So far, the Investec Test Series had been free from the infamous English rain, but that changed yesterday as much of the second day’s play of the Old Trafford Test was lost as Manchester was lashed with a persistent drizzle. While the ground staff did their best with the super mopper and other assorted equipment, not much could have been done to salvage a day in which less than 40 overs had been bowled.
England began the day only 39 runs behind and with 7 wickets in hand. Night-watchman Chris Jordan showed his genuine skills with the bat, pulling a Pankaj Singh bouncer for a smashing four. But he wasn’t to last long as his next pull shot off a Bhuvneshwar Kumar bouncer was caught smartly by Varun Aaron at midwicket. Ian Bell didn’t last much longer after getting his fifty, as he was caught behind off a lovely outswinger by Kumar.
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That brought Moeen Ali in to the crease and Moeen has been known to have a problem with the fast rising delivery. Not one to miss a cue, India’s new fast bowler Varun Aaron subjected him to a barrage of really quick bouncers which had Moeen struggling. And just then, Aaron slipped in a fast full pitched delivery that rushed through Moeen’s defenses and crashed into the stumps. This was Aaron’s third wicket in only his first match of the series and his sensational performance so far shows exactly what a big mistake it was on the part of the Indian management – captain MS Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher – to have ignored him for so long and to have picked mediocre bowlers such as Mohammad Shami and Pankaj Singh over him.
Pace is a valuable part of a fast bowler’s armory, and Aaron has plenty of it. It’s just sad that he has been picked so late into the series, as there is no doubt that he would have been highly effective for India had he been played from the start of the tour. But not everything is lost, and hopefully the Indian team will still turn things around.
With 6 wickets gone, Joe Root was joined by Jos Buttler. Buttler kept his aggressive instincts in check and played quite sensibly was root was as solid as ever. The two young batsmen had no trouble against any Indian bowler apart from Aaron, and played well, milking their runs. By the time rain stopped play, Root was just 2 short of his half century and Buttler had been giving him great support on 22, as they had put up an unbeaten 67 run partnership, taking England to a decent 237 for 6, with a comfortable lead of 85, going into the third day’s play.
There isn’t much good news on the weather front as heavy rainfall seems to have landed on Wales, which is just a short distance from Manchester, and so it is very likely that even the third day’s play will be highly curtailed by poor weather conditions. But with India getting such a low score in their first innings, a result in this Test seems very likely, in spite of rain, and only England look the likely winners, unless the Indian team does something miraculous.
