Murali Vijay scores an unbeaten hundred as India dominate
Murali Vijay could hardly believe his luck. For all the talk about green wickets in England that aid pace, bounce and movement, and about the Indian batsmen lacking the experience to battle the English conditions, Vijay found himself opening the batting for India on a Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire wicket that seemed to have been transported all the way from Chennai’s M.A. Chidambaram stadium. For the first Test match of the new summer series against England to have a track with no life in it, is almost unheard of. Particularly so as Trent Bridge is one of Jimmy Anderson’s favorite hunting grounds, on which he has already taken 50 Test match wickets. We are no longer sure that Anderson may have any feelings for Trent Bridge any longer by the end of the Test.
But that should not take away from Vijay’s excellent performance, as he held together the Indian innings with a well composed 122 and looks to extend his stay at the wicket tomorrow morning. Vijay is an unusual Indian batsman, in the sense that he seems to be born for the game of Test cricket, and seemingly has no interest in playing One Day Internationals or T20s at all. He is blessed with oodles of patience, and watching him leave ball after ball that was pitched outside the off stump, without attempting a single rash shot, never getting tempted even once, must have been disheartening for England’s quick bowling quartet.
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The day began with M.S.Dhone giving Stuart Binny his first chance to play Test cricket for India. Binny is a military medium pace who can bat a bit – a bits and pieces all-rounder, in the same mold as his father, Roger Binny, who played for India in the 1970s and 1980s. Binny will probably bat at 8 for India with Jadeja coming in at 7, giving the team a fairly solid batting line-up. England similarly went for Ben Stokes, an all-rounder who was one of the few English players to have done well in the disastrous Ashes tour of Australia, making a hundred at Perth.
As Dhoni won the toss and selected to bat, Jimmy Anderson as was expected of him, made the ball talk and had Shikar Dhawan fishing outside the off stump offering a simple catch to the diving Matt Prior. That brought India’s best Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara to the crease, and Pujara and Vijay established a solid batting partnership, taking India to lunch without any further loss.
But India suffered a double whammy soon after lunch, losing Pujara to a brilliant catch by Ian Bell at short mid wicket, which was quickly followed by Stuart Broad getting Virat Kohli out with a fast climbing bouncer to which he had no answer.
That brought Ajinkya Rahane to the crease, and in Rahane, Vijay found the solid batting partner that he was looking for. Rahane and Vijay blunted the English pace attack just when they were on a high after dismissing India’s two best batsmen in the space of just 10 balls. Rahane was finally out for 32 after Liam Plunkett’s spell of targeted bouncers finally fetched some reward. England’s fastest bowler, Plunkett, had tried hard till then with little to show, and resorted to bowling a string of bouncers aimed at the batsman’s ribcage from around-the-wicket.
But Rahane’s wicket was the last piece of success for England as Dhoni quickly got going with Vijay, helping Vijay to get to his hundred, and himself getting to a quick 50 off only 64 balls. The duo saw off nine overs of the new ball bowled by Anderson and Broad, and should look forward to really get going on the morning of the second day’s play.
England would be deeply worried about their bowling attack as Moeen Ali, their lone spinner has been utterly ineffective and Ben Stokes has looked a very average medium pacer. While Liam Plunkett has tried his hardest to impress, it has been only Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad who have looked capable of troubling the Indians. Both Anderson and Broad looked exhausted by the end of the day’s play, and one would be surprised if either manages to last through the series. A great day for India, and England’s prospects in this match and the rest of the series don’t really look too good if you are an English supporter.
