Indian tail wags ... Bhuvaneswar Kumar and Shami make 50s... have 100 partnership

It was as much an Indian wicket at Trent Bridge and Indians should be feeling too happy…. Criticisms of it being a Corporate decision arose soon …. and Nottinghamshire’s Head Groundsman Steve Birks had to give some explanation in the first  Investec Test… considering how badly India played in England in 2011 – and how Indian generally play their first Test generally  on tours – much was on the wall….. 

To those with faint memory-  here is some recap of our drubbing last tour …. But before that the Fall of wickets read : -

1-33 (Dhawan, 6.6 ov), 2-106 (Pujara, 31.2 ov), 3-107 (Kohli, 32.5 ov), 4-178 (Rahane, 59.6 ov), 5-304 (Vijay, 111.6 ov), 6-344 (Jadeja, 119.3 ov), 7-345 (Dhoni, 121.1 ov), 8-345 (Binny, 121.4 ov), 9-346 (Sharma, 122.5 ov), …. How poor – from a formidable 344-5 … the team slipped to 346/9 – not capitalising on the good century by Murali Vijay … thoughts wandered to 1970s era – when Prasanna, Bedi, Chandrasekhar together would not add ten runs ! – one also thought of the Kanpur Test against New Zealand in 1976

In the 1st Test – England won by 196 runs.  Needing  458 to win, India crashed to 261 all out on the fifth day with paceman James Anderson taking five wickets.  The Second test margin was 319.  India made 288 & 158.  Third was worser still as it was hammering by  an innings and 242 runs margin.  4th was an Innings win too ….   It is here in the first innings that India made 300 – in the 2nd Sachin 91 and a glorious Innings by Amit Mishra notwithstanding, India still could not make 300.

The 1st Investec Test is at Trent Brige.  Nottinghamshire  is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering  Yorkshire and Derbyshire.  Trent Bridge staged its first Test in 1899 and is a regular, and popular, fixture on the international circuit. I   Indians and county cricket aren't commonly spoke about in the same sentence. Even rarer are Indians playing for Nottinghamshire. During their century and a half since being founded, Notts have only had one Indian grace the Trent Bridge turf – Dilip Doshi. Far away from a household name in 1973 when he first played for Notts, the slow left armer was soon the player everyone was talking about. Dilip Doshi took many wickets for the county before eventually earning a National cap at age 32.

Bhuvi and Shami

At 346, none expected India to last long and at end of over 157 – Shami and Bhuvi were still at the crease – both having made 50.  Shami celebrated it with a six of Anderson to bring about century partnership  - and eventually when Bhuvaneshkumar got out, Indians breathed easy at 457  and celebrating the cheap dismissal of Cook. 

Trentbridge would also bring memories of Kapil Dev – having Hirwani as partner – 24 to save follow on – hitting 4 consecutive sixers off Eddie Hemmings in 1990.  – in Test No. 786 at Green Park, Kanpur, which I remember hearing radio commentary and perhaps seeing on DD too. …  when Venkatraghavan got out  - India waited for sometime – Bishan Bedi got his 50 and then declared when Chandra got 10 ! ….. and 524 was a huge score (those days) …. More interestingly all 11 Indian players had reached double figures..

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

10^th July 2014.

Photos and news courtesy : trentbridge.co.uk