England vs India at Dharmasala: Daniel Byrne’s Ringside Account onDay One-by Michael Roberts
Source:Thuppahis
Daniel Byrne ….
England collapse once more after a positive start as the Indian spinners take the batsmen to the cleaners. Day One in Dharmasala.
Pope stumped …. Rohit on song
We decided not to visit Nick’s Kitchen in the end and headed straight to the cricket stadium at 7.45 am. It was just as well as entry into the ground was an absolute nightmare. There were two “Gate” numbers on the tickets which didn’t help matters and by the time we realised “ME3 Gate” stood for Main Entrance 3, we had already wasted 45 minutes looking for Gate 7 which turned out to be a further “inner” gate for more security checks once you had survived the first assault on your patience. There were around 300 people in front of me when I eventually joined the queue for ME3. Only 50 people managed to gain entry between 8.30 and 8.50. It was absolutely pathetic. Fortunately, a few officials turned up at around 9.15 and the process quickened slightly. I still had my hand sanitiser taken from me and there was a large table with all sorts of items that had been confiscated from the people already admitted.
I missed the first two overs, but the people at the back of the queue were going to miss a lot more than that. There was one guy clipping tickets and seven searching for sunscreen, coins, and paper clips. There was a further group of searchers by Gate 7 in case you had managed to get an Allen Key beyond the initial team. The two guys in front of me were getting patted down all over again allowing me the opportunity to swerve behind them unnoticed. Having spent at least an hour getting into the stadium it was only 5 – 10 % full. A beautiful stadium, a serene setting all shot to pieces by a bunch of obnoxious officious numpties.
I eventually sat at third man with Siraj bowling from the Northern End. England had won the toss and elected to bat. Bumrah had replaced Akash Deep and a young man called Devdutt Padikkal was making his debut at the expense of Rajat Patidar. The seats were incredibly clean as indeed they should be, jet washed regularly by the torrential storms. We were close to the action and the temperature was delightfully warm. Fleeces and jumpers were immediately dispensed with as England made a bright start with Crawley in particular looking to dominate. Bumrah and Siraj were beating the bat and Bumrah was getting the ball to swing so much that when Crawley attempted to hit it to mid-wicket it sailed over the fielder at mid-off. Crawley survived a close lbw shout in the 12th over when umpire Wilson gave him not out and the ball was shown to be clipping the top of leg stump as “umpire’s call” when the Indians reviewed. 13 overs were bowled in the first hour and England had reached 47 – 0 with the supposedly “sold out” ground still less than 15% full.
Despite the embarrassing ineptitude shown by the authorities at the entrance gates, there were some notable improvements when comparing the facilities with Ranchi and Hyderabad. Breakfast was delivered to your seat in the form of Channa Kulcha, flat breads with chickpea and potato curry for 150 rupees. Spicy sweet corn and popcorn were also available as was tea, but unfortunately the chai wallah wanted 100 rupees for a tiny paper cup and was politely told to foxtrot oscar by most of his potential customers. The scoreboard on the east side of the ground was still in the construction stage and the replay screens were just as poor as the other grounds.
Ashwin replaced Bumrah after a 7 over spell that conceded 24 runs. The 50 partnership was completed from 14.2 overs with Duckett playing the first unconventional shot of the innings, a reverse scoop to the boundary. Kuldeep replaced Siraj at the North End and Duckett hit two boundaries from the first five deliveries. He tried to hit the sixth over mid-on and skied the ball off a leading edge to Gill running back from the covers ( 64 – 1 ). Pope came in and scored more runs from his first delivery than he managed in the entire Test in Ranchi. India wasted a review on an lbw shout against Crawley off the bowling of Kuldeep.
Crawley completed his half century from 64 balls with a straight drive to Kuldeep. Just before the interval he came down the wicket and hit Ashwin for the first six of the match. Unfortunately for England Pope tried to do something similar and was deceived by a googly from Kuldeep only to be stumped in the last over before lunch which was taken with the score 100 – 2 from 25.3 overs. It was an excellent effort by England, but frustrating nevertheless when both wickets were given away unnecessarily. There was an excellent choice of food at lunch time with Channa Batura and Pizza available under the stand and tasty vegetable samosas brought to your seating area in little cardboard cake boxes. Filtered water was available free from large containers near the food outlets. The toilets were the cleanest seen since the permanently closed facilities in Hyderabad and I was pleased to note the availability of lots of soap having had the hand sanitiser confiscated at the entrance.
Bumrah bowled a five over spell after lunch trying to send down yorker’s while varying his pace and generally giving Root and Crawley plenty to think about. A few more people had gained entry during the break and the stadium was now possibly a fifth full. Jadeja bowled for the first time in the 37th over and Crawley was close to being caught and bowled to his first delivery, the ball hit so hard it was barely a chance at all. Crawley was on 78 at the time, but it didn’t really matter for the Indians as he was clean bowled in Kuldeep’s next over ( 137 – 3 ), the ball appearing to turn sharply for the left arm leg spinner. Bairstow made a positive start hitting Kuldeep for a straight six. He was dropped when on 21 to another very difficult caught and bowled chance to Jadeja. He then played a slog / sweep into my Stand for a six off Kuldeep, his score having raced to 29 from only 17 balls. The next ball produced a huge appeal from India and Bairstow was given out caught behind by Joel Wilson. Bairstow immediately called for a review and the ball was shown to have scraped the edge of the bat ( 175 – 4 ).
In the next over Root was lbw to Jadeja playing back in front of his stumps. The ball appeared to be turning quite significantly for Day One and the pitch was brown and dusty, a condition not expected at all after all the recent rain in the Dharmasala region. Stokes was the next to go beaten by another Kuldeep googly and clearly lbw ( 175 – 6 ). Three wickets had fallen in 12 balls without a run being scored. Ashwin replaced Kuldeep despite him taking his fifth wicket in the previous over. It was a smart move by Rohit Sharma as Hartley hit the ball straight to Padikkal at deep long-on ( 183 – 7 ). Wood was caught at slip to his second delivery ( 183 – 8 ) and the wheels had well and truly fallen off the England innings. 5 wickets were lost in the space of 7 overs for the addition of 8 runs.
Bashir was nearly caught at short leg pushing forward. He was then dropped by wicket-keeper Jurel off Jadeja. Foakes and Bashir survived until Tea was taken with the score 194 – 8 from 55 overs. Foakes returned after Tea clearly having been told to play some shots. 12 runs came from Ashwin’s over and a further 12 were conceded by Bumrah in the next. Foakes was then bowled by Ashwin getting into a tangle attempting to play a sweep shot ( 218 – 9 ). Anderson hit his third ball straight to Padikkal at mid-wicket and England was all out for 218 from 57.4 overs. All the first innings wickets had fallen to spinners. Kuldeep had figures of 5 – 72, Ashwin 4 – 51 and Jadeja 1 – 17.
Tea was taken between innings and there were 30 overs remaining in the day. The Indians started as positively as their fans had hoped for. Rohit pulled Wood for a six in the fourth over and followed up with a boundary behind backward point. The ball was changed after only 5.4 overs. Rohit was given out caught down the leg side in the middle of Anderson’s fourth over but was reprieved on review when Joel Wilson was proven to be incorrect for the first time in the match. Hartley replaced Wood after a disappointing 3 over spell had leaked 21 runs. Anderson by contrast had bowled 4 overs for 4 runs.
When Jaiswal scored his first run of the innings, he overtook Kohli’s record for the most runs scored by an individual batsman in a Series against England. Bashir was brought on for Anderson and his third ball was hit over long-off for a six. The fifth ball was hit high over extra cover and the final ball sailed into the crowd over long-on. A few more spectators had entered the ground which was probably a quarter full at this stage. England lost a review when Foakes was convinced Rohit edged a delivery from Hartley and umpire Tucker correctly disagreed. The 50 partnership came up from 11.4 overs. Rohit pulled a short ball from Hartley over the mid-wicket fence for the fifth six of the innings. A bad day for England was rapidly getting a lot worse.
Jaiswal caught up with Rohit, both batsmen on 47 when the score was 94 – 0. Jaiswal was the first to a half century from 56 balls. Bashir was getting hit to all parts of the ground, but he stuck to his task and was rewarded with a wicket when Jaiswal charged down the track once more, missed the ball and was stumped ( 104 – 1 ). Rohit eventually completed his half century from 77 balls and Gill helped himself to a couple of sixes off Bashir and Hartley once he had played himself in. At the close of play India had reached 135 – 1 from 30 overs scoring at 4.5 an over. It’s a strange game cricket. At lunch things looked good for England despite Pope being out to the final delivery. The next two sessions were total disasters. It’s hard to remember a game swinging so quickly to the other side after a positive first session. It’s going to be a long uphill climb from here onwards, just as it was for most of the spectators at the close of play while looking forlornly for an empty taxi.
