India's English Triumph

India came up with a strong performance to notch up a rare Test series win in England-the first since 1986, when Kapil Dev led India to a 2-nil victory against Gooch, Gower, Gatting and co, and only the third in fifteen visits to this country. Amidst all the disappointment at their recent performances, especially in the one-day format, it is heartening to observe that India have started winning Tests abroad with a fair bit of regularity. In 45 Tests played overseas since November 2000, India have notched up 17 wins. This figure will be put into proper perspective when you consider that in the period 1932 – 2000, India managed just 13 wins of the 156 Tests played.


Admittedly, England were a bit handicapped in the bowling department, with the trio responsible for their recent triumphs - Flintoff, Harmison and Hoggard - all missing due to injuries. But England were still tipped to overcome India in familiar conditions-their batting was back at full strength with Michael Vaughan’s return and India’s bowling attack was nothing to write home about. However, Vaughan’s warning to his team after their easy series win against the West Indies – that the Indians would be far tougher to beat- proved well founded.


Saved from defeat by the skin of their teeth in the first Test at Lords, India outplayed England to win the next at Trent Bridge and dominated the drawn third Test at The Oval.

After a typically jittery performance in the first Test, the batting finally came into its own in the next two Tests, running up huge first innings scores-without a single frontline batsman scoring a hundred. The crucial factor, of course, were the solid starts given by the openers Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthick. When the fabulous four get the cushion of such a start behind them, it is a different ball game altogether!

Dinesh Kaarthick continues to be a revelation, and has carved a nice little niche for himself in this Indian Team. It will be a brave selection committee who drop him in the near future, even in the event of a strong comeback by Sehwag. Though there is nothing much wrong with his technique, his main assets appear to be sheer guts and a positive attitude which lifts the entire team.


Sachin Tendulkar had a huge impact on what will probably be his last Test series in England, shoring up the middle order with solid, even if unspectacular, Test match batting. He was denied a hundred twice, one by an obvious umpiring error (incidentally, the series saw some very ordinary umpiring-from Steve Bucknor, Ian Howell and, of all people, Simon Taufel.), but his imposing presence helped the Indian middle order to ride any pressure exerted by the England bowlers.

Dravid, by his own lofty standards, had a disappointing series as a batsman, but VVS Laxman was his normal graceful and composed self. But, even though the scorecards may not indicate it, the most confident batsman on view was Saurav Ganguly. He looked refreshingly positive in his approach at the crease, getting behind the line with gusto and determination. He made his presence felt in almost every innings, figuring in crucial partnerships, and was responsible for negating, to a large extent, the threat of Monty Panesar.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni also had a good series with the bat, and was instrumental in prolonging the Indian second innings in the first Test till the rain ended England’s hopes of a victory. Had India lost there, the series would certainly have gone in a different direction. As things panned out, India made the most of winning two good tosses in the next two Tests – putting England in at Trent Bridge under overcast skies and batting first to run up a huge score at the Oval in excellent batting conditions.

Anil Kumble would not have foreseen, even in his dreams, that this series would provide him with a maiden Test hundred. But it has to be said that his bowling disappointed, overall. Most of his successes came against the tailenders, and contrary to expectations, he failed to make much of an impression in the fourth innings, on a fifth day pitch, when England were chasing a huge target in the final Test. Admittedly, the pitch was still good, but it must worry the team management that Kumble seems to have lost his ability to run through sides on a wearing pitch – it had been the same story in the final Test in South Africa, when the hosts achieved a challenging fourth innings target with a degree of comfort.

The man who won the series for India, however was Zaheer Khan. It has been a long time since an Indian bowler dominated an overseas series like he did. His left arm swing and seam bowling was vintage stuff, with superb variations in pace and length. His record 18 wickets in the series was the telling factor behind India’s success. The other Indian bowlers were able to bowl around Zaheer Khan. RP Singh was impressive -the two left armers were remarkably comfortable bowling around the wicket too, especially troubling Michael Vaughan with that line. The judiciously used bouncers were effective too.

Sreesanth was effective only in patches, largely due to his tendency to lose focus and concentrate on other aspects rather than his bowling. His theatrics –and shouldering of the English skipper- in the first Test earned him the wrath of all and sundry, including his team mates. It is high time he curbed his tendency to play to the gallery and concentrate on what he is good at- bowling line and length. At one stage in the second Test, he appeared to lose his run up and all his rhythm, looking like an ordinary club bowler. To his credit, he came back well to repay his captain’s faith in retaining him for the third Test. But he has to discipline himself and work much harder if he is to cement his place in the Indian team. Aggression is fine when used discreetly, but when it is allowed to disrupt your own rhythm, it simply backfires.

England’s star was undoubtedly Kevin Pietersen, who once again demonstrated his ability to adapt to the situation. When the Indian bowlers were on top, he was content to play the waiting game-and when the sting was lost from the attack, Pietersen effortlessly switched to top gear;two classy centuries were the result. Michael Vaughan also showed his silken class, Aliastair Cook was solid but Strauss, Bell and Collingwood were disappointing, performing only in patches.

But wicket-keeper Matt Prior was England’s real disaster in the series. Picked mainly for his supposedly batting superiority over Chris Read and a host of other much better wicket keepers in the county circuit, Prior’s only contribution was in mouthing off at the Indian batsmen. His lapses behind the stumps reached almost comical stages after a while, and cost England dear in the ultimate analysis.

Among the bowlers, James Anderson stood out . Sidebottom proved threatening when the ball was swinging but was otherwise played well by the Indians. Tremlett obtained sharp bounce and seam movement, but was generally erratic. Panesar, who was widely expected to exploit Tendulkar’s recent weakness against left arm spinners, was handled -generally with caution, occasionally with regal aggression-by the Indian batsmen.

Dravid’s decision not to enforce the follow on at the Oval invited a lot of criticism, but he can hardly be faulted for playing safe, with the series virtually under his belt. After all, it is no secret that the Indian bowling attack is not the fittest in the world-it could have been asking too much of them to bowl in two successive innings. The wicket was still playing true, and maybe, the Indian skipper had Eden Gardens 2001 at the back of his mind, when his epic partnership with Laxman made a mockery of Steve Waugh’s decision to enforce the follow on and won the match for India.

All the signs indicate that this Indian side is more comfortable without a professional coach, with the senior players pulling their weight and guiding the younger players. The genial manager, Chandu Borde, had enough experience under his belt to lend a reassuring hand. But the most telling contributions appeared to have come from Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh, the bowling and fielding coaches respectively. So, perhaps this is the way to go! The BCCI appear to have unwittingly hit upon the right formula, at least as long as the senior pros-Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman are around.