-3 (Jaiswal 125, Patidar 23) Rehan strays with a low full toss that Patidar bunts away on the onside for a single. We’ll have one more over before tea I imagine.
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61st over: India 222-3 (Jaiswal 125, Patidar 22) Bashir swaps ends and is cut nonchalantly for four by Jaiswal. He’s been a tad quieter in recent overs but still looks in majestic touch. A very big hundred is on for him here.
60th over: India 218-3 (Jaiswal 121, Patidar 22) And now Rehan does get a bowl, 600 overs in. His field is quite defensive and spread out – singles are easy, and three of them follow before Patidar is deceived by one and almost dollies up a caught and bowled but it’s too high for the bowler.
59th over: India 215-3 (Jaiswal 119, Patidar 21) Still no sign of Rehan Ahmed, who had a bit of a wayward game in Hyderabad but still offers variety. Root, meanwhile, is taken for consecutive boundaries by Patidar – a neat reverse sweep followed by a thumping off-drive. This is a nerveless start to the five-day game.
58th over: India 207-3 (Jaiswal 119, Patidar 13) Patidar’s first boundary in Test cricket is a crunching square drive off Bashir for four, but the Somerset man continues to look nerveless, accurate and positive. He’s given India few opportunities to properly target him.
57th over: India 202-3 (Jaiswal 119, Patidar 8) Joe Root is back in the attack for the first time in a while, round the wicket at the right-handed Patidar, who looks an accomplished red-ball player on top of his deep well of white-ball experience. Some effortless singles take India past 200.
56th over: India 197-3 (Jaiswal 117, Patidar 5) Bashir is offering few freebies here and is doing well, but the debutant Patidar plays him out with textbook defensives before pushing a single on the offside.
55th over: India 196-3 (Jaiswal 117, Patidar 4) England will fancy batting on this surface, I think, as long as they can keep India’s total within a decent range. The run rate has slowed, and it’s anyone’s game at the moment. Patidar cuts Hartley neatly in front of square for a single with the only scoring shot of the over.
54th over: India 195-3 (Jaiswal 117, Patidar 3) Bashir’s 16th over is milked for a couple of singles. “Are TNT using the Spurs stadium as backdrop behind Sir Alastair & Finny?” wonders Chris Nobles. I missed that I must confess, but as a Qualified Stadium Nerd, I’ll try to get back to you on that.
53rd over: India 193-3 (Jaiswal 116, Patidar 2) Foakes, having taken a smart catch the previous Hartley over, is powerless to stop a wider one sneaking past him and running away for four byes, then Jaiswal offers a rare miscue, seeking another straight six and slicing beyond backward point but it eludes the chasing Root. Two ensue.
52nd over: India 186-3 (Jaiswal 109, Patidar 2) Bashir continues, to his slip and leg-slip field. And again India almost get themselves in bother going for a single to mid-off that wasn’t on. A direct hit from Anderson there and the scuttling-back Patidar would have been gone. Then Jaiswal threads an exquisite cover drive through the field for four.
51st over: India 180-3 (Jaiswal 104, Patidar 1) Shreyas gets one in the slot from Hartley and clatters it straight along the ground for four, but then he perishes, edging behind. The new man, Patidar on debut, gets off the mark bunting one down to fine leg for a single.
Wicket! Shreyas c Foakes b Hartley 27, India 179-3
Just as I type that this pair look comfortable, Shreyas goes, stepping back for a cut that wasn’t really on, and under-edging to the keeper who takes it well. Vital breakthrough.
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50th over: India 175-2 (Jaiswal 104, Shreyas 23) Bashir is pretty on the money here, nothing too wide or loose, but this pair look comfortable. They add a single each before Jaiswal almost invites a run-out by ambling forward for a single to mid-off before eventually thinking better of it.
Jaiswal brings up hundred with a six!
49th over: India 173-2 (Jaiswal 103, Shreyas 22) Cool as you like, Jaiswal takes a step down and pummels Hartley back over his head for a SIX to bring up his second Test hundred – he’s been India’s best batter in this series so far and thoroughly deserves that. A flicked single to deep midwicket ensues, and Shreyas adds another
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48th over: India 164-2 (Jaiswal 94, Shreyas 22) Thanks Rob. Morning/afternoon everyone. This feels a bit more like what we would have expected from a Test in India: batters making hay against spin in a proper old-school ground set against a lovely hilly backdrop. Bashir continues, and we endeavour to watch despite TNT mistakenly cutting in another ad mid-over. We don’t miss anything – Jaiswal adds a single, Shreyas plays it out.
47th over: India 163-2 (Jaiswal 93, Shreyas 22) “I’m very much enjoying this scene-setting first day, preparing the stage for whatever McCullum/Stokes jiggery-pokery will come later,” says Jeremy Boyce. “If Bashir and Anderson are bowling in tandem, would that be the greatest age-difference in Test history ? Where’s Zaltzman when you need him?”
He’s in my head, doing a silly little dance while informing me that Bert Ironmonger (aged 50) probably bowled with Stan McCabe (22) in the 1932-33 Ashes.
With that, it’s time for drinks. I’ll hand over to Tom Davies for the rest of the day. Thanks for your company and emails – bye!
46th over: India 160-2 (Jaiswal 91, Shreyas 21) Jaiswal crashes Bashir down the ground to move into the nineties. These are Jaiswal’s centuries in first-class cricket, a list that might worry England: 103, 100, 181, 228, 265, 146, 162, 213, 144, 171.
44th over: India 155-2 (Jaiswal 86, Shreyas 21) Jaiswal is dropped by Root at slip! It was a near impossible chance, diving to his left when Jaiswal edged a back-foot drive off Hartley, and he only just manage to get a fingertip on it. The ball ran away for four, the first of three boundaries in a row. A punishing straight drive was followed by a crunch through extra cover when Hartley overpitched. He really is a marvellous young player.
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44th over: India 142-2 (Jaiswal 73, Shreyas 21) Bashir replaces Root (10-0-40-0) and picks up where he left off after lunch with a good, accurate over. A misfield from Rehan, his second of the day, gives Jaiswal an extra run.
43rd over: India 139-2 (Jaiswal 70, Shreyas 21) Shreyas is beaten, trying to cut a ball from Hartley that is a bit too full for the shot. He’s been slightly skittish, certainly in comparison to the outstanding Jaiswal, but has found his way to 21.
Another single brings up a useful fifty partnership from 85 balls. If you’re just waking up, England have done pretty well after losing the toss on a very flat pitch, but India are starting to take control fo the game.
42nd over: India 137-2 (Jaiswal 69, Shreyas 20) My word, that’s gorgeous. Root tosses one wide to Jaiswal, who blasts it over mid-off for a flat six. He looks ever so impressive, and ominously for England he already has a taste for father hundreds.
“Re Kim and JS Bach,” says John Burrell. “He played the pipe organ with two hands and two feet going all over the pedals so I don’t think coordination was a problem for him. The eye was tho, a botched eye operation is wot did ‘im in.”
So he was the Colin Milburn of his day; who knew.
41st over: India 130-2 (Jaiswal 63, Shreyas 19) Too short from Hartley, and Jaiswal carts a boundary to midwicket. His risk management has been excellent; apart from Root’s first over with the new ball, I think all his boundaries hve been off bad deliveries.
40th over: India 125-2 (Jaiswal 59, Shreyas 18) Shreyas swipes at a legside delivery from Root, who is convinced there’s a very thin edge through to Foakes. The umpire disagrees, Ben Stokes decides not to review and there’s nothing on UltraEdge.
India’s run rate is 3.12 and it feels like they’re going slowly.
39th over: India 124-2 (Jaiswal 59, Shreyas 17) Hartley changes ends to replace Anderson. Jaiswal jumps into position for a switch hit, so Hartley stops halfway through his action and walks back to his mark.
“It’ll be interesting to see which spinner comes out of this tour as England’s premier twirler,” says Tom Van der Gucht. “Leach currently wears the crown and is backed by Stokes due to his reliability and shared history. However, I’ve become increasingly keen on getting Ahmed’s attacking legspin and stronger all-round game.
“This led to a discussion with a workmate who felt you couldn’t leave Hartley out after his debut, but I worry that his initial impact partly came from the Indians not having enough info on him due to his lack of game time (which turned a weakness into a mystery strength) I suspect, sadly, they’ll play him more effectively as the series progresses. Also, he was selected due to a a very specific skillset suited to these conditions that may not translate as effectively to elsewhere - hence why the selectors overlooked county form when plucking their team “
I’m sure the picture will change a lot between now and the end of the series. England would love Rehan to become established in time for the Ashes at the end of next year, so maybe they will make him first choice this summer. But Stokes and McCullum are very loyal, arguably to a fault at times.
38th over: India 122-2 (Jaiswal 58, Shreyas 16) Stokes continue to use Hartley and Root in very short spells. It’s a nice idea, but Root hasn’t bowled particularly well today and Shreyas pulls him for four more. It might be time to for Rehan Ahmed to have a bowl, or maybe Jonny Bairstow.
37th over: India 113-2 (Jaiswal 55, Shreyas 10) Jaiswal is beaten by successive deliveries from Anderson. The first was a cutter that bounced twice before reaching Foakes. The commentators all think this pitch will get slower and lower as the match progresses.
A single brings Shreyas on strike, so the fielders all go out on the leg side. He backs away, attempting to slap Anderson over the off side, and toe ends the ball very close to the stumps.
In his first 12 Tests in Asia, Anderson averaged 36; in the last 17 his average is 21.
36th over: India 112-2 (Jaiswal 54, Shreyas 10) A maiden from Hartley to Shreyas. Apologies for the sparsity of the coverage: we couldn’t get anyone decent I’m not feeling 110 per cent.
“Morning Rob,” says Kim Thonger. “Back in Blighty after a few days in Germany. On Sunday, as the miracle was happening, I was excitedly reading the OBO in the J S Bach museum in Leipzig, where he was cantor of St Thomas’s Cathedral. One of the instruments on display was the oboe d’amore and I am now calling your commentary service my OBO d’amore.
“Incidentally I do think the great man might have made a fine wicketkeeper to spin, his perfectionism, work rate and gently robust pair of organist’s hands giving him the tools for the job. Whether his hand-eye-ball coordination was up to the job, alas the historical record declines to mention, but we can dream.”
35th over: India 112-2 (Jaiswal 54, Shreyas 10) Anderson has bowled three balls to Shreyas Iyer since lunch: all short, all pulled for a single. It feels a bit of a waste to have him bowling bouncers, particularly on such a flat pitch. It’s early but I wonder whether England might regret not picking Mark Wood or Ollie Robinson instead of Rehan Ahmed, who is yet to bowl.
Anderson’s figures are 10-1-23-1. He’s 41 years old.
34th over: India 109-2 (Jaiswal 53, Shreyas 8) Tom Hartley replaces Joe Root, whose last two spells have each been an over apiece. The flatter the pitch, the more Ben Stokes tinkers in the field. As I type, Ollie Pope – newly installed at silly point – is almost in the game when Shreyas pushes with hard hands at Hartley. The ball flies past him for a single.
“From Joseph getting Steve Smith as his first wicket to now Bashir getting Rohit Sharma as his first - and add the matchwinning seven-wicket spells of Joseph and Hartley - the cricketing Gods appear to be in good scriptwriting form these days.”
That’s one of the best things about Test cricket – it consistently produces great stories without any loss of impact.
33rd over: India 106-2 (Jaiswal 52, Shreyas 6) Jimmy Anderson has a short-ball field for Shreyas Iyer, who pulls the first delivery for a single. Later in the over Jaiswal is beaten just outside off stump; Anderson’s line has been so good today.
“Morning Rob,” says Guy Hornsby. “What is there to say here? It’s ridiculous that James Anderson is even still going, so the fact he’s back here, taking wickets in India at 41 defies belief really. We are all living in his era and we’re lucky to have done so. He still looks fantastic, and makes me feel a very old 49. I’ll have whatever he’s having. And a few more of India’s top order, please.”
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32nd over: India 105-2 (Jaiswal 52, Shreyas 5) Root’s fourth ball, a little wider, turns past Jaiswal’s defensive push. Two from the over.
“Mike Atherton as perceptive as ever in a lunchtime interview on Talksport,” says Gary Naylor. “Speaking of England’s approach to selecting spinners, he quoted Brendon McCullum as saying picking Bashir is ‘an educated punt’. Athers must be glad it wasn’t Brian Johnston with the mic in hand.”
An effing educated punt, surely.
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Ready? Joe Root (6-0-21-0) is coming on after lunch.
Lunchtime reading
Lunch
All told, that’s a pretty decent morning for England. They still have some extremely hard yakka to do, but two wickets is a good effort on such a flat pitch. Shoaib Bashir took his first Test wicket when a strokeless Rohit Sharma caught at leg slip, and Jimmy Anderson took his 691st when Shubman Gill wandered fatally into the corridor of uncertainty.
Yashasvi Jaiswal punished the bad ball ruthlessly en route to an impressive half-century. He’ll resume on 51 not out, with Shreyas Iyer on 4.
31st over: India 103-2 (Jaiswal 51, Iyer 4) Shreyas Iyer gets off the mark from the last ball before lunch, driving Anderson handsomely through mid-on for four. A very classy way to end an intriguing first session.
30th over: India 99-2 (Jaiswal 51, Iyer 0) A full toss from Bashir is smeared into the crowd by Jaiswal, a huge six just before lunch. He cuts the next ball for four, aided by a misfield from Rehan Ahmed, to bring up a very assured fifty from 89 balls. At 22 he is the youngest batter in the Indian team; at this precise moment in time he looks like the best as well.
29th over: India 89-2 (Jaiswal 41, Iyer 0) Anderson has become he first fast bowler aged 41 and over to take a Test wicket since Gubby Allen in 1948 (I think).
“Good morning from Pondicherry, a few hundred miles down the coast from Vizag,” writes Martin Wright. “It’s pretty unseasonally steamy here and I can’t believe it’s a whole lot more temperate up there. What possesses a 41-year old to toil in the heat on a flat track when he could be putting his feet up on comms next to his old mate Broady I’ve no idea, but you can’t but help but admire him for it.”
The man’s an animal. But I suppose he was never going to retire after such a statistically disappointing underwhelming Ashes.
WICKET! India 89-2 (Gill c Foakes b Anderson 34)
Gill edges Anderson for four more, not far wide of the diving Root at slip. Anderson has bowled beautifully this morning; his line to Gill has been immaculate.
And now he’s got him for the fifth time in Test cricket! Gill edged a slightly wider delivery – deliberately so, I suspect – to the right of Foakes, who took the catch without fuss. Brilliant captaincy, brilliant bowling.
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28th over: India 85-1 (Jaiswal 41, Gill 30) Shubman Gill goes after Bashir for the first time, sweeping and driving successive boundaries. He looks good, ominously so for England because the pitch remains a belter.
“The opposition becoming conservative in response to England doing something extraordinary is something we saw in the Ashes,” says Felix Wood. “I do fear for these youngsters’ fingers - I doubt any have had to bowl as many overs as they will in the next few days. Winning the toss will help, which got me to thinking: why aren’t captains allowed to pick their teams after the toss is made? Might go some way to balance out the luck of flipping the coin.”
That’s a nice idea in theory, though I’m not sure whether it would work in practice. Players prefer certainty, and you can just imagine the affronted coupon of a bowler left out at the last minute.
27th over: India 75-1 (Jaiswal 40, Gill 21) Ben Stokes reads the OBO! He has brought Anderson back to replace Hartley (7-1-24-0), and Jaiswal obligingly takes a single off the first ball to allow Anderson a crack at Gill. He hits a fourth-stump line straight away; Gill defends a few and then thick-edges a boundary wide of slip.
“Umm, she’s tall for her age and would have paperwork nightmares if she tried to go to India,” says Kat Petersen. “Does that count?”
26th over: India 70-1 (Jaiswal 39, Gill 17) The timing isn’t ideal but I’d be tempted to give Anderson a spell before lunch. He has troubled Gill in the past, dismissing him four times in Tests for very few runs. Gill, for all his poor form, could be devastating if he gets his eye in.
25th over: India 68-1 (Jaiswal 38, Gill 16) Apart from one poor over that included a couple of full tosses, Hartley has bowled pretty well this morning. India are dealing mainly in singles, with three more in that over. The tempo has been better in this partnership.
“Good morning from a wet and windy Irish west coast,” writes Dean Kinsella. “I’m wondering who the selectors are going to find for the debutant role in the next Test? I don’t think the kitman has much first-class experience and could be ideal. Might head out to India misself, see if I can get a game!”
If you’re a spin bowler, there’s a five-for with your name on it.
24th over: India 65-1 (Jaiswal 37, Gill 14) One more wicket would make this an excellent morning for England, having lost the toss on a flat pitch. India are starting to play more with more intent, though, and have added 24 in 6.3 overs since the loss of Rohit.
23rd over: India 61-1 (Jaiswal 35, Gill 12) Ben Stokes is tinkering with his field as always: silly point for Gill one over, silly mid-off the next. As I type, he moves silly mid-off slightly wider in the middle of Hartley’s over. His imagination is limitless.
22nd over: India 59-1 (Jaiswal 35, Gill 10) Jaiswal top-edges a sweep that loops not far wide of short fine leg. Bashir has been England’s most dangerous bowler so far, mainly because of extra bounce. He’s also taken the only wicket to fall, and it was a biggie.
Shoaib Bashir's first Test wicket 🤩#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/3527t4vGap
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) February 2, 2024
21st over: India 56-1 (Jaiswal 34, Gill 8) “Professional sports people are too young,” writes Kat Petersen. “Never mind comparing them all to Jimmy’s debut – I have a 3.5 month old kitten and Shoaib Bashir is closer in age to her than to me. (She’s so young she doesn’t even have the patience for Test cricket yet.)”
Is she tall? Does she drive it into the pitch? Have you got a video of her bowling to Alastair Cook?
19-year-old off-spinner Shoaib Bashir has looked very assured on first-class debut
— County Championship (@CountyChamp) June 11, 2023
He's bowled beautifully to Sir Alastair Cook: here's all 25 balls of their morning contest#LVCountyChamp pic.twitter.com/WWvkg5iLOn
20th over: India 55-1 (Jaiswal 34, Gill 7) Jaiswal tries to cut Bashir and slices the ball on the bounce to short third man. In the circumstances this has been a fine start from Bashir: 5-0-10-1. But it may be about to get more challenging, as Jaiswal and Gill are beginning to show a bit of intent.
19th over: India 53-1 (Jaiswal 33, Gill 6) There’s a fair bit of pressure on Shubman Gill, who has an unfathomably modest Test average of 29.52. He takes a single off Hartley before Jaiswal, who looks the most relaxed of the Indian batters right now, sweeps consecutive deliveries for four (off a full toss) and three.
A poor over from Hartley ends with a full toss that Gill whips for four.
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18th over: India 41-1 (Jaiswal 26, Gill 1) Interesting, very interesting.
WICKET! India 40-1 (Rohit c Pope b Bashir 14)
Shoaib Bashir has taken a gem of a first Test wicket! Rohit Sharma turned a nice off-break round the corner, and Ollie Pope took a smart catch at leg slip. Bashir celebrates by whipping his visa out of his pocket and waving it too all four corners of the ground punching the air and roaring with delight. Rohit walks off after a passive, boundaryless innings of 14 from 41 balls.
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17th over: India 40-0 (Jaiswal 26, Rohit 14) Hartley goes round the wicket to Jaiswal, who jabs a yorker into the ground and over the top of the stumps. Foakes takes the bails off just in case but there was no appeal for a stumping.
A good over from Hartley also includes an LBW appeal when Jaiswal pushes defensively outside the line. It was bouncing over the top, though not by much.
16th over: India 40-0 (Jaiswal 26, Rohit 14) Bashir is bowling with nice flight and decent control. India’s passive approach is probably helping him to settle; even so, figures are 3-0-7-0 represent a good start. After a quiet opening round in which both teams hid behind their jab, it’s time for drinks.
15th over: India 39-0 (Jaiswal 25, Rohit 14) Root off, Hartley back on. Rohit shows the first sign of intent by walking down the track; Hartley sees him coming and pushes it wider, but Rohit has plenty of time to defend. This looks such a good pitch. You’d still expect it to deteriorate in the second half of the game, but for now it’s a shirtfront.
14th over: India 37-0 (Jaiswal 24, Rohit 13) Bashir gets his firsat bowl at Rohit Sharma, with a slip and leg slip in place. Rohit works another easy single into the leg side, then Jaiswal back cuts another boundary. It was only slightly short form Bashir but Jaiswal jumped all over it.
Jaiswal looks such a good player. It’s worth repeating that, at the age of 22, he has a first-class average in excess of 70.
13th over: India 32-0 (Jaiswal 20, Rohit 12) Ben Stokes tinkers by bringing Root back after only one over from Hartley. Jaiswal back cuts his first ball for four, the first since the second over; the rest is dot balls.
12th over: India 28-0 (Jaiswal 16, Rohit 12) Eight days ago Jaiswal hit Hartley’s first ball in Test cricket for six, but those were more innocent times. Here he plays carefully, which allows Bashir to start with a promising over – just a single from the last ball. There was a bit of turn, albeit very slow.
There have been no boundaries in the last 10 overs. India are playing with almost exaggerated care.
11th over: India 27-0 (Jaiswal 15, Rohit 12) Tom Hartley replaces Anderson. How will India play him this time? Cautiously for now, with four low-risk singles and a bat-pad shot from Rohit that loops towards the vacant short-leg region.
And now it’s time for Shoaib Bashir.
10th over: India 23-0 (Jaiswal 13, Rohit 10) Deep midwicket saves three more runs when Rohit whips Root to leg. No spin yet, though England wouldn’t have expected any after seeing the pitch. They’d have like an early wicket but keeping control of the scoreboard is the next best thing.
9th over: India 20-0 (Jaiswal 12, Rohit 8) Lovely from Anderson, who angles another excellent delivery past Jaiswal’s outside edge. On a flat pitch in India, a 41-year-old fast bowler has bowled a spell of 5-1-6-0.
8th over: India 19-0 (Jaiswal 12, Rohit 7) Jaiswal back cuts Root towards backward point, where a rare misfield from Anderson gives him two runs. Those two Jaiswal boundaries in Root’s first over are the only ones we’ve had so far. India look like they want to bat time as well as runs.
7th over: India 15-0 (Jaiswal 9, Rohit 6) Anderson hits Rohit on the pad with a lovely nipbacker. England go up for LBW but it’s too high and Anderson isn’t interested in a review. The ball also deflected to slip, though there was no inside edge.
That’s another pretty good over from Anderson, the first maiden of the match. It means the first half of his figures are also his age: 4-1-5-0. He couldn’t be expensive if he tried.
6th over: India 15-0 (Jaiswal 9, Rohit 6) Rohit fails to punish a Root full toss, cracking it straight to deep midwicket for a single, and then Jaiswal cloths a long hop straight to mid-off. Just three runs off the last three overs, though there are no signs of India’s openers getting frustrated. They know there should beheaps of runs out there in the first half of the game.
Just one more thing before we leave England’s match in Vizag in 2016. This story, from Vic Marks’ preview, bears repetition.
Inside the ground the players’ dressing rooms are at the Vizzy End, a name that stems from the Maharajah of Vizianagram; he was a multimillionaire and a very poor player, which did not prevent him from captaining India in England in 1936.
Five years earlier Vizzy’s vast wealth had persuaded Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe to go to India to play for his team. In England he averaged eight in the three Test matches of 1936 – and he was not a bowler; the series was lost after he had sent home one of the most gifted players, Lala Amarnath, for “disciplinary reasons”. If he had kept himself off the pitch he might have been remembered as one of the great benefactors of Indian cricket.
In later life he joined the BBC commentary team as a guest for one series, without gaining universal approval. He had a passion for hunting tigers and on air he spoke at length of how he snared his victims. “Really,” said Rohan Kanhai, the great West Indies batsman, “I thought you just left a transistor radio on when you were commentating and bored them to death.”
5th over: India 14-0 (Jaiswal 9, Rohit 5) I’d need to double check, but I think the last time a quick bowler aged 41 and over took a Test wicket was on 29 March 1948, when Gubby Allen (aged 45!) trapped Frank Worrell LBW in Jamaica.
England need to strike early or it could be a very long day. Anderson has started pretty well and is getting a little bit from the pitch, mainly bounce actually. Rohit feels for a lifting outswinger and is beaten, and it’s another quiet over. Wickets or not, Anderson pretty much always give England control.
4th over: India 13-0 (Jaiswal 9, Rohit 4) Root starts around the wicket to the right-hander Rohit, with a slip and short leg in place. Just a single from the over. Rohit was the pacemaker in the World Cup, but in the Test team that’s Jaiswal’s job.
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3rd over: India 12-0 (Jaiswal 9, Rohit 3) This is the Vizag Test of 2016 that Ali Martin mentioned. We may get a repeat this time, but one thing’s for sure: Ben Duckett won’t be getting a 16-ball duck.
Anderson continues. Imagine being 41 and wanting to bowl in India. His second over is much better, with both batters beaten outside off stump. Inbetween, Rohit times a nice square drive for three. There was some encouraging bounce as well.
2nd over: India 9-0 (Jaiswal 9, Rohit 0) Joe Root takes the new ball for the second consecutive innings. Jaiswal makes a statement by clubbing his first and fourth balls to the cover boundary. The first was a bit risky, slapped in the air, but the second was a fine shot.
1st over: India 1-0 (Jaiswal 1, Rohit 0) Jimmy Anderson, 41 and with a fresh bit of juice in his hair, has three slips for Yashasvi Jaiswal. He starts with a couple of balls down the leg side, and most of the over is slightly too straight.
Looks a good toss to have won, this one. Can’t help thinking back to 2016 when India did the same, Virat Kohli made 248 runs in the match and they won by 246. Gulp. No Kohli here, of course, but a big chance for India to get themselves back into the series. Will be interesting to see their approach, mind you ... a lot of sweeping/reverse sweeping in the nets before one, which is not a shot they typically go to ... has Bazball got in their heads?
I personally don’t see why it should have; hold their catches in Hyderabad, bat a bit better on the third morning, and they would have cruised to 1-0. Other memories of 2016 include a dog running on to the outfield, ahem, fertilising a spot by mid-wicket and an early tea being called with both Chesteshwar Pujara and Kohli in the nineties. Tried to find said pooch for an interview this week but no joy.
It feels like a 320 for three kind of day, doesn’t it. First-innings runs will be vital. Mind you, I said that last week.
This is a cracking stat from our sworn enemies friends at Cricinfo Joe Root (11,447) has more Test runs than the entire Indian team (10,336).
Ben Stokes said England would have batted as well. “New game, new week: we know India will come back hard.
The teams
India have made three changes: Rajat Patadar and Kuldeep Yadav come in for the injured KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, while Mukesh Kumar replaces Mohammed Siraj. It sounds like Siraj has been rested rather than dropped.
India Jaiswal, Rohit (c), Gill, Iyer, Patidar, Patel, Bharat (wk), Ashwin, Kuldeep, Bumrah, Kumar.
England Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Bairstow, Stokes (c), Foakes (wk), Ahmed, Hartley, Bashir, Anderson.
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India win the toss and bat
And why not.
“Looks a good pitch,” says Rohit Sharma. “The pitch is gonna do its thing, we have to playh good cricket to win the game. We need to move on from Hyderabad – we’ve spoken about certain things, we batted well in the first innings but didn’t show the same intent in the second innings. We understand what went wrong and hopefully we can correct those mistakes.”
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The pitch
So, will it be 2-0 or 1-1 after this Test? Well, it might be 1-0: the consensus in Vizag is that Dinesh Karthik is one handsome m- the pitch looks like a belter.
Don’t know what looks better, the pitch or DK. Both looking good 90 mins before play! pic.twitter.com/e7Kl8JVS0e
— Mike atherton (@Athersmike) February 2, 2024
Rajat Patidar has been handed his Test cap by Zaheer Khan, so he will replace KL Rahul in the Indian side. He’s 30 years old, naturally aggressive – particularly against spin – and recently scored a mighty 151 against England A. In short, he can really play. Of course he can, he’s been picked by India FFS.
That Test Debut feeling 😃👌
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 2, 2024
🎥 When Rajat Patidar received his cap from former #TeamIndia pacer, Zaheer Khan 👏👏#INDvENG | @rrjjt_01 | @ImZaheer | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/gyYIdxVGmp
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I remember being in Brisbane once during the Ashes… when Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen were about to resume England’s innings. Cook was in the zone and not really talking to anyone, but KP came over and we chatted for a couple of minutes. I told him I was about to go to Sri Lanka with England Lions and he said: “Oh, spin. You’ve just got to pick the length and that’s it.” And with that he put on his helmet and his gloves and went out to face Mitchell Johnson. I loved the certainty of that statement, and it has always stuck with me.
Sir Alastair Cook on England’s Hyderabad victory
England announced their team yesterday, with Jimmy Anderson and Shoaib Bashir, 20, replacing Mark Wood and the injured Jack Leach. England’s four specialist bowlers have 186 Test caps between them:
183 Jimmy Anderson
2 Rehan Ahmed
1 Tom Hartley
0 Shoaib Bashir
Before the series Brendon McCullum called India “the land of opportunity”, and England have given themselves a helluvan opportunity to do something extraordinary. Even so early in a five-match series, this match feels like a biggie. Either England will go 2-0 up, something no team has done in India since Australia in 2004-05, or India will level the series and grab the momentum ahead of the return of Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul.
England may yet lose this series 4-1, and Hyderabad 2024 might be another red herring like Chennai 2021. Such trepidation is natural, given India’s irresistible brilliance at home over the past decade, but it’s mixed with tentative optimism that England could actually… no, we’re not ready to say it yet. Maybe if they go 2-0 up.
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