Zaheer KhanZaheer dismissed both, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, on day one of the first India England Test at Lord’s
The high drama of the first day of the first Test of the India England series at Lord’s ended on a whimper as rain ended what could have a dramatic final session. Instead England withstood the early assault, particularly from Zaheer Khan, while Jonathan Trott made the most of the reprieves in the field as also with the unconfirmed injury to Zaheer Khan.
Under overcast conditions in the 2000th Test, the Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, had no hesitation in deciding to bowl first. However, it still meant that India had to rely on two men making their debut at Lord’s, Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma, to back up Zaheer Khan who is returning to the team post injury. To Zaheer’s credit, he proved once more to be more than an able leader with the ball until an unidentified injury, possibly a cramp of hamstring injury forced him off the field later towards what would eventually be the end of the day.
For England, it was a case of caution, negotiating the seam and pace that the Indian bowlers were extracting. Andrew Strauss, the England Test captain, was forced to quickly put the memory of Somerset behind him, trying to negotiate the tenacity of the Indian bowlers unaccustomed to the conditions at Lord’s and yet managing to tease and test the England batsmen ever so often. At the other end, Alastair Cook was doing his best to hold his end, the prolific season of the Ashes being forced to be shelved as time, not runs, seemed to be imperative.
Indeed runs were few forthcoming. However, the intriguing battle between bat and ball, particularly with Zaheer Khan in charge of the ball, meant that Test cricket was at its most tense and most absorbing. Eventually Zaheer struck and Cook was dismissed lbw without the benefit of the UDRS for lbw decisions although it was highly unlikely that that would have helped Cook anyway. Strauss will regret the decision to take on the one man who has been touted as his nemesis and with good reason. That is because following the dismissal of Cook, who has been England’s mainstay during the Ashes, the onus was upon Strauss to ensure that England minimized their misfortunes for the first day’s play so as not to let India get the better of the conditions to gain the early upper hand.
The Indians did help with their benevolence, Strauss himself benefitting when Ishant Sharma missed an opportunity to run him out. Jonathan Trott went silently about his business and although one would say, luck had a role to play, it would be fairer to say Trott essentially made his own luck, not dithering or overtly cautious but playing the ball on merit as the Indian bowlers appeared to have partially spent their energies through the early excitement of the day’s play. Strauss could have perhaps loosened up as well as play progressed but he did not give himself that chance, trying to take on Zaheer Khan in a moment of madness and ending up being an easy catch for Ishant Sharma waiting to pouch one on the boundary ropes.
Trott continued to torment the Indians albeit subtly because he released the pressure of run scoring which was the story of the early part of the day while the Indians in the field failed to grab a couple of opportunities in the field that could have set England further back than the two wickets they lost. Jonathan Trott was particularly lucky when Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rahul Dravid in first slip were guilty of looking to each other to grab what would have been an easy and worthy dismissal, with Zaheer picking up his third.
Instead the only thing Zaheer picked up for an injury that took him off the field without completing his over, leaving some concern amongst Indian fans. Kevin Pietersen could afford to keep scratching around with Trott going about in fine fashion to notch yet another half century, particularly favouring Lord’s once more. While Pietersen struggled and there were moments when Praveen Kumar was being closely observed by the umpire for running onto the danger zone, the skies darkened once more, forcing a tea break from which the players never returned to close out the day. England would feel decidedly better to have withstood the early tease to remain at two down for 127 for two
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