2nd Test at Trent Bridge

IT IS THE SAME OLD STORY OF GREAT INDIAN COLLAPSE AT NOTTINGHAM
By S.Ravichandan (a) Salavkkam Ravi

After the debacle at Lord’s there was much speculation that India would bounce back, as India started many of their previous outings with a loss and succeeded in winning the series or they were successful in drawing level. But the losing trend continued in Trent Bridge, Nottingham too.

Dhoni won the toss for the second time in the series.  He decided to field considering the weakness of the Indian batsmen against the moving ball in the earlier stages of the match.  His decision looked wise as England struggled at 88/6 and later at 124/8.  India had the match firmly in their grip till that moment.  But a splendid partnership of 73 runs between Stuart Broad, who has an excellent stint with the bat in this series and Graeme Swann enabled England post a decent score of 221. Pacers Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth reflected their friendship by capturing 3 wickets apiece while Bajji disappointed once again with his solitary wicket.

Having failed to keep England under the mat and letting them score a decent 221, India’s next target was to post a challenging score and get a crucial first innings lead.  As a result of the century from man-in-form Dravid and useful 50s from Laxman and Yuvraj India managed to get a slender lead of 67 runs.  Stuart Broad scalped 6 Indian wickets.

England started their 2^nd Innings with a bit of pressure, having conceded a lead of 67 runs in the first innings.  Strauss and Cook failed once again falling cheaply.  But Ian Bell had other ideas.  His fluent drives upset the Indian bowlers.  Bell’s stunning knock of 159 supported by Pietersen, Morgan, Matt Prior and Tim Bresnan helpedEngland post a mammoth total of 544.  Dhoni’s poor field placement also helpedEngland score freely.

Chasing an impossible target of 478 runs to win in the 4^th innings of the match,India started miserably losing Mukund, Dravid and Laxman in single digit scores. Sachin Tendulkar played with confidence for the first time in the series.  Even he could not contribute much and finally fell for 56.  Harbhajan and Praveen provided some resistance and helped India delay the inevitable.  India were finally bowled out for 158 runs.  England won by a huge margin of 319 runs.  Tim Bresan captured 5 wickets.  However Stuart Broad was the unanimous choice for Man of the Match Award for his all-round display in the match.

Indian domination in the Test Arena would come to an end as a series win forEngland with a margin of 2 would bring them to the helm.   The way Indian batting struggled in the series so far, it may not be a difficult task for them.