The first Test ended in a draw, only a draw, yet England’s performance in Rajkot has provoked many superlatives. Should the gnarled old pros among us douse any elation despite the dire post-Dhaka prognostications? No, the superlatives were justified, though they guarantee nothing as England arrive at their beachside hotel in Visakhapatnam, where one assumes there can only be extra-thick sticks of rock.
A dip into the past suggests why. On England’s previous seven visits to India they have lost the first Test six times. The only exception has a parallel with their efforts in Rajkot.
In 2006 Alastair Cook, making his debut in Nagpur, hit a second-innings century that ensured England could not be beaten. He batted in remarkably similar vein a decade later – except for one surprising lofted extra-cover drive – since Cook is a batting pragmatist who follows the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach. Three reliable shots were enough then and they are now.
Even when England won series in India – as they did against the odds in 1984-85 and 2012-13, they lost the first Test and the sages feared the worst.
The pattern of the past is that India would often play the first Test on one of their more “sporting” wickets, with the spinners predominating.
Thus they would catch the tourists cold. Then they had the option of playing on dead, drab tracks that stopped anyone winning, as Sunil Gavaskar’s side did in 1981-82 when the over rate was as slow as a Sunday afternoon train, whatever the day of the week. Either that or the ball might keep spinning enough, as was the case in 1992-93 when India won all three Tests by such embarrassingly large margins that the chairman of selectors at the time – the lateral thinker Ted Dexter – had to divert attention by bringing up the topics of air pollution and facial hair when the post-mortems began.
But in Rajkot there was a departure from the usual pattern, which did not much please India’s captain, Virat Kohli. There was live grass on the pitch, which helped to bind the surface together. “It should not have been the case,” he said emphatically afterwards. He has obviously glanced at the history books as well.
However, it may well be that England were better prepared than usual – as well as magnificently resolute. Their schedule is by no means perfect – key players like Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali are going to be on their last legs come Christmas. But the two tough Tests in Bangladesh enabled the team to be more battle-hardened than usual for the first Test against India. After the Dhaka experience, batting in Rajkot was a breeze once those much-talked-about tricky 20 balls had been negotiated.
So there are not so many conundrums for the England management as there were before the Rajkot Test. There will be no debate over the identity of Cook’s opening partner. For onlookers there was an enchanting fairytale element to Haseeb Hameed’s debut but the young man himself seemed to view it all as a simple natural progression. He may look like a truant out in the middle but once the ball was heading in his direction at Rajkot he was all calmness.
The Indians must have been impressed. Goodness knows what the Aussie fast bowlers and close fielders will have to say to him if he is still in place next winter. At first glance, despite looking like a young teenager, Hameed does not give the impression that he will be especially vulnerable to any pursuit of “mental disintegration”. In any case the Aussies have enough to think about at the moment.
The other newish boy, Ben Duckett, had the quietest Test possible. He faced 17 balls, he watched the spinners bowl from first slip in the first innings and he patrolled the boundary in the second. He is bound to stay at No4.
Jimmy Anderson has been doing his best to acclimatise to the prospect of playing cricket over the past week but is more likely to reappear up in Mohali, the venue for the third Test. There is no simple way back for him. Stuart Broad could be rotated again; Chris Woakes might just be considered for a rest despite his batting prowess. Of the spinners, Zafar Ansari would be the one to go in the unlikely event of England opting for a four seamer-two spinner formation.
Adil Rashid’s stock has risen significantly in the past week – at least it has here as opposed to Headingley, where Andrew Gale, who may not be his biggest fan, is now in charge.
On Tuesday there will be much staring at the playing surface, which will inform England’s decisions. As for India, we can be confident that Kohli will be highly disgruntled if a blade of green grass is visible.
