Toss: ENG chose to bat. INDIA: 119/1 (Jaiswal 76*(70), Leach 1-24 (9)) trail ENGLAND: 246 (Stokes 70(88), Ashwin 3-68 (21)) by 127 runs
England captain Ben Stokes won the toss on a nippy Hyderabad morning and decided England was going to bat. The 22 yards didn’t tell us anything, the pitch was dry, as you would expect, and there was grass on the middle patch of the pitch. A pitch as good as any to bat first and set a big total. England had already announced their playing XI on the 24th, as for India, they stuck to their template, 3 spinners in Ashwin, Axar, and Jadeja, and two pacers in Bumrah and Siraj. Despite his underperformance at number 3, Gill will continue to bat there. And KS Bharat their designated keeper. Our first glimpse of Bazball against the Indian spinners was here, on Day 1 of a long English tour.
Crawley and Duckett Give England a Blazing Start
The English openers, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett walked out to bat, and it seemed like Stokes and McCullum had given them the leeway to hit from ball 1. India’s two pacers contradicted each other, whilst Bumrah was being Bumrah and giving the batters a hard time, Siraj was having an off day and going for runs. In the first 8-over spell for India’s pacers, England scored 41 runs, with Siraj going for 28 runs in his 4 overs. Bumrah was brilliant like always, his accuracy and pace was wonderful to watch, and truth be told, he was unlucky not to get a wicket off his first spell. Several deliveries just missed the bat and many just flew near to stumps. But, the English survived, and they picked Siraj to pieces. England had a fierce start to the tour, and Rohit brought in the spinners.
Jadeja and Ashwin were brought in, and right away, in Ashwin’s second over, Ben Duckett misjudged the turn, and he was gone lbw for a well-made 35. And India’s spinners had instantly created a wicket. Ollie Pope walked in, and he just couldn’t judge the balls right. He tried to push too hard on deliveries, looked uncertain on every delivery he played, and most missed his bat, and that was enough for Jadeja. Pope lunged forward trying to push hard on another ball, but it turned and caught his outside edge, and Rohit took a good catch. Just like that, the English were 58/2. And the world once again saw why Ashwin and Jadeja are masters of their craft.
Before the English fans could take a breather, Joe Root tries to sweep Jadeja in the same over, and there is a huge appeal, Jadeja is convinced the ball is hitting the stumps, and India takes a review. After a year’s wait for the ultra edge to show up, it shows Root nicking the ball before it goes to his pads, Root survives, the English breathe a sigh of relief, and India loses a review. But just as the English fans sat back down in their seats, in the next over, on the first ball, Crawly on his front foot, tries to hit the ball over covers, but mishits it straight to Siraj who takes a screamer. A decent Hyderabad crowd is on their feet, Ashwin is high-fiving everyone and England is suddenly 60/3. The camera pans to a few English fans, and one of them puts his hands on his head, wondering how it all went so wrong all of a sudden. Bazball had hit a speed bump, and the wisest thing to do now was to be calm, go back to playing traditional cricket, and survive the Ashwin and Jadeja onslaught. And that is what Root and Bairstow did. They didn’t give India many chances, kept hitting the bad deliveries for boundaries, and kept rotating the strike. With practically no chances for the Indians, Root and Bairstow added 46 runs till lunch. England went to lunch at 108/3, avoiding an early collapse after Ashwin and Jadeja breathed fire early on.
Root was brilliant for the time he batted. He played late cuts on several deliveries and brought a divine balance to his front foot and back foot game. He did something the previous English batsmen failed to do, he played with soft hands, ensuring even the deliveries he edged didn’t carry to fielders. It was a mini masterclass in the making. His only shortcomings were sweep shots. He tried to sweep the ball a little too often, and he was lucky to survive for as long as he did with all the sweeps he played. And eventually, that would be his fall post-lunch.
Stokesy Quietly Produces a Masterclass
Post-lunch, Axar Patel produced a magical delivery and caught Jonny Bairstow defending the air. A classic Axar Patel dismissal, he turned a few balls, and then you always have to watch out for the delivery that doesn’t turn. And that’s what happened, probably the best delivery of the day had a very dangerous Jonny Bairstow walking back for 37. And before Root and Stokes could even try building a partnership, Root swept again, this time to Jadeja. A sharp ball caught his top edge and it flew over to Bumrah. India had struck twice after lunch, and both the set batsmen were back in the hut. Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes were in the middle, distraught, and confused, and no one could get a grasp of that pitch. And Foakes struggled massively. He tried to play too defensively, and in doing so, he got into a shell, when you defend a little too much against quality spin, it will get you dismissed. He couldn’t understand what the pitch was doing, and Axar being Axar produced another wonderful delivery to catch Foakes’ edge. England was ailing, as their last proper batter Rehan Ahmed joined skipper Stokes in the middle.
The primary instigator of Bazball, Ben Stokes started his innings off playing conventional test cricket. He had closely observed the dismissals of the previous batters, and he knew exactly what to do. I’ll borrow a brilliant piece of analysis Dinesh Karthik made on Cricbuzz yesterday, he said when the spinners fly the ball a lot, smart and good batters play those balls on the back foot, and when the spinners bowl flatter deliveries, in India, it is wise to attack those deliveries, as those are the opportunities to score. And Ben Stokes did exactly that. He scored 17 runs off his first 50 balls, and most of those balls were incredible defensive shots, he didn’t make a lot of mistakes, and the ones he did, he played with soft hands, similar to Root. Whilst Rehan Ahmed got out, and the debutant Hartley was playing a blinder, Stokes stuck to his calm batting and switched gears later.
But we have to talk about the blinder of a knock from the debutant Hartley. Didn’t let the pressure get to him, and walked out to bat as if England had a 400-500 run lead. He picked Ashwin and Jadeja to pieces. Scored a fantastic quickfire 23, and he looked impressive throughout. And who knows, these quick 23 runs might prove to be the difference between both teams.
Coming back to Ben Stokes, he played and fended off the spinners supremely skillfully in the first several overs he played. And once Hartley got out, Stokes picked up the initiative to Bazball the rest of the innings to get England to a good score. He especially targeted Jadeja, and seemed like Jadeja had no answer to it. Stokes got to 43(66) till Tea tried to salvage a failing English innings. And Stokes knew he had to make the few overs post-tea count. And that’s what he did, hit a couple of huge sixes off Jadeja and kept hitting boundaries, there wasn’t much time left in the English innings with the amount and quality of the batters left. And Wood fell instantly in Ashwin’s next over. Stokes did hit a six and four and got himself to 70 before Bumrah produced a once-in-a-lifetime delivery. A fullish delivery fell on a crack and turned sharply into the stumps. Caught Ben Stokes off guard, he stepped out and missed the delivery. He stood there for a bit, looked at the pitch thinking what the hell was this delivery? Even if you tell Bumrah to reproduce this delivery, he might not be able to. And there it was, the mighty Bazball had been tamed by Indian spinners. Just as two partnerships got going, the spinners struck and got the better of them. No one other than the openers and Hartley played Bazball, England was forced to change their approach, and India had had the dream start to an important series.
JAIS-BALL
Jaiswal has been batting like a man possessed recently. And yesterday was no different. First ball of the innings, he whipped Mark Wood over square leg for a four. Next over, on Hartley’s first international delivery, Jaiswal put out his front foot and smashed a magnificent six over long-on. 3 balls later, Jaiswal sweeps a beautiful majestic six over the square boundary. Man, what a start. Everyone had been looking for England to play Bazball, and Jaiswal had just taken on the English bowlers with no worry about runs or innings, he had forgotten this was test cricket, he was still in T20 mode, and kept going at the English bowlers. After 6 overs, he had rushed to a fantastic 33 off 28 balls. Rohit had gotten off pretty well too, but Jaiswal had just taken all of the limelight. And he was not going to stop anytime soon. The way he took on the spinners was brilliant. Indian batsmen have struggled against left-arm spin for long, and Jaiswal being the classic lefty he is, was taking them to the cleaners. A magical combination of front-foot shots and sweeps with well-constructed cuts had taken Jaiswal to 51 in 47 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. Was this what England was supposed to do? Jaiswal owned them, showing them how Bazball is supposed to be played.
Rohit was pretty good to start too. He had taken his time and batted around Jaiswal, hit a couple of sweet boundaries, and just when he was looking to take the initiative, Leach and Stokes tempted him to go for boundaries, an extremely aggressive field tempted Rohit to step out and take Leach on, mistimed it, edged the ball straight to Stokes at mid-on. A decent-looking Rohit had to walk back on 24. India was 80/1 with a few overs till stumps. And the major chunk of those runs went to Hartley. He had conceded 51 runs in 6 overs, and Stokes had backed him all the way through. I understand backing youngsters and keeping faith in them, but I wonder if it was too much faith. Hartley was leaking runs, and that is what got Jaiswal going.
This is where I question England’s team selection as well. Their only pacer Mark Wood is a bowler who doesn’t normally bowl with the new ball. And owing to his fitness, he can’t bowl long spells. Would selecting Ollie Robinson or James Anderson have been better? Both bowl with the new ball and you don’t have to start with spinners with the new ball. For me, Dawson deserved to be selected over Hartley, I am all for giving debutants a platform, but his giving away too many runs has put India in a commanding position.
Gill walked in after Rohit’s wicket and runs not being behind him was showing. Gill looked wildly uncomfortable. Couldn’t infer the pace and turn of the wicket, and struggled largely. Fortunately, he survived the nervy overs. And whilst he was missing the balls, defending, and surviving, Jaiswal hit a few boundaries, a six before Stumps. At the end of the day’s play, India made 119/1 trailing England by 127 runs, with Jaiswal batting on 76 with an SR of 108, and Gill struggled his way to 14 of 43 balls.
Looking towards the second day, India has won Day 1. And India will look to get into the lead and bat the entire day. It is still early days in the match, but looking at the depth India has and the quality of bowlers England has, India is way ahead in the game. But, India still trails by 127 runs, and the game isn’t out of England’s court yet. The big day is coming up tomorrow, and the second day’s morning will tell us a lot about where the game is going. See you after the day’s play tomorrow.
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