India 1st Innings of 416 Vs England: An Innings to Remember for Top (Sans Order) Reasons!

The consistent failures of Indian top and middle batting order since a couple of years at least, barring perhaps a few solid starts of the now-missing Rahul-Rohit opener duo, have become a rule rather than an exception. In the successful Test Series against both Australia and England (so far) we’d seen how the lower middle order, necessarily involving an all-rounder like Ravindra Jadeja or Ravichandran Ashwin and at times even tailenders like Shardul Thakur or Mohammad Shami, coming to the rescue of the Indian innings and most often leading the team to victories. Not to speak about the tremendous bowling efforts of the same players in those magnificent victories. The final and the fifth ‘leftover’ Test match that started yesterday against England in Birmingham has become the latest example. Put into bat, the Indian top and middle order had ably managed to reduce the team to a precarious 98/5, almost giving up against James Anderson, Matthew Potts and Stuart Broad; but then, came the lower middle order with the wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant still standing and joined by the all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, the latter coming after a long injury break. And, the innings has become a memorable one thanks to them and other top reasons irrespective of whatever is the final result of the match, only on its second day today.

 

While Rishabh Pant kept on with his inimitable style of attacking ‘shorter format cricket’ his partner Ravindra Jadeja stood like a rock at the other end, providing a solid anchor to former’s aerobics. Barring Anderson the other English bowlers seemed to have suddenly lost the plot. Pant raced to this fifth Test century, the second in this Series, in just around 90 balls, and then spectacularly taking it forward to score 146 runs in just 111 balls with 19 fours and 4 sixes. His century has become the fastest test century by an Indian wicketkeeper-batsman beating the long-standing record of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The duo registered an incredible partnership of 222 runs, the highest sixth wicket partnership by India against England, with Pant falling to the bowling of Joe Root at the team score of 320/6 while Jadeja saw the day off with his score of 83 runs. The innings was still in the unfolding stage as Jadeja took over today from where he left and he too achieved the brilliant feat of a test century (104), his third Test century, before falling to Anderson at the team score of 375/9. Mohammad Shami also contributed a useful 16 before becoming the 8^th out at 371, giving Stuart Broad his only wicket.

 

And it was still not over yet. Captain Jasprit Bumrah had one more ‘top’ feat in store for the very-happy-by-now Indian fans. He turned Stuart Broad’s last over in the match into history, at times freakishly and at times looking like a solid batsman during the saga of only 6 balls that of course got extended due to wides and no-balls. Fours and sixes started raining; through the bat, wides and no-balls and through the over the top and leg byes. In all, 35 runs were scored off that over, and it became the most expensive over in the history of Test cricket. Bumrah remained not out at 31 runs with 4 fours and 2 sixes. The spectacle reminds cricket lovers of the 6 glorious sixes hit by Yuvraj Singh in 6 balls, of that same bowler Stuart Broad in T20 World Cup-2002. That historical Broad over saw India cross the 400-run mark. 416 was the final total put up on the board and it’s really an unbelievable recovery after losing the entire top half for 98 runs.

 

In hindsight, it seems to be a huge blunder on the part of England to choose bowling after winning the toss. The decision must’ve been influenced by the overcast conditions and perhaps also by the incredible chases by England in the last two Test victories against New Zealand. It has also exposed England’s inability to mop up India’s lower order that was also evident in the previous matches of the Series. James Anderson achieved a fifer, bowling consistently throughout; but the other pacers were lacking. Potts, after having the early breakthroughs, and Broad gave away too many runs between them. The solitary spinner Jack Leach was totally ineffective, conceding 71 runs in 9 overs, more in the T20 way.

 

The scoring rate has been keeping with that of the previous Tests played in England this summer. India scored at the rate of nearly 5 an over on both days barring the in-a-shell top order, ending with 416 in only 85 overs, despite the rain interruptions when an early lunch was taken and play extended yesterday. The Edgbaston pitch has been behaving as a good batting track, but with uneven bounce and at times the ball keeping low.  

 

Captain Bumrah has followed up his batsmanship with some effective fast bowling too in the England innings, capturing all the three wickets to fall so far (the openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope) with rain interruptions. Here we’d only mentioned the Indian innings for the reasons we cited. The match is far from over with almost four days still left. The duo of Joe Root and Bairstow can turn any match on its head on their day. We only hope the weather allows play for a result in this memorable match, and it’s always good to see the efficient handling of the pitch and the outfield and prompt extensions of play for the interruptions.