England v India: Test Series – Comprehensive Analysis – Part-1
England whitewashed India by 4-0 in the Pataudi Trophy, becoming the number one Test team of the world. The success story of the Poms started at the home of cricket Lord’s, London in England on Thursday, July 21, 2011.
The first Test of the series had a unique significance, as it was the 2000th overall and the 100th between India and England. The tourists had started the series as the number team in the longest version of the game and would have expected
their best batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Tendulkar-c2556 to bring up his 100th international century in the historic encounter.
It was a cloudy day at Lord’s, which suggested that the toss would be important. India’s skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 was lucky, as the coin rolled in his favour and he had no hesitation in mind to field first.
The stage seemed to be set for the Men in Blue, as the Indian commentators sensed their players to blow the opposition away in the opening match of the series.
India started off nicely, picking up a couple of early wickets in the morning session of the first day. Veteran pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026.
However, England were not willing to give up easily and the team fought back strongly in the match. There were some solid contributions from middle-order players http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IR-Bell-c1597 and Matt Prior. They scored 70, 45 and 71 respectively.
However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 refused to throw his wicket away until the end of the innings. He remained unbeaten on 202 runs before the innings was declared at 474/8.
Although India’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/P-Kumar-c2143 picked up five wickets in the innings, his effort did not help the team much in the end.
Batting had become much easier once the Indian batsmen walked out in the middle. They got off to a decent start, but failed to capitalise. Opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Abhinav-Mukund-c41758 played a gutsy knock of 49 runs at the top of the order, but the middle-order struggled to get
going.
Veteran http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Dravid-c2229 was the only man who stood in the way of the opposition, as he scored an unbeaten 103 runs for his side, stretching the total to 286. His effort helped the team save the humiliation of follow-on and England had to come out to bat once
again.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SCJ-Broad-c2465 picked up four wickets for England, giving the upper hand to his side with a solid first innings lead.
The hosts did not have a comfortable beginning to their second innings, losing six wickets for just 107 runs on the board. However, they got the opportunity to show their depth in batting, as wicketkeeper batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Prior-c1984 and all-rounder Stuart Broad collected
an unbeaten century stand for the seventh wicket.
Prior top scored the innings with 103 runs whereas Broad finished with 74. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013’s innings was declared at 269/6 and India had to bat out five sessions to save the match.
The pitch at Lord’s was completely flat until the final day’s play and the first match of the series seemed to be headed towards a draw.
However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SK-Raina-c2539 and Laxman, the rest of the batting was below par.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JM-Anderson-c1705 picked up five wickets, giving England their first win of the series by 196 runs.
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