Wasim Jaffer notched a patient century to coast India to 215 for two in the second innings, on day 3 of the opening Test against the West Indies at the Antigua Recreation Ground in St John's on Sunday.
Jaffer, unbeaten on 113 off 222 deliveries, inclusive of 12 fours, built crucial partnerships to help India finish the day 85 runs ahead of the hosts, who had started to get a strangehold on the Test.
The Indian batsmen conitnued to fight back after the bowlers had checked the West Indies' progress in the morning, bowling them out for 371 runs.
Morning session (India 16/0 in 4 overs at lunch)
There is a tide in the affairs of men on a cricket pitch.
Ah, forget mangled quotations - the point is, cricket is a momentum game and on what is in a five day game the 'set up' day, that momentum passed India by entirely, with no one to blame but themselves.
The debate on whether the new ball should have been taken first up, or whether Anil Kumble should have been given an early go before the batsmen settled is moot; using the old ball could have worked, or could have misfired, we'll never really know.
Point is, the new ball was taken. And you do that first up in the morning when you are looking for early wickets. To get them, though, you need fielders up close - bizarrely, however, Rahul Dravid opted to spread his field out against numbers seven and eight.
As early as the third over of the morning, that mistake was underlined as Munaf Patel found the clear edge of Denesh Ramdhin's bat, only for the ball to fly at a nice catching height through where third slip was not, down to the third man fence for four.
Equally odd-ball was the decision to partner the clearly off form, under-confident Sreesanth with the new ball. The bowler was consistently either too short or too full, and paid for it as Ian Bradshaw in particular slapped the former length through point, and creamed the latter through cover.
Just how low Sreesanth is in confidence was indicated in his third over, when twice on the trot he ran in and aborted without delivering the ball, then inched back to the start of his mark with all the air of a condemned man taking his last walk. If ever a bowler begged to be taken off, Sreesanth was that bowler - but he was continued, for yet another costly over, before finally being allowed to go away into the outfield with only his own misery for company.
At the other end, Munaf Patel kept things tight on line which is pretty much all he had to do on this deck - and in his third over, one of a stream of deliveries in the corridor on length got Ramdhin pushing at it for Dhoni to lean low and forward to hold the edge (26/68; 331/7).
It took another eight overs before India managed to prise out another wicket - this time, VRV Singh used his height to get one to kick at Bradshaw. The batsman was taken by surprise, tried to get out of the way and managed only to get the shoulder of his bat to the ball for Yuvraj to take the lobbing catch at point (33/85; 359/8). 24 of his runs had come off boundaries; three of them were off Sreesanth.
Through all this, the West Indies lead kept mounting - through edges, and the odd authentic shot that took advantage of a spread field. The over-riding impression you had was that the fielding side had abandoned all hope of actually trying to get the tail out, and was mentally intent on its second turn at bat.
Singh, having claimed his debut wicket with a short one, figured that was a good enough template to follow and peppered Fidel Edwards with a stream of short ones. Off the last ball of an over short of length and getting shorter, the bowler finally lined it all up - the bouncer was on off, angling just enough onto middle to pin the batsman in its headlights, and all Edwards could do was fend it away for Dhoni to hold (4/15; Windies 370/9).
In the next over, Kumble fired down the quick, straight flipper (something he does so often, you are tempted really to put those words into one of your hot keys, to avoid RSI) and pinned Corey Colleymore in front of middle to end the Windies innings on 371.
16.3 overs had produced four wickets, but had also added 53 valuable runs to the overnight total giving the home side a crucial lead of 130. And at the halfway point in the game, you had to figure the West Indies had total control - reflected in the four slips, gully, short square leg and the relatively close point that set up an attacking umbrella behind the Indian batsmen.
Ian Bradshaw didn't have the best of outings in the first innings, so Brian Lara tossed the new ball to Corey Colleymore as Fidel Edwards' partner. Virender Sehwag, typically, got off the mark by staying back to a short length ball from Colleymore and guiding it wide of gully to the fence; equally typically, in the next over to a short and wide ball from Edwards, Sehwag went for the square slash, despite a man being posted on the fence for just that, and carried the ground to collect a six.
At the other end, the bowlers kept it where Wasim Jaffar likes it least, in the off corridor, and the batsman kept searching and, fortunately, missing.
An interesting field deployed by Lara for Sehwag was on the leg side - a very short square leg, standing a bit squarer than the norm, to inhibit the batsman's bread and butter flicks off his pads was backed by the orthodox, run-saving square leg. Nothing fazed, Sehwag played the flick anyway - over the close fielder, wide of the deeper fielder, and to the fence, the kind of shot that looks stunning when you pull it off, and abysmally silly when you pick out the fielder.
That boundary took India in to lunch on 16/0 - the real hard work remains to be done, in the two sessions to follow.
Post-lunch session (India 121/1 in 30 overs at tea)
Classicists among cricket writers talk of the `terrible beauty' of a quality bowler and batsman going at each other - the smaller battle on the cricket field that makes the larger war worth watching.
They would have loved the first half hour of the afternoon session - time wise, the exact midpoint of the game - that showcased a raging battle between Fidel Edwards and Virender Sehwag.
The lines were drawn by Brian Lara. As soon as the teams resumed after the break, Lara set a leg slip, and a short, square, short leg in place for Sehwag. The reason why became apparent in the third over of the afternoon as Edwards, having spent his first over getting a rhythm going and working up to top pace, let fly.
The first ball of that third over, the 7th of the innings, was directed into the batsman's body on line of middle and leg and rising; Sehwag's awkward fend looped the ball up, and just out of reach of a desperately diving Sarwan at square leg. (Ironically, if that field had been set at orthodox short square, instead of squarer than normal, in an almost short mid on position to inhibit the flick, Sarwan would have been closer to the ball and in position to make a catch of it).
A ball later, the same again, a bit closer to leg and this time, the Sehwag fended hit the turf an inch ahead of the grasping leg slip. The over ended with an attempted yorker gone awry, that the batsman clinically put away through midwicket.
An over later, the two were at it again - Edwards, by now hitting the 145.5 mark on almost every ball, banged one in and again, Sehwag fended it, again inches short of leg slip. Edwards followed through all the way to the batting crease, then locked eyes with Sehwag in a prolonged battle of wills.
Stirring stuff, setting the session alight - but it was costing Edwards a lot in terms of effort, and it took a toll in the 7th over of the afternoon, the fourth of Edwards' spell, as he pulled up in the midst of the delivery stride, clutched his ham string, tried again, sent down a weak delivery, and limped off the field in a fashion indicating he was highly unlikely to come back for the duration of the day, and likely the match.
Before going, though, he had done enough to underline that Sehwag's problems with the ball into his body - exaggerated by his inability to play the hook, and equally his inability to just move inside the line and let it go rather than play awkward prods - remain, for all the reported practice against oddly shaped balls. Someone needs to take him into the nets and turn him into a happy hooker - failing that, any bowler who can get it up above the 140 k mark is apt to adopt this ploy with increasing regularity and, I suspect, effectiveness.
Though Lara appeared to have thought through that part of his game plan, he oddly picked Ian Bradshaw as Edwards' bowling partner. The bowler, under par in the first innings, was no better here; the net result of his overlong spell was that he allowed Wasim Jaffar in particular to play himself in.
Bradshaw kept slanting the ball across, without doing much by way of movement either in the air or off the deck, and Jaffar kept moving across to run it with the angled bat past the slip cordon to the third man fence. When the bowler attempted to negate that by lining it up closer to off, Jaffar promptly caressed him through cover for three, and Sehwag followed up with a straight punch for four.
Lara, thus, was forced to spread his field early, at least for Bradshaw - and the Indians cashed in with a few quick singles that kept the board ticking over.
Corey Colleymore finally came on, and promptly removed Sehwag - who appears to lose concentration when confronted with the slow pace of the Windies' most experienced seamer. The bowler did what he does best -- bowl with the upright seam, through the corridor with just the hint of late shape. Sehwag moved into a loose push on the walk - a nothing shot that managed merely to find the edge for Chris Gayle, at first slip, to juggle, juggle, and finally to hold (41/58; India 72/1; Windies still 58 ahead).
As dismissals go, this was an action replay of the first innings, except that on that occasion, the catcher was Lara at second slip. And that underlined the only change to the pitch, thus far - the bounce is just that little bit less, the pitch playing just that little bit easier, ergo the difference in where the edge, identical to the one in the first innings, went.
It was a wasteful dismissal - this game is now all about time, with two days, and 180 overs maximum, remaining after today. If India wanted to break the game open, and swing the momentum back to its side, run scoring at some pace becomes vital - and Sehwag, if he could have kept his mind together for the long haul, would have been the ideal person to spearhead that effort. That now remains an unrealized `if'.
Jaffar settled down to play well within himself. Noticeably, the batsman who has a problem with deliveries down the corridor took to letting as many of them go as he possibly could. Anything on the stumps, on his pads, or a foot or more wide of off, he likes - and he used the punches, glides and flicks to keep his score ticking over and equally, to ensure the bowlers didn't break through at the other end. It's been a workmanlike effort, as opposed to a dominant one - but it's what has been needed, on a pitch where you need to get in and stay in.
A flowing drive to the cover fence off Bravo - who in this innings hasn't thus far reprised the bowling form of the first Indian innings -- got him the opener to his 50 (82 balls) - the first half century by an Indian batsman in this match thus far.
Dave Mohammad came on in the 24th over (in the first innings, Lara had used Gayle ahead of the left arm spinner; clearly, he feels a lot more confident of the youngster now) and the bowler began getting turn from ball one.
At the other end, the landmark appears to have done wonders for Jaffar's confidence - twice on the trot in the over before tea, he launched into superbly controlled straight drives off Muhammad, splitting the difference between the bowler and mid off, to give the bowler something to think about.
VVS Laxman, in again at number three (time and again, he has expressed a preference for that slot - you have to wonder if this is a sign of the management letting him bat where he feels happiest, even if that means moving the natural number three down a notch?), and got going with a fluid cover drive off Bradshaw.
At the break, India is 9 shy of wiping out the deficit, with just the one wicket down - and can finally claim to have won a clear session, after six straight ones on the back foot and one, the morning session, were honors were more or less even.
In passing, the injury to Edwards has resulted in the West Indies attack now resembling India's (Bravo and Colleymore are way more experienced than the Indian seamers, but against that, Mohammad is nowhere close to matching Kumble in the experience department and Bradshaw is coming close to matching Sreesanth's horror run). Given all the criticism of how Dravid handled his bowlers, and his field, including on this forum, we now have a yardstick for comparison - it will be fun to see what Lara does with the attack he now has.
Post-Tea session
Unlike Antigua wickets of the past, batting on this one has been a patience game with one simple formula-- give the corridor to the bowler, and milk the rest.
It was where the Indians failed in the first innings, and where they -- in particular, Wasim Jaffer-- have been successful here. The tall right handed opener has been scrupulous about letting anything in the channel through; he has also shown exemplary patience in playing to his main strengths, to with the punch off either foot square of the wicket on the off, and the play, all around the on from fine leg to the straight field, to anything on middle and leg.
Cricket on such tracks is reduced to cat and mouse and that was in evidence in the first half of this session. Judging solely by the way they have approached this innings, the team appears to have identified their very slow batting as one reason for the first innings debacle; here, there was a more conscious effort to work the ball around, and to keep the bowlers from settling into desired lines.
Confronted with that, Brian Lara adjusted his field a bit, eased off on the attack a bit, and moved fielders into the short cover, and short midwicket, positions to inhibit driving while pushing point a fraction back to block the square shots.
Dwayne Bravo and Dave Mohammad reeled off back to back maidens. Jaffer absorbed that with phlegmatic calm; the more experienced VVS Laxman got fidgety. In the 39th over, he took on the field with a flashing square cut played with a full flourish, then a controlled whip off his pads for a brace off Bravo.
Confronting Mohammad at the other end, the batsman reeled off a cover drive the way only he can play that shot-- taking the off stump line and with a late roll of the wrist, changing the geometry to pick a gap through extra cover against the turn.
The shot was played in a fashion to daunt far more experienced bowlers; Mohammad bowled the next one much flatter, much quicker, and very wide of off; the sort of ball that left alone would have found first slip. Laxman went low on his knees, and aimed the sort of swipe at it that gives tailenders a bad name, fetching the ball from a long way outside off and putting it in the air for Ian Bradshaw at mid on to hold without moving too many muscles.
It was the tamest of dismissals, and India again lost a player capable of easing through the gears at will and playing the really big innings (Laxman 31/58; 147/2; ending a partnership of 75 runs for the second wicket at a comfortable 3.6).
With Colleymore and Gayle in partnership (Gayle bowling very flat, very full and very quick; Colleymore keeping it relentlessly in the corridor to Jaffer who kept watching them through) and with Lara employing in-out fields (and for Dravid, blocking scoring areas on the on side) to shut run scoring down, the bowlers reeled off successive maidens in overs 45, 46, 47 and 49 (Colleymore bowling the odd numbered overs, to Jaffar).
Once Colleymore went off and Bradshaw came back on, the pressure eased. Though he bowled far tidier than he has thus far in this Test, the left arm seam bowler bowling over the wicket still sent down enough deliveries on straight lines to permit Dravid and Jaffar to play off their pads, working the gaps to find singles and the odd two.
The Windies worked on Jaffar's patience in the 90s; to his credit, the batsman held on to his nerve, and his patience, seemingly prepared to wait for ever if that is what it took. His chance finally came when Bradshaw erred in length, putting it in the half volley zone for the batsman to lean low into the square drive that beat point to find the fence, and the century (187 deliveries).
The first century of this Test predictably came from the one batsman on either side who showed the concentration needed to grind on and on; as his 11 fours indicated, you can play shots, if you are willing to wait for deliveries to fall into the best hitting zones (Jaffer waited out 143 of those 187 deliveries; against Colleymore, the only bowler to test him in that corridor consistently with seven men packing the off, he played out 32 dot balls out of 38 faced at the century mark).
India's biggest plus at the halfway mark was that it had time on its hands, and Jaffer made full use of it here in a showcase of discipline and commitment. And at the other end, he had for company Dravid-- the epitome of patience.
The session produced 94 runs out of 38 overs for the loss of Laxman, while stretching the lead to 85. While India did not dominate, it didn't need to-- this phase was about taking control, and the batting side did that well enough to take a second successive session and claw their way back further into this game.
A plus for the batting side is that the new ball is still 12 overs away, which gives Dravid and Jaffar time, at the start of day four, to settle in again.
Lara's gameplan throughout the session was damage control-- fields packed on one side of the pitch, to aid the bowler's natural line, and quick rotation through his armory, even pressing Sarwan into the attack to facilitate that, to make sure the batsmen didn't take a shine to any one bowler.
It was clearly defensive cricket-- clearly underlined by his under-bowling of his attacking spinner, Dave Mohammad (10 out of 68 while missing a regular bowler). Then again, once the Indians decided on the patience game, there was no other option left but to try and restrict the damage. Interestingly, Lara avoided the innovative field settings of the first innings, and settled into textbook patterns.
The state of the pitch is the center of focus as a Test gets into the business end. This one has remained very firm with, remarkably, no cracking visible anywhere. That said, it IS a pitch now three days old, and that shows in a marginal reduction of the bounce and given its hard nature, a fractional increase in pace.
There has been turn from day one, and that continues. Another day of baking sun to accentuate these factors, and you should find a fifth day pitch the likes of Kumble will like-- quickish, with just enough variable bounce and just enough turn to make things interesting for batsmen.
For seamers, the plus is the pitch is not gripping the ball as hard, ergo skid, therefore a marginal increase in pace off the deck. Against that, as the moisture has dried up, the seam and cut has noticeably reduced, and that should continue.
The best sign of what is happening is the bowling of Dwayne Bravo. In the first innings, he looked almost unplayable-- the ball was darting around both ways; the odd one was bouncing just the little bit extra to find the high edges for the carry, and there was movement off the seam. In this innings, he has been reduced to trundling.
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