Tweet
Tea India 167 for 5 (Pujara 77*, Dhoni 27*) v England
File photo: Monty Panesar had two chances to celebrate on the first morning of his Test return © Getty Images
MS Dhoni unashamedly wants Indian Test pitches to turn from the outset and Mumbai delivered just what the captain wanted - an old Wankhede pitch, used only three weeks ago, ragging and bouncing on the opening day of the second Test. It was to Indian cricket what a blatantly green seamer at Trent Bridge might be in England, a deliberate attempt to take the opposition out of their comfort zone.
"If it does not turn, I can come and criticise again," Dhoni had chirped prior to the game as he warned that he did not expect the sort of slog faced by India's spinners in Ahmedabad. There will no angry exchanges with the groundsman, no disappointed email to the BCCI.
But if Dhoni would have found this dry, threadbare surface, with the ball going through the top on the first afternoon, much to his liking, a scoreboard showing that India had lost half the side for 119 when he came in to bat would have been a less endearing sight. It took another judicious innings from Cheteshwar Pujara, 77 not out at tea, and yet to be dismissed by England in this series, to bind India together. Dhoni, although far from comfortable, stuck with him until the interval.
England's spinners were uplifted by the surface, with Monty Panesar, who, after being controversially omitted from England's Test side in Ahmedabad, made a triumphant return as he took three wickets by tea, including Virender Sehwag, bowled for 30 in his 100th Test.
It is rare to see Panesar and Graeme Swann in tandem and the contrast was an engrossing one: Panesar, bowling his left-arm spin with a deliberative air, as if he would be startled by any lapse in accuracy; Swann, forever jack the lad behind the dark glasses, his own concentration never quite overcoming the suspicion that he had just emerged from a crafty cigarette behind the bike sheds.
Swann played his part, bowling Yuvraj Singh for a second-ball duck by coming wide of the crease and straightening one, but it was Panesar's return that captured the attention as he bowled Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in consecutive overs.
File photo: Monty Panesar had two chances to celebrate on the first morning of his Test return © Getty Images
MS Dhoni unashamedly wants Indian Test pitches to turn from the outset and Mumbai delivered just what the captain wanted - an old Wankhede pitch, used only three weeks ago, ragging and bouncing on the opening day of the second Test. It was to Indian cricket what a blatantly green seamer at Trent Bridge might be in England, a deliberate attempt to take the opposition out of their comfort zone.
"If it does not turn, I can come and criticise again," Dhoni had chirped prior to the game as he warned that he did not expect the sort of slog faced by India's spinners in Ahmedabad. There will no angry exchanges with the groundsman, no disappointed email to the BCCI.
But if Dhoni would have found this dry, threadbare surface, with the ball going through the top on the first afternoon, much to his liking, a scoreboard showing that India had lost half the side for 119 when he came in to bat would have been a less endearing sight. It took another judicious innings from Cheteshwar Pujara, 77 not out at tea, and yet to be dismissed by England in this series, to bind India together. Dhoni, although far from comfortable, stuck with him until the interval.
England's spinners were uplifted by the surface, with Monty Panesar, who, after being controversially omitted from England's Test side in Ahmedabad, made a triumphant return as he took three wickets by tea, including Virender Sehwag, bowled for 30 in his 100th Test.
It is rare to see Panesar and Graeme Swann in tandem and the contrast was an engrossing one: Panesar, bowling his left-arm spin with a deliberative air, as if he would be startled by any lapse in accuracy; Swann, forever jack the lad behind the dark glasses, his own concentration never quite overcoming the suspicion that he had just emerged from a crafty cigarette behind the bike sheds.
Swann played his part, bowling Yuvraj Singh for a second-ball duck by coming wide of the crease and straightening one, but it was Panesar's return that captured the attention as he bowled Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in consecutive overs.