Published: Dec 08, 2016, 07:08 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 08, 2016, 07:08 PM (IST)
It is not often that you make your Test debut, score a century, and still manage to put off a cricketing great. Yes, this happened on Thursday when one of the greatest all-rounders, Jacques Kallis rued the fact that another talent from South Africa had drained England’s way. Keaton Jennings began his Test career with a century, and thus became the only bright spot for England on a day when they intended to do a lot better, but could not live up to their own expectations. On Day One, England won the toss, Jennings scored a century, and the rest once again produced an ordinary show with the bat. Jennings contributed 112 in England’s 288, which tells the tale of another ordinary display.
For most part of the first day, it appeared that England have landed in a strong position in this Test. Trailing 0-2 in this series, England still have an outside chance to return home without losing this Test series if they win the remaining two games. But for that, they have a lot of hard work left to do. And England looked like doing exactly that when they were 200 for 2 at one stage, but Ravichandran Ashwin pegged them back with quick wickets and the tourists trudged to 288 for 5 at the end of play on the first day. Let us take a look at the highlights:
England win toss: Yes, with England involved it becomes a ‘highlight’. ‘Win toss, win Test’ has been England’s mantra and they had something to smile about early on. It is not yet clear if there were any deafening cheer at Wankhede on Thursday morning when Alastair Cook won the toss and decided to bat, but England made a terrific start to help their cause. Cook and Jennings had a close shave each, but they ensured to add a lot of runs early on to keep the Indians at bay. Indians deployed Ashwin in the eighth over itself, but had no success till Cook did something unusual and gifted his wicket to Ravindra Jadeja, in his first over, close to the lunch break.
Fidgety Alastair Cook: It seems like Cook, of late, is far more comfortable doing everything but batting. He is assertive on the field as captain, wily with his words in media, and progressive when in the dressing room planning for the team and its future. All this has put his batting on the backseat, and Cook, these days, for unexplained reasons, dances down the tracks in the first session of first day in a Test looking for quick runs. Would you believe that?
Why he does that, only Cook can tell. But then, aggressive run-making has never been his forte and it remained the case on Thursday, when Cook put all athleticism that he has got to get back in the crease after missing a Jadeja delivery. Parthiv Patel was ordinary behind the wickets today, but this was in the first session when India’s desperation for a breakthrough had begun shooting through the roof.
Keaton Jennings’ century: The freshest import from South Africa in the national side, the winner of County Championship player of the year by the Cricket Writers’ Club, the highest-run getter in County Championship 2016-17, the son of former South Africa and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) coach Ray Jennings. All these were associated with Keaton Jennings before he walked into the fourth Test to replace Haseeb Hameed in the England camp.
But on the first day, Jennings added his name in a club so exclusive that so far had only two members. Bryan Valentine in 1933 and Cook in 2006 were the only two Englishmen with debut tons in Tests versus India, and Jennings became the third cricketer ever to achieve this feat.
He batted extremely well to score 112 off England’s day total of 288 for5. He started off nervously, got a lifeline, and pounced on it like any good player would. Jennings’ innings got over at 112 off 219 balls with 13 boundaries, in the final session when England suffered a collapse.
Ravichandran Ashwin clips England’s wings: The first ball of the final session was a rare lose delivery by Ravindra Jadeja, and Moeen brought up England’s 200 with a four. But, by the time the session got over, England were staring at yet another sheet showing middle-order collapse.
Moeen remained disciplined till he reached 50, and right after that he played an irresponsible stroke which provided India the opening which they kept looking for throughout the day. Jennings was dismissed soon and after a brief resistance, Jonathan Bairstow fell for cheap too.
Ravichandran Ashwin surpasses Javagal Srinath: There is nothing that can keep Ashwin away from limelight, and on Thursday, with a four-for on Day One, he added another feather to his cap. Ashwin surpassed Javagal Srinath to become the seventh highest wicket-taking bowler for India in Test cricket. Ashwin is now only four wickets away from Bhagwat Chandrasekhar in the all-time list.
Paul Reiffel rushed to hospital: Bhuvneshwar Kumar only wanted to lob the ball to the fielder at short leg, but he mistakenly threw it in the direction of umpire Paul Reiffel. The fielder did not intimate the umpire, and soon Reiffel was on the ground writhing in pain after being hit on the back of the head. England physio rushed to the field, and Reiffel left the field for a nearby hospital. He was replaced by Marais Erasmus, and CT Scan showed everything was alright.
At the end, it was hearting to see an Englishman coming to the rescue of an Australian. Of late, all they have done is poke fun at each other.
A special cheerleader: Admit it, this kid makes us proud. After getting a place inserted in his hand in England, Haseeb Hameed returned to India to root for his team and was spotted sitting in the stands like any other cricket fan, cheering for his team. An injury followed by operation might have ruled Hameed out of the field, but not far away from it. Hameed won hearts when he was seen giving standing ovation to the man who replaced him and did what he could not — score a century first-up.
(Devarchit Varma is a senior writer with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)
