A Cool First Day For England

Well..finally there was a bit relief for me that finally I could watch some great cricketing action. At the same time, I was afraid for ending up watching a boring and colourless encounter, wherein team England would succumb to the sub-continent conditions, and also owing to lack of match practice, it was all believed that a boring encounter is always going to be on the cards. But, thank god..that was not the case. England showed that they were the creators of the game of cricket way back in the eighteenth century. However, this is still not enough. I wish there is still some greater action to come in the days ahead of the test series

For the exception of Andrew Strauss and Alister Cook, the rest of the English batsmen weren't up to the mark. And on the part of the Indians, they just showed that they were the home team and had always had an upper hand in the test series. The match was a perfect mixture of some great cricketing shots, good bowling from the Indian counterparts, a wrong decision that bought frustration in the eyes of the Englishmen, when Paul Collingwood was given out caught behind to a delivery that was found to miss the gloves by some 6 inches. Something that favoured the English batsman was the toss that Kevin Pietersen won and chose to bat. Otherwise, I guess things would have been different.

There is still four more days to go in this trest match, things may or may not be the same. England might get back to their basics of getting their tactics wrong, thus, in the process falling prey to Indian hunters. Spin, that has always been a problem for Western countries, may once again put pressure on the English batsmen. Likewise, a hint of the same was observed, when Yuvraj Singh made an impact no different compared to regular spinners- Harbhajan Singh or Amit Mishra for that matter. And I wish the way Zaheer Khan posed threats to the English batsmen during India's tour to England in 2007, is still in the minds of the English batsman. This is evident for the first day's play, when Zaheer Khan had Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell in his wickets tally.

It looked as though lack of practice for the English batsmen didn't prove to be a major set back, taking into consideration their run on day 1. This could also be attributed to the pitch, that was seen to be a batsmen's paradise, with the earlier match having Virender Sehwag scoring his second triple hundred and had recorded totals of 540 and 647. So, assuming that England had the upper hand on day 1's play might be just an illusion. And one should not forget the depth in India's batting line up, which is needless to be said. As an Indian fan, an Indian victory is always welcome. But, an equal resistance from the opposition would be a treat to watch. I wish England plays the game with full determination, showing their courage and power. So do the Indians.