Dominant England rout India by 319 runs at Trent Bridge
NOTTINGHAM: England bowlers devastated the high-flying Indian batting line-up on Monday to win the second test match by a colossal margin of 319 runs at Trent Bridge and went 2-0 up in the four-match series.
Stuart Broad, Sreesanth. Courtesy: Getty Images
Tim Bresnan led the charge on Day 4 as he captured five wickets for 48 runs to cause havoc to Indian batsmen who crumbled and were wrapped up at 158 runs chasing massive 478 runs for squaring the series.
Indian batsmen had no answer to England fast bowlers who used the new ball to perfection and bowled in the right channels thus exposing Indian batsmen’s weaknesses on seaming track as James Anderson captured three wickets for 51 runs and Stuart Broad grabbed two wickets for 30 runs.
Tim Bresnan takes five wickets. Courtesy: AP PHOTO
Stuart Broad, who hit a hat-trick in the first innings, was selected Man of the Match for his match figures of eight wickets for 76 runs apart from his batting heroics on Day 1 of the Test match that saved the day for England. Broad hit 64 runs in the first innings when the chips were down and England were reeling at 7/117 and led them to a respectable total of 221 runs. The lanky all-rounder then doubled it up with another quick-fired 44 runs from 32 deliveries in the second innings to help England pile up a huge total of 544 runs all out.
The Day 4 thoroughly belonged to Tim Bresnan who first struck a brilliant half century scoring 90 runs from 118 balls with the help of 17 boundaries, an effort that is good enough to make any batsman in the world proud. He then furthered his contribution with a five-wicket haul, which was his best effort in Test career, to hit last nail in India’s coffin who resigned at 158 runs.
Tim Bresnan. Courtesy: Getty Images
The only resistance came from Sachin Tendulkar, who was in pursuit of his 100th international hundred – on a losing cause though, but James Anderson trapped him right in front of the stumps after the Little Master had scored 56 runs. This is the seventh time in Test cricket that James Anderson dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in the eight matches between the two sides. Tendulkar added 52 runs for the seventh wicket with Harbhajan Singh (46) which was the only partnership of any sort by the Indians.
If England win this series, this would be their sixth straight series victory and require another victory in the final two test matches to snatch number one spot from India in the ICC Test Ranking.
Stuart Broad leads victorious England team out of Trent Bridge. Courtesy: AP PHOTO
The Trent Bridge Test proved to be as one of the best Test matches in many ways.
The second Test started with India strangulating English top-order batsmen at six down for 88 runs and then seven for 117 but Stuart Broad then stepped up his game and hit nine boundaries in his 64 runs innings from just 66 balls. His onslaught evaporated the confidence India had gained by demolishing the top order and helped his side to score a respectable total of 221 runs in first innings.
Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, and Sreesanth all captured three wickets for 45, 66, and 77 runs respectively while Harbhajan Singh managed to grab only one wicket for 22 runs but that was the priced scalp of Stuart Broad.
England v India: 2nd npower Test – Day Four. Courtesy: Getty Images
England bowlers had to strike and strike hard to negate the effects of their below-par batting performance. However, India managed to rise from the first-ball duck by Abhinav Mukund as Rahul Dravid (117) and VVS Laxman (54) held the innings together. Dravid struck his 34th Test hundred that took him equal with Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Charles Lara. Only Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Jacques Kallis have scored more centuries than The Wall.
Hot-Spot Controversy
During the Indian innings, a major controversy sparked when England players claimed a ball brushed the edge of VVS Laxman’s bat into the hands of Matt Prior but hot-spot showed no such effect although stumps mic did record some sound. Later, Michael Vaughn tweeted about Laxman using Vaseline on the edges of his bat to save him from a caught behind chance. Former England and Indian Test cricketers Nasser Hussain and Ravi Shastri had a heated debate on the issue and questions were raised on the effectiveness of Hot-Spot Technology in the Decision Review System (DRS).
A lot was expected from Sachin Tendulkar (16) to help India score a massive first innings total but he faltered yet again when he was required the most by his team. Suresh Raina (12) also failed to better his performance of first test and it all fell on the shoulders of Yuvraj Singh (62) who was representing India in Test cricket after a long time.
Sachin Tendulkar. Courtesy: Getty Images
India were cruising along at five down for 267 runs with Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh well-set at the crease and had already accumulated 128 runs for the sixth wicket partnership.
Stuart Broad then inspired a massive comeback with a brilliant bowling performance as he got rid of Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, and Praveen Kumar on successive deliveries where Harbhajan Singh was a touch unlucky, thanks mainly to his cricket board’s staunch opposition to Decision Review System (DRS), as he had an inside-edge on to the pads but adjudged Leg Before Wickets.
Stuart Broad. Courtesy: Reuters
India were eventually bowled out for 288 runs in their first innings and took a 67 runs lead, still at a better position to seal victory. Stuart Broad took six wickets for 46 runs; James Anderson captured two wickets for 80 runs; and Tim Bresnan grabbed two wickets for 48 runs to end Indian innings.
England needed to bat out of their skins to first get over the 67-run lead and then set a challenging target to the Indians but they lost Alastair Cook (5) early in the innings while skipper Andrew Strauss (16) also soon followed.
James Anderson captures Sachin Tendulkar. Courtesy: Getty Images
Jonathan Trott didn’t come to bat at his regular position after he injured his shoulder while fielding at mid-off which forced skipper Strauss to promote Ian Bell up the order and the right-hand batsman answered the call with a brilliant knock of 159 runs.
However, the Day 3 saw one of the most bizarre incidents in the Test cricket history when Eoin Morgan worked a delivery by Ishant Sharma to the leg-side where both batsmen easily completed three runs and thought the ball had touched the boundary line and Ian Bell jogged out of his crease towards his partner after fielder Praveen Kumar also thought it was a boundary and threw the ball back to Mahendra Singh Dhoni who took off the bales and appealed for a run out. As per the ICC regulations, it was out but England captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower went to Indian dressing room in the tea break and requested to take back the appeal for the dismissal would have been against the spirit of cricket and sportsmanship. Indian cricket team was booed when they appeared after the tea break as the crowd had no information about what happened in the break. However, when they saw Ian Bell coming out to bat with Eoin Morgan they started cheering the Indian cricket team and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for showing his sportsmanship.
Double-Centurion of the Lord’s Test, Kevin Pietersen scored 63 runs while Eoin Morgan (70), Matt Prior (73), Tim Bresnan (90), and Stuart Broad (44) also put on exhibition their batting skills as Indian bowlers lacked the killer instinct which is needed to keep hold of the number one position.
England accumulated a huge total of 544 runs before getting all out on Day 4 thus setting India a huge target of 478 runs for the victory.
Chasing a huge target, Indian team lost wickets quickly and in the end were bowled out for just 158 runs thus falling 319 runs short of the target.
Earlier involved in the Hot-Spot debate with Ravi Shastri, Nasser Hussain was fittingly there at the price distribution ceremony right thanking the ground-staff for preparing such a brilliant Test wicket and then he praised Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf for his error-free umpiring in the four days of the Trent Bridge Test under tremendous pressure.
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni told Nasser Hussain, “Those 100 really mattered when we were bowling and when we were batting we were four down but couldn’t see that new ball through. I felt the bowlers were tired but their batsmen played some great shots. It is a bit of a concern that we haven’t made 300 and it’s a continuation of the series in West Indies, we haven’t really had a gap, where we were struggling”.
Talking about Zaheer Khan’s injury, the Indian captain said, “Right now Zaheer is out there practising but I don’t really know where he is with his fitness. Injuries happen in the game but when you go down to three bowlers it’s hard work on the bowlers. My form is a concern because if you are the leader you need to perform. But you have to look at your preparation and if that is right and the processes are right the form will follow.
When asked about the Ian Bell run-out-incident, Dhoni was of the view, “Inside I felt none of us felt right about it [the Bell run out]. That’s what really matters, not the rules, not the spirit of the game. You want to feel good about what you’ve done when you go back to the dressing room. We had something similar with Laxman in the West Indies and didn’t want to be in revenge for that or anything. Well of course we can turn it around. You have to have belief in yourself and the team.”
On the other hand, England captain Andrew Strauss looked comfortable when he told Nasser Hussain, “There have been some outstanding performances in the two Test matches. It was a fantastic turnaround and I’m very proud on what we’ve done this week. Bresnan was unlucky not to be playing in the first Test match and he keeps putting his credentials in place making it harder and harder to pick the team. I didn’t tell Swann and Broad to do anything other than play their natural games. Bell was outstanding. To score that freely in tough conditions was outstanding. He’s in the form of his life”.
Strauss commended his opposite number in remarkable words for showing sportsman spirit, “It was very commendable of Dhoni, he has set a great example to myself and other captains. I like to think I would have done the same in similar circumstances. We don’t know at this stage about Trott’s fitness he’s gone for a scan. The primary goal is just to win the next Test match, we’ll let everything else look after itself.”
Man of the Match Stuart Broad told prize distribution party, “We’re delighted to go 2-0 up. It’s pleasing to pick up some wickets after they were harder to come by earlier in the season. My and Swanny never need encouragement to have a bit of a slog. Of course I’ve now found a fuller length and it’s paid off but I tend not to look back and worry. We have a lot of depth and a lot of confidence in our unit.”
Stuart Broad Hat-Trick
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