A fascinating day's test cricket unfolded at Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Motera thereby heralding a see sawing and wildly vacillating swing of fortunes in the remaining four days of cricket in this test match and the remaining three to come in the India-England test series that got underway earlier today.......
The day undoubtedly belonged to three distinct individuals; Virender Sehwag, Cheteshwar Pujara and England's spinner extraordinaire Graeme Swann; Sehwag's innings did indeed come as a breath of fresh air and unequivocally announced the Nawab of Najafgarh's welcome return to form and familiar ways, Viru's twenty third test century was certainly a scintillating effort punctuated with trademark drives through the off side, cuts, glides, pulls and an effortless six over long on off the hapless Tim Bresnan, while this run a ball century did certainly give team India renewed hope, it's abrupt termination on account of an ungainly hoik across the line did certainly dismay hearts that were anticipating a lot more besides........
The Saurashtra run machine (Cheteshwar Pujara) was indeed a revelation; his undefeated 98 run knock was a study in contrasts, while his first 55 runs were amassed off a paltry 74 balls and were embellished with eye catching drives through both the off and on side, the remaining 43 runs were accumulated off almost 100 balls and were totally dedicated to furthering the team's cause, mention must also be made about Swann's exemplary efforts with the red cherry, on a day when his counterparts struggled to make an impression, this untiring offie bamboozled, bewildered and bedazzled the opposition Indian batsmen and thereby lured them into a web from which they struggled to extricate themselves and ended up snaring the four Indian wickets to have fallen on the day........
Though Gambhir was an integral part and parcel of an enterprising 134 run opening partnership his 45 run knock of 11 balls was certainly a far cry from his fluent best, he struggled throughout and was put out of his misery by a Swann delivery that turned back into him and disturbed his castle, Sehwag was Swann's next victim after sharing a ninety odd run partnership with Pujara, his ungainly swipe against the spin only connected with hot air and resulted in the stumps behind him being rearranged......
Self styled cricketing "GOD" Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar did try to hit his way out of trouble and back into form; his sorry efforts were however nipped in the bud by the Swann and Patel combination that saw him holing out to mid wicket and added further fuel to the already raging fires pertaining to his imminent retirement, Virat Kohli did promise much but delivered little, his 67 ball sojourn in the middle did come to a premature end when he was beaten neck and crop by a Swann beauty that gripped the surface turned prodigiously and ended up disturbing his citadel........
Team India ended the day on a rather healthy looking 323/4 with Yuvraj batting on 22 and Pujara on 98, team England will certainly be looking forward to snaring at least a couple of Indian wickets within the first thirty to forty five minutes of resumption of play on day two, while team India will certainly be looking to consolidate it's position and end up with a 500 run plus total on the board.......
Day tow certainly promises to be an even more fascinating and eventful day of cricket in comparison to day one, with the pitch already beginning to show signs of wear, tear and deterioration, this test match might well be over in four days or less if the Indian spinners bowl as well as a certain Graeme Swann.........
The day undoubtedly belonged to three distinct individuals; Virender Sehwag, Cheteshwar Pujara and England's spinner extraordinaire Graeme Swann; Sehwag's innings did indeed come as a breath of fresh air and unequivocally announced the Nawab of Najafgarh's welcome return to form and familiar ways, Viru's twenty third test century was certainly a scintillating effort punctuated with trademark drives through the off side, cuts, glides, pulls and an effortless six over long on off the hapless Tim Bresnan, while this run a ball century did certainly give team India renewed hope, it's abrupt termination on account of an ungainly hoik across the line did certainly dismay hearts that were anticipating a lot more besides........
The Saurashtra run machine (Cheteshwar Pujara) was indeed a revelation; his undefeated 98 run knock was a study in contrasts, while his first 55 runs were amassed off a paltry 74 balls and were embellished with eye catching drives through both the off and on side, the remaining 43 runs were accumulated off almost 100 balls and were totally dedicated to furthering the team's cause, mention must also be made about Swann's exemplary efforts with the red cherry, on a day when his counterparts struggled to make an impression, this untiring offie bamboozled, bewildered and bedazzled the opposition Indian batsmen and thereby lured them into a web from which they struggled to extricate themselves and ended up snaring the four Indian wickets to have fallen on the day........
Though Gambhir was an integral part and parcel of an enterprising 134 run opening partnership his 45 run knock of 11 balls was certainly a far cry from his fluent best, he struggled throughout and was put out of his misery by a Swann delivery that turned back into him and disturbed his castle, Sehwag was Swann's next victim after sharing a ninety odd run partnership with Pujara, his ungainly swipe against the spin only connected with hot air and resulted in the stumps behind him being rearranged......
Self styled cricketing "GOD" Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar did try to hit his way out of trouble and back into form; his sorry efforts were however nipped in the bud by the Swann and Patel combination that saw him holing out to mid wicket and added further fuel to the already raging fires pertaining to his imminent retirement, Virat Kohli did promise much but delivered little, his 67 ball sojourn in the middle did come to a premature end when he was beaten neck and crop by a Swann beauty that gripped the surface turned prodigiously and ended up disturbing his citadel........
Team India ended the day on a rather healthy looking 323/4 with Yuvraj batting on 22 and Pujara on 98, team England will certainly be looking forward to snaring at least a couple of Indian wickets within the first thirty to forty five minutes of resumption of play on day two, while team India will certainly be looking to consolidate it's position and end up with a 500 run plus total on the board.......
Day tow certainly promises to be an even more fascinating and eventful day of cricket in comparison to day one, with the pitch already beginning to show signs of wear, tear and deterioration, this test match might well be over in four days or less if the Indian spinners bowl as well as a certain Graeme Swann.........
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