Seamers, Strauss put England on top
Birmingham: Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni marked his return to form with a blistering counterattack before India were bundled out for 224 in their first innings to give England an early control in the third cricket Test here on Wednesday.
Put into bat, India were precariously placed at 111 for seven before Dhoni (77) produced a stunning array of strokeplay to give some respectibilty to the Indian total.
Dhoni, who has been struggling with form right through the series, found an able ally in Praveen Kumar (26) as they put on 84 runs for the eighth wicket on a Edgbaston track which seemed to have no demons after the first hour’s play.
In reply, England openers Andrew Strauss (51) and Alistair Cook (26) helped the hosts to reach 84 for no loss at close on the opening day, trailing India by 140 runs in their first innings.
Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad were the cheif wreckers for England as they claimed four wickets each.
India had themselves to blame for the shocking collapse as most of the batsman perished to either poor shot selections or horrendous strokes. Only Rahul Dravid was dismissed by a gem of a delivery by Besnan. Earlier, returning to action after missing the first two Tests, opener Virender Sehwag couldn’t make any impact as India’s famed batting lineup fall like a house of cards to be reduced to 100 for six in 34.4 overs.
India’s top-order floundered once again in the face of some hostile pace bowling as openers Gautam Gambhir (38) and Virender Sehwag (0) as well as Sachin Tendulkar (1) and Rahul Dravid (22) were sent packing in the pre-lunch session.
The visitors fate didn’t change much after lunch as India lost the wickets of Suresh Raina (2), VVS Laxman (30) and Amit Mishra (4) in no time and if it had not been for Dhoni, things could have been more embarrasing for India.
Dhoni took 16 balls to get off the mark — through a pre-determined push to covers off Bresnan — but then took the attack to the opposition camp on an increasingly slow Edgbaston pitch.
The skipper straight drove and pulled James Anderson for fours and then played Stuart Broad off the backfoot before pulling him for a four.In his groove, Dhoni smote Anderson over mid-on for six and then lifted Tim Bresnan over midwicket for another maximum. He reached his half century when he off-drove Graeme Swann, introduced into the attack in the 47th over, having faced 63 balls. He hit seven fours and two sixes. Kumar, at the other end, was an ideal foil to his skipper.
England finally made a breakthrough when Bresnan dug in a short delivery and a reflex pull from Kumar only resulted in an edge to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.
Ishant Sharma (4) next joined Dhoni and the duo added 29 for the ninth wicket before Dhoni edged an extravagant hit into the hands of lone slip fielder.
Ishant was brilliantly caught at silly point by Cook to bring the innings to an end. When England batted both Strauss and Cook registered their highest scores and put on the biggest opening stand yet for England of the series.
Strauss took 14 balls to get off the mark and there was another spell when he was scoreless for 20 balls. But in between, he reeled off some delightful strokes off the front and backfoot and there were commanding pulls to boot during his knock.
Cook, after initial unease against Praveen Kumar, played an ideal foil to make it an out-and-out England day at Edgbaston. (PTI)