Had someone suggested to Nasser Hussain that he would encounter inIndia a pitch that was virtually undistinguishable from the outfield,the English skipper would probably have scoffed and asked him to gethis head examined
Samanth Subramanian27-Nov-2001Had someone suggested to Nasser Hussain that he would encounter inIndia a pitch that was virtually undistinguishable from the outfield,the English skipper would probably have scoffed and asked him to gethis head examined.Yet, in Jaipur, for the final tour match ahead of the first Test, thatis exactly what Hussain did encounter. On a green-top that beckonedseamers and medium-pacers almost seductively, Hussain won his thirdtoss in a row and had no hesitation in opting to field.Richard Johnson, in for Matthew Hoggard, took it upon himself to provehis captain right. In his very first over, he had opener Vinayak Manecaught behind and Yere Goud bowled. Before the sparsely dispersedspectators could blink their eyes in disbelief, Johnson struck againin his next over, removing Gautam Gambhir leg-before. Newly inductedAndrew Flintoff, hoping for a Test berth, decided that he wanted hisshare of the spoils and promptly had Rashmi Parida caught behind.India ‘A’ were 8/4, and the English attack suddenly looked sharperthan a freshly minted guillotine.It took some obdurate batting from local lad Gagan Khoda and AbhijitKale to blunt the bowlers. Plumping for caution, the batsmen refrainedfrom strokes with any element of risk, which helped the run-rate asmuch as the abominably slow outfield. Even the appearance of spin, inthe form of Ashley Giles, did not stir their blood; Giles, hoping toprove match fitness ahead of Mohali, bowled with nice loop and someturn, but he did not get the bite that is so essential on the subcontinent.India ‘A’ went in to lunch at 88/4, a reasonable recovery but by nomeans all that was needed on a pitch that looked increasingly doublepaced. Khoda fell to that very vagary of the track when a Flintoffdelivery stayed low and, to compound matters, squirmed eel-likethrough the bat-pad gap to uproot off-stump. The dismissal endedKhoda’s innings of 64 and a partnership of 114 runs.Three overs after Kale reached his own half-century, Flintoff packedReetinder Singh Sodhi off to the pavilion, caught behind off thefaintest of edges. The twin strikes did little to disturb Kale’sconcentration; shrugging off edges and appeals, he hit the bad ballsand defended stoutly otherwise. He was especially pleasing to watchagainst Giles, exposing the left-arm spinner’s lack of variation byrepeatedly dancing down the track to play him on either side of thewicket.Resuming at 178/6 after tea, Kale and Ajay Ratra plodded their waypast the 200-run mark. The only sign of aggression in their standresulted in a six over mid-on that took Kale to his century, off 192deliveries.Having crossed that landmark, Kale retreated into his shell, emergingonly when he was caught at short-leg off Richard Dawson. His partnerRatra fell in the very next over and, once Dawson had skipper SunilJoshi trapped in front, the latter declared his side’s innings closedat 233/9.If India ‘A’ started catastrophically, the visitors could not havebeen more comfortable if they were asleep. Both Michael Trescothickand Mark Butcher, the latter in particular, motored along unfazed byany pitch vagaries, perceived or real. The Indian seamers, for theirpart, did not seem to know how to bowl on a pitch that, surprisinglyin India, was loaded in their favour. Pitching either too short or toofull, Iqbal Siddiqui and Dodda Ganesh gave Butcher many chances tofree his arms, allowing him to race to 32 off 39 deliveries.Although England will be pleased on the whole with their bowlingperformance today, they will look askance at their spin attack which,on pitches more placid and against the likes of Sachin Tendulkar andVVS Laxman, will be about as effective as a candle in a typhoon.Giles, Dawson and Martyn Ball, if they are to make an impression inthe Tests, will have to maintain impeccable line and length, andperhaps bowl with more variation. Hussain, however, will sleep easiertonight, with the burly images of Flintoff, Johnson and Hoggard, redcherry in hands, etched comfortingly in his mind.
