Joe Root and Moeen Ali combined to give England the best start they could have wished for, on a surface that will only get harder for batting
George Dobell in Rajkot09-Nov-20163:27
Ganguly: Root’s positivity against spin paid off
This was the day England needed.After the debacle in Dhaka, this was the day England needed to heal some wounds and settle some nerves. They haven’t just eased themselves into the series, they have given themselves a decent opportunity to start with a win.It takes nothing away from the England performance to acknowledge that they enjoyed several slices of fortune. Most crucially, they won a toss that may well prove to be disproportionately useful by the end of the game. They also benefited from some poor fielding – not least three dropped chances within the first 30 minutes – an umpiring call that could have gone the other way, and some injury trouble for Mohammed Shami.But little is easy in India. At present, the air is hard to breathe, the money hard to spend and the roads hard to navigate. And seizing the opportunity that fate presented required negating some fine bowling – the seamers were particularly impressive, though Shami’s attack of cramp perhaps hinted at a conditioning issue – and some skilful and intelligent play against the spinners.Joe Root was especially impressive. Hungry to prove himself in these conditions – this was his first century in Asia and only his third outside England and Wales – and aware of his side’s reliance upon him, he produced a wonderfully mature performance to help rescue them from a potentially perilous 102 for 3 at lunch. Had he fallen early, the scars of Dhaka may well have started to itch.Unlike his masterful double-century against Pakistan in Manchester, though, this was not an innings in which he avoided all risk. Determined to take the fight to the India spinners in particular, determined to unsettle them and knock them off their length, he used the crease in a manner of which Kumar Sangakkara would have been proud and, every so often, produced a sweep, too. Even Ravi Ashwin, the No. 1 rated bowler in Test cricket, was driven for successive fours at one stage as he struggled to find a length that would control Root, while a rattled Amit Mishra was trusted with only 10 overs.While Root allowed himself more freedom once he had reached his century – Ravi Jadeja was lofted for a straight six and Ashwin was reverse-swept for four – this was not an innings studded with boundaries. Indeed, there were only three fours in his second 50.But there was also only one maiden between lunch and tea. So proficient has Root become at manoeuvring the ball into gaps, at placement and pushes and turns and dabs, that he was able to score at nearly 70 runs per 100 balls without seeming to rush. It was the first Test century by an overseas batsman in India since Michael Clarke in 2013 (in other words, there have been 12 successive Tests without a visiting player making a century in India) and further evidence that, in Root, England have a gem.
‘By the end of day two, three and into day four, the game will speed up drastically in my opinion’
His approach was complemented by that of Moeen Ali. While Root used the crease, Moeen used his feet. Skipping down the pitch to the spinners, in defence and attack, he too refused to let the bowlers settle. He keeps them interested, for sure, but he also plays with beautifully soft hands and curbed his more aggressive instincts to ensure he made his good start pay. He resumes in the morning requiring one run for his third Test century in six months and his first away from home. Since May 20, he is averaging a fraction under 60 with the bat in Test cricket.”I just tried to be quite positive with my footwork,” Root said. “I tried to get right forward and right back, use my feet at times and – when it was available – use the sweep shot. I wanted to try and make it hard for them to settle on one line and length.”With a partner at the other end also playing quite freely, with the board ticking over all the time and a right- and left-hander, it was very difficult for them to build any pressure. That’s going to be really important for us to build on as a team. If we can continue to do that, it might be quite difficult for them to build that pressure in the first innings.”It might be slightly different second innings, when it starts to spin a bit more and variable bounce comes into it. But if we can start well first up and make big scores in the first innings, then that should give us a great opportunity when it comes to bowling as well.”It was very satisfying. I felt like I’d made starts but I’ve had a habit of getting out between 50 and 100. So to get big runs early on is really pleasing.”The most encouraging aspect of all this is that the pitch will, almost certainly, deteriorate. Already there is some uneven bounce off the cracks and patchy surface. Already there is some assistance, albeit gentle, for the spinners. It would be a surprise if there was not substantially more as the game develops. First-innings runs are likely to be far easier to score than second.Nor will England have been discouraged by the ball reverse-swinging for India’s seamers. Ahead of the game, Stuart Broad had questioned whether the conditions – a relatively lush outfield, a relatively unused square and an SG ball that England use infrequently – would enable them to find such movement. If the ball reverses, England’s seamers will always be a challenge. If it doesn’t, they face some long days in the field.It wasn’t a perfect day. Alastair Cook, who played and missed at six of his first 13 balls and edged three more, looked horribly out of form and Ben Duckett’s defensive prod – front foot well inside the line of the ball to allow him to free his arms, which resulted in an edge to slip – will have offspinners around the world salivating with delight.And there is much work to do. A total of 400 would probably be insufficient. England need to bat long into the second day, perhaps into the third if they can. They need to give India an opportunity to bat only when the pitch has started to deteriorate. If Kohli and co get started while it is still in this state, they are likely to enjoy it greatly.”By the end of day two, three and into day four, the game will speed up drastically in my opinion,” Root said. “I might be completely wrong. But having spent some time out there and seen the cracks on the wicket – and already the variable bounce it’s shown – it might go into fast-forward come day three onwards.”So it will be really important to make big scores and day two and take advantage of this really good start.”There’s a long way to go and the cautious may remind that England enjoyed a good first day of the Ashes series of 2013-14. But this was about as good a start as most could have hoped for from England and it does set up this match, and perhaps this series, perfectly.
