After their World Test Championship final in June, the India team had a six-week hiatus that allowed them to enjoy the delights of Britain. Some disappeared into the Scottish Highlands, others to England’s hinterlands, and the youngest into the hipster dens of east London. Their break has clearly had a lasting impact: even on day three of the Test match, the holiday spirit has not quite left them.
From first thing in the morning, when Rishabh Pant emerged for his flirtatious cameo, it was clear India’s lower order were up for a good time. Jimmy Anderson had just wound up for his second over of the day when Pant smacked him through the covers for four, chasing him down the pitch like someone trying to shoo a cat off their lawn. Pant scurried out of the crease for singles that weren’t there and hooked anything short. England must have thought that if the rest of the batters took this approach, they had a shot at a first-innings lead.
Ravi Jadeja, in particular, looked at times like a walking wicket. There’s laid-back, and then there’s nearly getting run out when you’ve taken your gloves off and you’re dithering around in the middle of the pitch. Unfortunately, the only thing England picked up from his carefree batting was an equally loose approach to fielding.
The No 7 was soon outscoring the settled KL Rahul. Just as Root had been for England, Rahul was the sole blob of Blu Tack doing everything in its adhesive power to stop the rest of the innings peeling off the wall. And where the lower order wanted their moment in the sun, Rahul spent much of the morning trying to get out of the rain. Anderson’s first over to him was a proper tester and when the squalls came, Rahul was Mr Safety First, turning towards the pavilion even before the umpires had made an official decision.
His calmness at the crease counters the frequent criticism during his career that he can suffer from nerves in high-pressure situations. Rahul’s part in this Test match was by no means assured until Mayank Agarwal was concussed in a net session on Monday; he played in the middle order in India’s practice matches but it will be hard to dislodge him from the opener’s spot now. He has defended patiently and with confidence, waiting for the right balls to unfurl his favourite square drives. He could be even seen giving Jadeja a little talking to at moments after the latter’s near run-out.
It didn’t dampen Jadeja’s spirits too much. As soon as Anderson strayed on to middle stump, Jadeja picked the ball over fine leg for a mighty six into the stands. The crowd, preoccupied with their pints, didn’t seem too interested in searching for the ball, and the fourth official had to run out with a shiny silver case of replacements. It was hard cheese for England, who had been working so hard to keep that one swinging.
Jadeja was swinging, too. He went at Anderson’s next delivery like a historical re-enactor wielding a mace; he missed, and the turbulence threatened to blow over the nearest fielder. When Robinson replaced Anderson, Jadeja cut his very first ball for four to bring up his 50, and gave his swishing Zorro salute with his blade. Someone in the crowd attempted to replicate it with an umbrella. The India team applauded enthusiastically from the dressing room.
India’s tail has been one of their few obvious weaknesses in recent years. It let them down repeatedly in their last series in England and their Nos 9 to 11 have averaged 7.89 since the start of 2018. Here, with India just 22 runs ahead when they lost both Rahul and Shardul Thakur, Jadeja went for broke, and his confidence was catching.
The new ball flew off edges and over fielders, plopping down in safe spaces it had no business being. At one stage, Anderson was haplessly chasing down balls from Mohammed Shami all the way between mid-on and mid-off, and the one he actually caught dribbled down his front and on to the turf.
As for Jasprit Bumrah, it augurs poorly for England’s batsmen that the bowler seemed to be having the time of his life. Consecutive deliveries from Sam Curran went for four, six, four – the six clubbed to the square leg boundary, where Dan Lawrence ended up starfishing in his entertaining but spectacularly undignified attempt to make the catch. Bumrah pumped his bat in the air. England’s batsmen didn’t really need help embarrassing themselves in the field: it what was they had been doing all day.
At the other end of the wicket, Mohammed Siraj’s efforts would have won him excellent scores in an air batting world championship. But they still annoyed Anderson, who had supposedly been brought on to mop things up – enough to earn the tailender a special shoulder brush at the end of an over. Bumrah, meanwhile, unleashed a perfectly respectable on-drive off Ollie Robinson and finished with 28 off 34 deliveries. His previous Test highlights with the bat have included four, six and a landmark 10 not out against New Zealand. The Great British Holiday lives on.
