The hosts’ little victories in the last half-hour have proven to be a big deal in the Test series against England
Sidharth Monga05-Dec-2016One of the defining images of India’s last home series against England is from the last over of the second day of the Mumbai Test: Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen have forged a solid reply to what had initially seemed a match-winning 327 from India on a pitch that looked likely to turn square. England are 176 for 2, India are looking for a moment of inspiration to leave them feeling good about the next day’s play. They turn to Harbhajan Singh, who is looking to revive his Test career. He comes in for the last over, draws Cook’s edge off a short ball, but what have we got here? Virender Sehwag is upright at slip. The ball hits his boot, his hands are up around his waist. The moment is gone. Cook and Pietersen come back the next day to trample India’s challenge.Four years on, India have still been dropping catches at slip but in the dying moments of sessions they have been switched on.When a new batting pair arrests a collapse in the last half hour, or tired bowlers prise out a set batsman, their team usually grows a leg upon resumption. A lot of Test cricket is about physical and mental endurance, about concentrating when it is easy for the mind to wander, and, this time around, India have met these requirements for longer than their opponents in taking a 2-0 lead.Two prime examples of India outlasting England over a day’s play were seen on days one and two of the Mohali Test. On day one England had recovered from 92 for 4 at lunch, losing just two wickets over the next three and a half hours. Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes looked at ease going into the last half hour. If England could end the day six down, they would have done enough after winning the toss on a pitch likely to assist spin. India delayed taking the new ball, but rookie offspinner Jayant Yadav produced the inspiration they needed in the 84th over. First, a flat delivery took the outside edge as it ran across Bairstow from around the wicket. The next one drifted and dipped before turning in to trap him lbw.
India have shown the skill, the alertness and the resilience to keep coming back when it can be easy to start thinking of lunch, tea or that massage at the end of the day
The new ball was duly asked for. Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami, who had bowled 14 and 18 overs until then, bounded in for a final burst. Umesh kept beating Woakes’ outside edge, but also kept adjusting his line to move it closer to off stump until he pegged back the stump itself. A probable, respectable 280 for 6 turned into 268 for 8. Of course, Shami struck with his first ball next morning. England finished with 283.By the last hour on the second day, through one lucky break – Cheteshwar Pujara’s dismissal to a long hop – some sensational fielding, and disciplined bowling to Virat Kohli, England had willed themselves back into the contest. India had gone from 148 for 2 to 204 for 6; four more wickets for 50-odd runs could have proved disastrous for them, given they had to bat last on a dry surface. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, though, saw off the threat in that last hour. Jadeja, shepherded along by Ashwin, played his most restrained Test innings. England would have probably given an arm for two more wickets on the day, but they didn’t have enough left in them to bowl disconcertingly to the lower order – as India’s quicks would do to theirs in the second innings.Before that, in the Visakhapatnam Test, Jadeja broke through Cook’s stubborn 188-ball resistance with something special off what turned out to be the last ball of the fourth day. In England’s second innings in Mohali, Ashwin came back for the last over to dismiss Ben Stokes with an inspired review. That wicket was crucial as England went on to write off the deficit and ask India to chase over 100.Over the first three Tests of the series, not counting a team’s natural progression to being bowled out or the wickets lost when pushing for a declaration, India have taken 13 wickets in the last half-hour of sessions to England’s five. In a series in which England have lost 53 wickets to India’s 48, those last half-hours have proved to be the difference.For long India have had the reputation of being a side whose concentration and fitness wavers as sessions and days wear on. Here they have shown the skill, the alertness and the resilience to keep coming back when it can be easy to start thinking of lunch, tea or that massage at the end of the day.
