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A Feature by Syed Ahsan Ali (Link to First Test Scorecard)

Few days back just prior to the Lord’s Test in my column “It is the Indian batting than their bowling” for this website, I wrote that the Indian batting is more brittle than the Indian bowling. I wrote that with the hope that they will prove it wrong especially after looking somewhat not-so-experienced bowling resources of the English team. But at Lord’s, the same old story of presenting the initiative by the bowlers thrown away by the batsmen repeated itself.

It was definitely tough batting under the overcast conditions, but when England were reduced to 298 on the second day, the revered Indian batting should have done a better job with their bowlers’ travails of dismissing England from the position of strength after their first day score of 268 for 4 to 298 all out.

If there were any concerns before the start of First Test match, then it had to be with the England team. Media of hosts were unequivocally putting up set of worries which comprised of their young bowling unit and insipid KP after his cherished moments against West Indies in Test series. Both of these areas looked dicey and both were crucial for England success. On the contrary, the Indian media were upbeat mainly due to the helpful weather conditions for their medium pacers and secondly due to their start-studded batting line-up. Three biggest batsmen of Indian cricket in last ten years were keen to grant a long awaited abroad victory to the country, but more assured side seemed all set to become less assured side for the second Test of the series.

The track wasn’t a problem at all; it was the weather that was making the ball talk in the air. This weather factor always kept the bowlers in the game but if there was any side which could have handled the situation better then it had to be India with all their experience, knowledge and runs in international cricket. But in spite of that they made a hash of those manageable 298 runs. Indian fans including me would have been more than happy when Flintoff got ruled out because of his surgery, Harmison news made it even more hopeful for India and when Hoggard’s absence fell on our ears, we went cock-a-hoop and all those coincidences gave hopes of an Indian summer waiting in the hut.

Rahul Dravid’s team had thrown away a very good chance of grabbing a sterling victory in the absence of some stars from the host side, but now Indians have to pull up their socks especially their batsmen to make an impact on the tour with some blazing stroke play and big hundreds because I believe that it is their batting that needs to screw up few bolts which if they do correctly than Indian can rewrite the history this summer.

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