Nottingham: India number 11 Mohammed Shami embarrassed England with the bat and then ensured home captain Alastair Cook’s poor run of scores continued as the tourists seized control of the first Test at Trent Bridge. India piled up 457 on Thursday’s second day on the back of a record last-wicket stand against England of 111 between Bhuvneshwar Kumar (58) and last man Shami (51 not out).
Both batsmen scored maiden fifties at this level as they exceeded their previous Test-best innings of 39 (Kumar) and 11 (Shami) respectively. Shami then made it 25 innings for Cook since the last of his England record 25 Test hundreds when he bowled him round his legs for five after the ball deflected off the left-handed opener’s thigh pad. Cook’s exit left England nine for one, with both Kumar and Shami, who took one for 15 in five overs, finding a degree of swing with the new ball that largely eluded the home pacemen.
However, Sam Robson (20 not out) and Gary Ballance (15 not out) saw England to 43 for one at stumps. England had looked like dismissing India for under 400, which would have been a decent effort on such a sluggish surface when the tourists slumped to 346 for nine after several self-inflicted wound. But for the second time in as many Tests at Trent Bridge, England found themselves on the receiving end of a huge last-wicket stand after Australia’s Phil Hughes and Ashton Agar put on a world record 163 last year, in a match Cook’s side won nonetheless.
England might have been expecting some runs from Kumar, who has a first-class hundred behind him. But the batting of Shami, who prior to this match had a Test average of 3.33, was something else.Their stand comfortably surpassed India’s previous highest tenth-wicket partnership against England of 73 shared by Anil Kumble and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth at The Oval in 2007. It also emphasised what a good toss it had been for India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to win and how tired England’s seamers had become after charging in on a ‘shirt-front’ pitch.
In the circumstances, Stuart Broad’s economical return of two for 53 in 33 overs on his Nottinghamshire home ground was especially creditable.Meanwhile new-ball partner James Anderson extended his own record for most Test wickets at Trent Bridge to 52 with three for 123 in 38 overs. But England’s lack of a specialist spinner, and the workload problems this could lead to in a five-match series crammed into six weeks, was emphasised by part-time off-break bowler Moeen Ali’s expensive return of one for 97 in 18 overs.
India resumed Thursday on 259 for four with opener Murali Vijay 122 not out and Dhoni unbeaten on 50. Given the conditions on another sunny day, England could ill-afford to spurn chances.But when Dhoni, still on his overnight score, edged a full-length Broad delivery, wicketkeeper Matt Prior, diving to his right, dropped the one-handed catch. Vijay’s near eight-hour innings eventually ended when he was lbw to Anderson, having faced 361 balls, including 25 fours and a six. He also put on 126 for the fifth wicket with Dhoni.
India were well-placed at 342 for five at lunch.But shortly afterwards they lost four wickets for two runs in 21 balls thanks to a mixture of poor shots allied to Dhoni’s needless run out for 82.But England, without a win in eight Tests, then ran into Kumar and Shami. Cook’s unusual field settings and the seamers’ efforts to ‘rough up’ the last-wicket pair came to nothing. Kumar completed a 133-ball fifty with a single off Anderson.
And the very next ball saw Shami reach the landmark in style with a straight six off the England spearhead, having faced just 73 balls including six fours.Shami eventually chipped Ali to mid-on but the damage to England had long since been done.
India 1st Innings (overnight: 259-4)
Murtali Vijay lbw b Anderson 146
Shikhar Dhawan c Prior b Anderson 12
Cheteshwar Pujara c Bell b Anderson 38
Virat Kohli c Bell b Broad 1
Ajinkya Rahane c Cook b Plunkett 32
Mahendra Singh Dhoni run out (Anderson) 82
Ravindra Jadeja c Prior b Stokes 25
Stuart Binny c Root b Stokes 1
Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Root b Ali 58
Ishant Sharma b Broad 1
Mohammed Shami not out 51
Extras: (B-1, LB-8, W-1) 10
Total: (all out in 161 overs) 457
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-106, 3-107, 4-178, 5-304, 6-344,
7-345, 8-345, 9-346, 10-457.
Bowling: Anderson 38-10-123-3, Broad 33-13-53-2, Stokes
34-6-81-2, Plunkett 37-8-88-1, Ali 18-0-97-1, Root 1-0-6-0.
England 1st Innings:
Alastair Cook b Shami 5
Sam Robson not out 20
Gary Ballance not out 15
Extras: (W-1, NB-2) 3
Total: (for 1 wkt in 17 overs) 43
Fall of wickets: 1-9
Bowling: Kumar 4-0-12-0, Shami 5-1-15-1, Ishant Sharma
5-1-12-0, Jadeja 2-1-3-0, Binny 1-0-1-0.
Story so far:
Murali Vijay’s maiden overseas Test hundred took India to 259 for four at stumps on a grinding first day of a five-match series with England at Trent Bridge on Wednesday. Vijay was 122 not out after batting through the whole day, with India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni unbeaten on 50 exactly. Together the pair had put on an unbroken 81 for the fifth wicket.
India, after Dhoni won the toss on a sunny day, overcame the early loss of Shikhar Dhawan to be 106 for one at lunch on a placid pitch.But England then took two wickets for one run to reduce India to 107 for three and the run-rate slowed significantly with Stuart Broad (one for 26 in 19 overs) particularly miserly on his Nottinghamshire home ground.
Vijay was into his stride right from the first over, which saw him strike England spearhead James Anderson for three fours in as many balls.
But Anderson, who has taken more Test wickets at Trent Bridge than any other bowler, did claim his 50th scalp on the ground when he found Dhawan’s outside edge and wicketkeeper Matt Prior, passed fit after a minor thigh injury, took an excellent diving left-handed catch in front of England captain Alastair Cook at first slip.
Such was Vijay’s touch, his first fifty featured 44 runs in boundaries. But Anderson and new-ball partner Broad eventually checked India’s progress.
Cheteshwar Pujara fell for his lunch score of 38 to a well-set trap when he chipped an Anderson delivery that ‘stopped’ to the rarely deployed position of silly mid-on, where Ian Bell took a superb one-handed catch diving full-stretch to his right. Pujara’s dismissal was also a tactical triumph for Cook, much criticised for his tactics during England’s recent run of eight Tests without a win.
Rising star Virat Kohli, on one, then carelessly opened the face against Broad and guided the ball low to Bell, now at second slip. England, gaining a measure of reverse swing, restricted India to a mere 18 runs in the first 14 overs after lunch. But with Cook unwilling to deploy part-time off-spinner Moeen Ali, Vijay made the most of any opportunities he was given by England’s seam quartet and late cut recalled all-rounder Ben Stokes for two fours.
At tea, India were 177 for three, with Vijay 92 not out and Ajinkya Rahane 32 not out. But Rahane, as happened to Pujara, failed to add to his interval score when he was dismissed in the first over after tea thanks to another smart ploy from Cook. Rahane, unsettled by an earlier short ball, tried to pull Liam Plunkett but only made contact with the toe of the bat, the ball deflecting to Cook, who grabbed the catch at silly point – not an obvious position for a fast bowler such as Plunkett.
Vijay spent 13 balls on 99 before a scampered single off Anderson saw the 30-year-old to his fourth hundred in 23 Tests and first outside India in more than four-and-a-half hours at the crease. His first fifty had taken just 68 balls, his second 146.
Vijay, however, raised a stand of fifty by advancing down the pitch to drive Ali for six over long-off, while Dhoni upped the tempo with a 64-ball fifty of his own. Vijay had made 110 when Plunkett appealed for lbw.
But England, with the Decision Review System not in use this series because of Indian objections, had to accept Australian umpire Bruce Oxenford’s not out decision, which replays suggested would still have stood even under DRS.
