Indians hold Zesty young Lions to an enthralling draw

Given England's injury list of Ashes stars Michael Vaughan,Ashley Giles,Simon Jones and the personal problems of Marcus Trescothick, few would have expected the match at Nagpur to go the full distance of 5 days. With the Indian spin duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh and the pace duo of Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth on top form before the series began, almost everyone had written off the travelling Englishmen. Dare someone could compare a batting line up that boasts the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman against Andrew Straus, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Alistair Cook. It was David versus Goliath on the cards with England expected to be massacred on a belter of a pitch, What else could you expect when Sachin Tendulkar alone had scored more runs than the entire English team put together.

Day 1
The stage was set and luckily for England stand in skipper Andrew Flintoff won the toss and decided to bat. After a good resistance from Strauss and Cook, the inevitable happened England started losing wickets and were precauriously placed at 244-7 at the end of the day. But the unexpected was Sreesanth the young aggressive lad took the top honours with his fiery bowling and Alistair Cook with his 60 on Debut. It was a tale of debutants on show with each showing his character.

Day 2
The second day was even more pulsating when Colingwood slammed a patient century and helped England to a healthy total of 393. Colingwood who would have not played had Vaughan or Trescothick shown up handled the Indian bowling Masterfully and looked comfortable through out his stay at the middle. It was a very good comeback by England with the Indian team once again failing to clean the tail up and they had a big task on their hands. Despite Sehwag's early dismissal Dravid and Jaffer negotiated the pace and spin thrown at them.

Day 3
The match was evenly poised to many a critic's disbelief when the sensational Mathew Hoggard ripped apart India's top order and the mighty batting line up could muster only a partly 190 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Enter Mohammad Kaif whose fielding skills preceded the much needed batting ability and a man who has been criticised for being given a place in the test team. The need of the hour was not scintillating stroke play but a gutsy innings. Fight he did along with an able ally in Anil Kumble they surged past 300 with a wonderfull stand of 128 runs. Sure it was not attractive batting but nothing short of sheer grit and poise which frustrated the young English side. The third day ended with honors even with India brilliantly fighting back aided by half centuries from Kaif and Kumble.

Day 4
Everyone expected the Ball to zip and turn on the penultimate day which could help India's cause with the two spin masters waiting to cast their web. It turned out to be a dead pitch with England piling on the runs with the help of some bad decisions and poor fielding. KP in particular was harsh on the Indian bowlers and imposed himself on the game with a rapid fire 87. But the icing on the cake for this young English side was the century of Debutant Alistair Cook. No one expected Cook to do the unexpected when he arrived from the distant shores of the Carribbean. With the pitch not doing much, the English were wondering how much to set this strong Indian batting line up. It was a tough call and the slow pace of Cook and Collingwood did not help either.

Day 5
After all the initial revelations of a thumping Indian win, England now stood with victory in touching distance but lot of work was left to be done. India started the day with 369 runs to win but the British Symphony with Flintoff as its Conductor began in style with Sehwag cleaned up by Hoggard. After the initial burst, it was the wall rising over its counterparts in his genuine style. Jaffer and Dravid batted steadily for 2 sessions and opened up when the hopes of a famous victory in the English camp had vanished. 200 runs from 25 overs, pretty daunting but not impossible with the heavy artillery of the Indian batting line up yet to come. India went after the victory despite the fall of Dravid and Jaffer with Dhoni making some incredible shots. It required Steve Harmison a bowler who had a dismal game to produce a brilliant spell to stop India romping to victory. In the end it finished with India requiring a further 108 runs from 70 balls.

Post Match Comments:
The pendulum had swung both ways through out the course of the match with both the teams failing to finish the opponent off. Many questioned India's defensive tactics in its own backyard but people often forget soon. The same pair of Dravid and Jaffer had steered India to a commanding position at 144-1 only to be reduced to 190-7 just a few days back and its hard on any pitch to face the hostile attack of Flintoff and co. It was a good show of Batsmanship from Dravid and Jaffer when needed and they cannot be held at fault for the shoddy fielding and collapse of the mighty Indian middle order on days 3 and 4. With the game moving onto Mohali, India would have by now understood that this English side is no pushover but they still hold the upper hand after scraping through a dead Nagpur pitch. Can the English use Mohali's grass to their advantage and force a result or will it be the Titans to turn it on? Flintoff definetely needs to be applauded at the way he has handled his resources and Dravid for his salvaging effort.