NEWS
MATCH REPORTS
DIARY
OTHER SPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
PEOPLE
ARCHIVES

India take the honours on day one

Prem Panicker

Raw pace is certainly impressive -- but raw pace, on a flat, sub-continental track, merely gets the ball to the boundaries faster.

That lesson, more than any other, is what the Pakistan team probably took with them, back to their rooms at the Taj Coromandel in Chennai, at the end of day one of the first Test between India and Pakistan at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Shot out for 238 thanks to a combination of nerves, bad batting and some steady bowling by the Indians, Pakistan's famed pace spearheads Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis then suffered the indignity of having 44 runs taken off just seven overs of theirs, with India finishing day one on 48 for no loss and seemingly in a very good position.

To begin at the beginning, the weather was hot and humid at the MAC, with a maximum of 29 degrees allied to a high humidity level of 88%. While the outfield was lush, green and quick, the pitch itself had every blade of grass surgically removed, and rolled out flat, hard and, seemingly, ready to crumble by the end of day three.

It was a good toss to win, given those conditions -- and Wasim Akram won it, and opted for first strike, meaning that India would bat last on a track that could by then be turning square.

For the home side, Sadakopan Ramesh became the third Tamil Nadu player to make his debut on home turf. Srinivas Venkatraghavan was the first, debuting against John Reid's New Zealand team in 1965, at the Nehru Stadium in this city, while W V Raman got his cap against the Windies under Viv Richards in the 1987-88 series, scoring a duck and 83 in his first Test, on home soil.

India also opted for the left arm spin of Sunil Joshi in preference to the offspin of Harbajan Singh -- and as events showed, it proved a very good decision to make.

It also meant that India was going in with a Karnataka-centric bowling attack, all four of the regulars being from that state -- though that is neither here nor there.

Srinath set the tempo of the game with a superlative opening spell, mixing up his leg cutters and off cutters to perfection, bowling at top pace and, in contrast to some of his spells in New Zealand recently, eschewing the short pitched balls and keeping them up on a very good length.

As early as the third over of the morning, Srinath produced an express delivery on a length that squared Afridi up, then left him late to take the edge. Azhar at third slip dived to his left, getting in the way of a catch headed Laxman's way at second slip, managing to get both hands to it, but grassing the chance in the end with the score, at that point, on 1/0. 25 runs later, it was Prasad's turn to get the edge, off Anwar this time, and again, Azhar at third slip managed to get his fingers under the ball only to grass it.

Not quite what you want in the first hour of play on day one of a Test, but Srinath ensured that the lapses wouldn't prove too costly by squaring Afridi up for the nth time in the innings (the '18 year old' is about as much a Test opener as is our very own Ajay Jadeja), seaming one away late at speed, and finding the edge for Ganguly, at first slip, to take superbly diving forward and to his left.

The one problem India had during this phase was that while Srinath looked close to unplayable, Prasad was mixing up the odd very good delivery with a lot of very ordinary ones. This meant that the pressure was off at one end, and Anwar in particular appeared to be taking advantage and, after a shaky start, was beginning to time the ball particularly well when Srinath went round the wicket to pitch one on off that straightened, Anwar presented his pad with no pretence of playing a shot and Steve Dunne had no problem with the LBW appeal.

52 runs came off the first hour of play, which is great going for a Test -- but on the other hand, both openers were back in the hut for Pakistan. And the thanks for that was largely due to Srinath, whose first spell read 8-2-28-2.

As his spell wore on, Prasad began looking slower and slower and Azhar was forced to turn to Kumble. The leggie struck immediately, albeit fortuitously, when in his first over he over-flighted one to Inzamam, presenting the batsman with a juicy full toss. Inzy looked to put it away through midwicket but played far too casually, the bat turning in his hand and the ball finding the bottom, to pop a return catch to the surprised bowler.

Ijaz Ahmed is not the surest starter off the blocks in Test cricket -- but he in fact seemed to have shaken off his preliminary jitters when he produced an error of monumental miscalculation. His batting style involves a pronounced shuffle across to off, and one can only presume that he lost track of where his stumps were in the process -- how else explain the sight of the batsman, to a ball of full length on middle and off from Kumble, raising his bat high and not offering any shot? The flipper was heading for the stumps when the pad got in the way, Steve Dunne's finger went up almost before the appeal, and Pakistan were 66/4.

Pakistan took lunch at an uneasy 83/4 off 27 overs.

Immediately after the break, Srinath hammered another nail in when he produced a very good bouncer that stood up off a length and forced Malik to take hasty evasive action. The veteran right-hander, who till that point looked in good touch, getting well behind the line to both pace and spin, was clearly rattled, and Srinath followed it up with a lovely delivery, full in length outside off that darted back in off the seam. Malik tentatively pushed at it with bat away from body, for the ball to go through the gate and take off bail. At that point, Srinath had dream analysis of 10-2-32-3.

That brought Moin Khan and Yousuf Youhanna together, and some sanity to the Pakistan innings. Youhanna had, ever since his arrival at the crease, batted with a calm composure that made light of the supposed pressure of playing against India in India. Moin for his part was all bluster in the beginning, but quickly settled down to play a controlled innings. The first hour after lunch, thus, produced 54 runs for the loss of Malik's wicket, and the 6th wicket pair seemed well set.

Immediately after the drinks break, Sunil Joshi produced an arm ball of very full length that had Youhanna playing for non-existent turn, thrusting his pad at the ball and being rapped plumb in front -- Umpire Ramaswamy, however, didn't think the appeal merited attention, and Youhanna survived.

As so often happens to the side, the Indians seemed clueless as a partnership developed, the side settling down to going through the motions, apparently waiting for something to happen. Moin and Youhanna took advantage of their somnolence to add a good 63 for the 6th wicket before Sachin Tendulkar was brought in, obviously as a desperation ploy.

The first ball was a leg break. So was the second. The third, like the first two, was pitched middle and off. Youhanna, anticipating another leg break, poked his pad at it -- only to find that this was the straighter ball, Steve Dunne again being in complete agreement with Tendulkar's shout for LBW.

His was a compact, Test-type innings, characterised by enormous patience and the willingness to wait, to spend time out in the middle and accumulate runs. Very impressive, this lad -- and with that temperament comes easy footwork, and fluent touch on his strokes especially on the off side.

Around this period, the Indians had cause to be thankful for Joshi's presence in the team. The left arm spinner, using loop, flight and turn to good effect, bottled one end up with a superb spell of bowling that saw him, during this phase, return figures of 12-4-14-0. This meant that with one end shut down tight, India could look for wickets at the other.

Pakistan went in to tea at 168/6, having put on 85 runs off 31 overs between lunch and tea. After the break, the Pak skipper and vice captain apparently decided to take the attack to the Indians, and Srinath helped them with his first erratic spell of the day, which produced some wayward, shortpitched stuff and helped the two batsmen progress smoothly along to put up the Pak 200 off 64 overs.

This period also saw Moin bring up his 50, off 100 deliveries -- and the most interesting stat in there was the 77 dot balls he faced, indicative of a willingness to grit it out, hang around, and wait for the bad one before playing shots.

The two batsmen seemed to be taking the game away from the Indians, when Kumble landed one outside off, making it turn and bounce. Moin shaped for the cut but the bounce surprised him, the turn meant the got the bottom of the bat on the shot and Ganguly, at slip, launched himself to his right to pull off a blinder. Before his dismissal, Moin, who ended with 60 off 117 deliveries, put on 60 runs for the seventh partnership -- an invaluable effort, considering that Pakistan, when he came to the crease, were 91/5.

Once Moin left, Akram -- who till that point had looked very aggressive -- apparently decided to try and defend it out. Big mistake. He pushed forward in predetermined fashion at a Kumble flipper, but the ball was slightly on the short side, the bounce meant he got it on the maker's label and Laxman at short square had an easy take.

Kumble then got to his 8th five wicket haul in Tests when another flipper saw Nadeem Khan emulate his skipper, pushing forward in predetermined fashion for the ball to take pad and then bat, and Dravid, at silly point, reacted fast to take a very good catch.

An umpiring error made it a six wicket haul for the leggie. Saqlain pushed forward at yet another Kumble flipper, the ball took the pad and then went onto the ribs, Laxman held at short square, there was a tentative appeal and to everyone's surprise, Dunne -- who till then had had a very good match, raised his finger, to terminate the Pakistan innings on 238, off 80 overs less one ball.

For India, the obvious hero was Kumble, but the real damage was done by Srinath in the beginning, and that tight spell by Joshi turned the screws on a side struggling for runs in the middle. However, amidst the celebrations at having got Pakistan out cheaply, there could have been a moment's pause for concern -- as early as the first day, this pitch is already showing signs of turn, something that will interest a certain Saqlain Mushtaq and, to a lesser extent, Shahid Afridi.

India had to play eight overs before close, and it was imperative that the openers remain unseperated during what could be a testing phase. Pakistan helped the Indian cause here, with some very thoughtless bowling from both Akram and Younis.

Akram's first two deliveries were bouncers, aimed at debutant Ramesh. The youngster phlegmatically ducked under them and when Akram followed up with a fuller length ball outside off, eased it through the covers in a style reminiscent of Saurav Ganguly.

That shot opened the floodgates. Fine drives, some great punches off the back foot on the on, and Ramesh had his home fans in ecstasies as he raced to 30 off just 22 deliveries. Meanwhile Laxman, more circumspect, looked elegant off his pads as he punished an errant Younis with cleanly picked fours through the midwicket region, and India ended the day on 48/0.

Ramesh hasn't batted long enough for any meaningful analysis. But at first sight, the lad looks promising. He is very compact at the crease, with an easy stance. Off the back foot, he looks very confident, his timing being outstanding. He did seem a shade lacking in footwork when playing off the front foot, preferring to play with a very slight movement of the front foot, and with bat well away from body -- but it is early days yet, and this assessment is by no means final.

Good though the start has been, Ramesh and Laxman have to do it all over again tomorrow morning -- and Akram and Younis will surely have used the interim to think this thing through, to bowl the fuller length that is required on this track to take advantage of movement off the wicket, so the new opening pair could be in for testing times when play resumes.

Pakistan needs quick wickets. India, on the other hand, needs its strong batting lineup to click big time -- the objective being to pile up a sizeable lead that, on a crumbling track, could put Pakistan's batting under pressure in the second knock.

Meanwhile, two asides. The Sachin Tendulkar chat transcript will be put up on our site, but not before Monday I am afraid, simply because we are caught in a chronic staff shortage just now.

The other aside relates to our live commentary page. We had hoped to have the new version in place for the start of this Test but technical problems intervened. They have, however, been sorted out now, and we will be introducing a completely revamped chat-commentary site tomorrow, for coverage of the second day's play. See you there.

Scoreboard