IND v ENG, 2nd Test Day 1 Review: Virat Kohli stands tall as England fail to impress

Indian skipper Virat Kohli is proving to be a very important person when it comes to performing under pressure and in the face of adversity. However, it was not all bells and whistles as the skipper’s deputy Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed by some tremendous bowling by James Anderson. While the fact of the matter remained that it was a supremely profitable day for the Indians.

Prior to the start of the match, it was clear the Indians and the visiting Britons had taken the curator’s words rather seriously by fielding three spinners. Jayant Yadav had been handed a debut by the Indians after Amit Mishra suffered the yips in the previous Test match, something that had seen the Indians claw their way to safety in the first Test at Rajkot.

In spite of being on the side for just the two matches, Gautam Gambhir was resigned to the bench as the fit-again KL Rahul took his place on the side. This also meant that there was a lot of hate directed towards the side following the axing of Gambhir and tweaking a good opening combination. This made little or no difference in the grand scheme of things as Rahul was dismissed by some impressive bowling by Stuart Broad.

While Rahul had proven his ability with the bat, one can only assume that international cricket is a completely different ball game. Moreover, Rahul’s wicket, perhaps it was good riddance on the part of Alastair Cook, but, it was all set up by the impressive Stuart Broad. It was almost Glenn McGrath—esque as the same line and length was bowled by Broad.

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Finally, it was a clueless KL Rahul whose prod outside off-stump found its way to Ben Stokes positioned in the slip cordon. An early jolt in proceedings meant that the Indians would now have to regroup. Initially, the regroup seemed to be rather easy as far as someone like Murali Vijay was concerned as he was seemingly in sublime form.

Anything pitched up by even a whisker was dispatched to the fence. It was a war of attrition as far as Vijay was concerned. James Anderson’s ploy of bowling to what Nasser Hussain referred to as the ‘fifth stump’ on the off side was not working. Murali Vijay, on the other hand, looked menacing. These were not shots played to score runs. But, these were shots played to entice the crowd who had come out in their decent numbers despite today being a working day.

Vijay’s honeymoon was, however, not to last long. James ‘Jimmy’ Anderson’s ability to mix things up has come from what many regards to be God given talent. At 33, Anderson can even make the ball seam in his sleep. Anderson, perhaps recognizing the fact that Murali Vijay is one of the batsmen with little or no acumen on playing the short-pitched delivery banged one in short and thus dismissing a stunned Vijay.

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It was now up to Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara to dig their team out of the hole Anderson and Broad had put them in. It was anything but easy. Three opportunities were handed to the Brits to run out either one of the pairs of batsmen. The calling for each run was proving to be nerve-wracking for the spectators to watch. Sanjay Manjrekar in the commentary box was also feeling a bit uneasy. You could not tell by the way he spoke, but a sense prevailed, to say the least.

However, it took a mammoth effort from the duo as they sorted their issues, they began to take the England attack to the cleaners. The rotation of the strike was a valuable feature as far as the duo was concerned and that they were on the verge of breaking a few records as they moved ahead with the partnership. This cast somewhat of a strain on the England spin trio who had a little luck.

Virat Kohli was the one who initially stepped on the gas as he smashed the spinners to different parts. While Kohli was dealing in boundaries, it was Pujara was made the bigger impact as he smashed the ball 15 to 20 rows back into the stands, something he is seldom known for. Moreover, the fact of the matter remained as the Indians pressed on to amass an impressive first innings score.

Both batsmen reached their respective tons before a loose shot from Cheteshwar Pujara saw the latter dismissed by the same off-stump ploy put forth by James Anderson. The wicket, which came rather late in the day saw the Indians make amends for the day they spent toiling against the impressive Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. Needless to say, Pujara was dismissed for 118, his second ton in the series.

However, this did not stop the Indian skipper Virat Kohli as the Indian skipper continued to play his shots despite the slow run-rate and the prevalent bad light in the ADA VCA Stadium. Finally, it was Kohli who prevailed despite all the common issues prevailing, to say the least. Ajinkya Rahane fell in the last few overs of the day when the England skipper made the decision to take the new ball.

The new ball was put to use in the final few overs of the day as James Anderson and Stuart Broad managed to trouble the batsmen, but, Ashwin managed to keep his wicket intact by remaining solid in defense.

Brief Scores:

India, 1st innings: 317/4 (V Kohli 151*; J Anderson 3/44)

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