England Bazballed as Indian spin exposes gulf in class
Stokes’ young attack thrashed around by aggressive Jaiswal Tourists reach 246 after two collapses despite captain’s 70
The success of this tour was always going to be less about how Bazball fared on turning pitches and more about how England’s spinners compete with their Indian counterparts.
After one day it does not look good. England are in deep trouble with their young spinners thrashed around, India giving the Bazballers a taste of what is like to be whacked and Ben Stokes out of reviews with nine wickets to take.
At least the school kids bussed in for the game, who swelled the crowd to over 21,000, went home knowing that the Indian Premier League is not the only show in cricket, for this was entertaining, hard-fought action.
England ranked their total as over par, but that was positivity rather than reality talking. Yes, they found a way to scrap to 246, which was a vast improvement on 155 for seven and they inflicted the most expensive innings economy rate of his career on Ravindra Jadeja, but it fell short of making this India lineup worry.
That it might have been better with more time on Indian pitches than a couple of days of nets in Hyderabad is a notion the management would never agree with, but at least two of the top four – Ollie Pope and Joe Root – looked short of touch.
Two collapses, from 55 for nought to 60 for three in 21 balls and 121 for three to 155 for seven, cost England the chance of a commanding total. You also sense India will not make the same mistake again with the new ball, having gifted Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley so many runs off seam before turning to spinners, because it was a different game when they bowled.
Thanks to Stokes’s intelligent 70, as he cruised back to Test cricket after surgery with no hint of trouble from his knee, England gave themselves a sniff. They lived by their ideals too, looking to be positive and had their moments against Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja, but it soon became apparent when they bowled that they need to make over-par totals to compete because their spinners are so outclassed.
Soon it was India schooling England on fast scoring as they closed on 119 for one at 5.1 an over with opener Yashasvi Jaiswal 76 from 70. As England left the field there were backslaps from Stokes for all his bowlers but this was painful to watch, especially Tom Hartley.
With just 20 first-class games to his name he became the first England spinner to open the bowling on debut since 1921 and it did not start well. His first ball was slapped for six by Jaiswal and he went at 11 an over from his first three overs.
He did beat the bat and threaten the edge, but there were too many poor deliveries and he soon learned that players of spin of this calibre can put away decent balls, too. Many other captains would have whipped him off but Stokes showed faith, bowling him almost to the close and burned two reviews as well, trying to will him a wicket.
By picking just one seamer in
Mark Wood, who is there to blast batsmen out, England lacked a bowler of dots. Jasprit Bumrah had shown there was something in the pitch for the seamers, and James Anderson’s off-cutters would have offered more than Rehan Ahmed’s wrist spin. Ahmed and Hartley went for 85 between them in 12 overs. The left-armers, Hartley and Jack Leach, bowled 18 overs to the lefthander Jaiswal and it was strange Root was not brought on at any stage.
Leach did provide some control in his first Test since May and took the only wicket, Rohit Sharma caught at mid-on, but there was no real threat and Ashwin admitted they had the better bowling conditions with the moisture in the pitch drying out and the surface slowing as the day wore on.
Wood hurried up Jaiswal with the new ball and England reviewed a glove down the leg side in the third over. A second DRS call was lost when Hartley beat Rohit’s outside edge and the last went on a legbefore to Shubman Gill that was marginal but, with only one appeal left, may have been wiser to hold on to.
It was an absolutely crucial toss for Stokes to win, given his attack. They had to bat first to give their spinners a chance in the final innings. Wood danced a jig of delight when Stokes called correctly.
Crawley and Duckett put on 50 in no time at all and it was rollicking stuff, the mind flicking back to the Ashes. But Duckett’s test was always going to be Ashwin, who dismissed him three out of three times on the last tour and was part of the reason for his six-year absence from Test cricket. He was unlucky this time, leg-before to an off-break that did not turn and was umpire’s call, the ball just clipping top of leg.
It sparked the first panic. Pope is a skittish starter although a modicum of sympathy is allowed because he was starting his first innings since the Lord’s Test and against Ashwin and Jadeja. England had put on 47 in seven overs of seam. Now they managed 103 in 41 overs of unbroken spin, losing six wickets.
Pope could have been out numerous times before he fell to slip. “It would send shivers down your spine batting at four or five or six,” said Kevin Pietersen on Talksport. Root was caught off a top edge sweeping, his go-to shot in Asia his downfall this time. Jonny Bairstow was in good touch for his 37 but was bowled by a fizzer from Axar Patel and it was down to Stokes to marshal the fightback.
It was classic Stokes. He took 53 balls to hit a four but then he was away, his fifty brought up after tea with a six off Jadeja despite seven fielders on the rope. The next ball sailed over the rope, too. Hartley supported with a spiky 23 off 24 and it took a pearler from Bumrah to bowl Stokes, who held his arms out as if to say “how do you play that”. Sadly for him, India’s batsmen were not making the same gesture.