I am beginning to love my team now -- it is not too flash, if you discount a Sehwag here, a Dhoni there; but it's growing a heart. And a head. And character.
It's as prone to stuffing up as it always was -- but with this vital difference, that nine times out of ten, one or the other guy is now putting his hand up, and fighting like hell, and you just can not ask for anything more, or better.
There -- got the fan thing out of the way, now to the cricket itself. And the man who put me in mind of the above is not Mohammad Kaif, though god knows this knock of his is a monument in and of itself, especially when you consider it is being played by a man who doesn't yet know if he will play the next Test, but Anil Kumble.
Using words to describe his knock brings the risk of a rapid descent into hyperbole, so try some statistics instead: When, for instance, the 100 of the partnership came up (off 242 deliveries), Kumble had gone gone beyond merely holding his end up; he was in fact equal shares with his partner, facing 120 deliveries to Kaif's 122 and contributing 45 to Kaif's 57. A push off his pads brought his 50 onto the board, and the Indian dressing room to its feet in salute for one of the bravest knocks we've seen from an Indian player in recent times.
There were times when his bat seemed polygonal, all edges and no middle -- but against that, there was no chink, no gap, England's bowlers got close to exploiting. And it was not grim, tip-of-fingernail survival -- every now and again, he would uncork a shot out of a top batsman's a la carte menu, and it was in his selection of the ball to go for that he showcased the value of experience.
You really felt for him when, well into extra time after England failed to bowl its overs in time, Kumble pushed away from his body at a Harmison delivery to be held smartly at first slip, with India on 318/8 and just 3.3 overs left in play.
The crowd gave Kumble a standing ovation as he walked back -- and he richly deserved every handclap for an innings in which the 168 deliveries he saw through were worth, in gold, as much as the 58 runs he scored (Partnership 128 runs, off 57.4 overs).
At the other end, Kaif seemingly sussed out, in the middle session of play, that his partner needed no baby-sitting. With that worry out of his mind, he settled down to build a Test innings in classical mould -- quiet, watchful, giving nothing to the bowler. Before lunch, when the ball was swinging like it was on a string, he batted out 75 deliveries for 18 runs without losing patience; in the middle session he played 71 deliveries to add a further 43 to his total; in the final session, he used his repertoire of nudges, nurdles, silken flicks and clean-hit drives and most importantly, monumental patience to add another 30, and see off another 117 runs, before he lost his wicket to what effectively became the last ball of the day.
It was a brilliant ball that did him -- Panesar, four balls after being lofted to the straight fence, drifted one into middle on length, drew Kaif into the defense, and turned it away just enough to beat the bat and clip off stump (India 322.9; Kaif 91 off 263 deliveries).
It was a quality ball to end an innings that sent out a message -- Kaif may not be as flash as some of the higher rated colleagues; he is behind Yuvraj Singh, whose place he took here, in flair, but no one will question his big match temperament for a long time.
The session ended well for England, but it could have been better. Flintoff, I suspect, missed a trick during this session. Immediately after tea, the England captain gave himself an over, figured there was nothing in the still-new ball for swing or seam, and gave it up to his two spinners to get a few overs in.
It was a clearly defensive option, considering both Panesar and Blackwell stayed over the wicket for the most part; the best guess for why, when England would clearly want to knock over India quickly, would be an attempt to get some wear on the ball so it would begin to go reverse.
The flip side though -- an important consideration, given England had to be focused on bowling India out quick -- was that it gave both batsmen time to get their eye set and feet and hands going again before squaring up to the quicks.
Kaif and Kumble accepted the gift -- the former picked a couple of fours off Blackwell, Kumble cut Panesar superbly behind point twice in an over; India kept knocking off the overs, and the runs. And by the time the quicks came back, both batsmen were going nicely, and up to the job.
The runs added by this pair have been vital, certainly. It has reduced England's potential lead to near negligible levels; it has swung the momentum back in favor of the home team just as Collingwood's first innings knock created that buzz for England at the change of innings.
But equally vital, perhaps more so, are the overs these two have used up. Kaif and Kumble got together on the last ball of the 77th over; when Kumble fell, they had batted out 57.4 overs and, in doing so, denied England the gift of time to make a winning play.
The partnership shut England out of winning this game. Sounds premature? The equation suggests otherwise -- England still has to bowl India out; it then has to put on something around the 300 mark on the board, and it then has to bowl India out again -- all this, in 180 overs assuming the weather doesn't play a part.
Personally, I believe the pressure is now on England -- going for those runs in a hurry could entail a collapse; going slow will inevitably push the game to a draw. Whatever -- it's been the most fascinating Test thus far -- and it's got a lot of life in it yet.
Report on the morning session and the afternoon session here.
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