By Ian Botham
People talk about the popularity one-day and the Twenty20 format, but nothing beats the excitement of Test cricket.
We had another fantastic day of Test cricket on Sunday. Building partnerships is the key to winning Test matches and Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen did exactly that.
The solid foundation by the two senior most batsmen backed up with some brilliant bowling has put England in a winning position.
Cook is a run machine and has led from the front. He likes to go on and on; and it’s wonderful to see how he has applied himself.
Pietersen’s innings was what England needed.
It’s very crucial to get on top of the bowlers and accelerate because once you give the Indian spinners a bit of breathing space in these conditions they will get dangerous. Pietersen’s innings was complete dominance and highly entertaining.
As soon as their partnership was broken, the Indian spinners got on top and the other English batsmen found it difficult to get going.
It was the same case with the Indian batsmen. Many will raise fingers on the way the Indian batsmen applied themselves, but I think the credit here goes to the England spinners, who were outstanding.
Monty Panesar bowled splendidly. He has understood the wicket and has taken it to his advantage.
Monty bowled quicker which helped him to extract extra bounce off the surface and he once again ended with picking up the most vital wickets.
In the past the Wankhede track has produced some exciting finishes, but I really don’t expect something unusual on Monday.
Practically, India are 31 for seven and I think the game will be wrapped up quickly in the morning. The first session in general has produced more wickets and I expect that on the fourth morning as well.
I see England levelling the series 1-1.
