England vs India 1st Test Day 3 - The Quick Flicks - Edges missed and dropped chances
The edge that was (or was it?)
Sam Robson had neatly made his way to a half-century along with Gary Ballance, and the duo, born in Australia and Zimbabwe respectively, looked to head towards their centuries. But the lunch break struck again. After the break, as has been the case throughout the match, wickets fell quickly.
Ishant Sharma got one to nip back into Robson, struck him in front of the wicket and Bruce Oxenford raised his finger. With no DRS in this series, Robson walked off the field. The Hot Spot later showed a mark on the lower inside edge of the bat. Commentators attributed it to the bat hitting the back pad, but the replays showed bat being a fair distance from the pads and two sounds before the ball hit the pads.
This decision wasn't an outright shocker, but would have been overturned if DRS had been used.
The edge that (definitely) wasn't
The other contentious call of the day came from Kumar Dharmasena, who adjudged Matt Prior caught behind off Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Where Robson merely seemed disappointed, Prior didn't hold back his shock at the decision. At first look, there were clearly two sounds and Dhoni, standing up to the stumps, went up as soon as he collected the ball. But the replays showed there was a huge gap between the ball and the willow, and the sound had come from bat hitting the pad.
This Test looks to be heading towards a draw, but two days of cricket - if weather permits - have witnessed funnier things on the field. This series is looking to be a seesaw affair and absence of DRS is sure to make bigger headlines in coming days.
The 2nd spinner and the case of absent debutant
While commentating for Sky, Michael Atherton mentioned how Ravichandran Ashwin would have been a threat on this wicket, and that India made a blunder by not playing him on this pitch. Ashwin, sitting with the reserves, was listening to the commentary and nodded in approval, and everyone had a laugh in the commentary box.
The one not so amused with his performance so far in the Test would be Stuart Binny. But it'll be harsh to blame him for not trying. Though he failed with the bat, he was picked over Ashwin for his bowling. Dhoni however has used him only for 6 overs out of 106 India have bowled so far, with his two spells coming late into the last session, near the close of play.
Binny would remember his ODI debut in Hamilton earlier this year, when Dhoni hardly had any use for him even as other pacers leaked runs. He bowled only a single over in that match and didn't have any role to play with the bat. This Test is fast taking the same route for Binny.
Virat Kohli, a liability in the field?
In his 4th over of the day, Ravindra Jadeja was bowling to a peculiar field. There was a first slip, a short leg and a leg slip. Just when Sanjay Manjrekar on air was debating Virat Kohli's use at leg slip, Sam Robson worked a delivery on his legs towards him. The ball moved quickly to the fielder's left and kept low. Kohli managed to get his hands to it but the ball popped out.
The 25-year-old had dropped an easy chance in the practice match against Leicestershire and continued his habit of making a drop from earlier tours in South Africa and New Zealand, where he dropped some costly chances. With all the talk of young, athletic Indian fielding, Kohli's fast becoming a liability at close-in positions.
The other blunder in the field came later in the day. With the middle order collapsing and England in danger of being all out before crossing the follow-on mark, Broad decided to hit his way out of trouble.
On 47 off 40, Broad hit a ball from Ishant Sharma down the pitch which looped over the bowler and hit the non-striker's stumps. The batsman continued down the pitch in search for a single, but his partner Root wasn't interested. Broad was already halfway down the pitch when Kohli picked up the ball near the non-striker and hurled it wildly at the other end. MS Dhoni, rushing in from his position behind the wickets, missed the wild throw completely as Broad ended up making his way back to the crease safely.
Thankfully for Kohli, Broad's vigil was ended by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the next over, before he could make them pay for their miss.
Shami’s awkward bounce
Remember Hashim Amla’s awkward dismissal against Mohammed Shami in Johannesburg last year? Trusting the ball to go over the stumps, Amla ducked to a shortish ball which to his horror, hit the top of off-stump in front of his eyes. Another bearded batsman became a victim to a similar delivery by Shami on the third day at Trent Bridge.
The ploy to bowl outside off-stump to Moeen Ali didn’t work for the Indians as the left-hander caressed a few boundaries with utmost ease through the covers. Shami then bowled a shorter one which didn’t bounce as much as Ali would have expected, and gloved it behind while attempting to duck the ball.
He was the first victim of the variable bounce on this pitch and definitely not the last.
The shot(s) of the day
While the most surprising shot of Day 2 came off his bowling, James Anderson surprised everyone with a reverse sweep off Ravindra Jadeja, not once but twice.
Anderson had recently scored a 55-ball duck in that thriller against Sri Lanka, but didn’t hesitate to play his shots against India. Root farmed the strike quite effectively when the last man came in. Taking a single on the fourth ball on most occasions, he trusted his partner then to play out the remaining two deliveries.
Ravindra Jadeja was looking to exploit the footmarks outside No. 11 Anderson’s off-stump and had managed to get sharp turn on the first ball he bowled to him. Anderson then decided he was not going to be a sitting duck and pulled out a reverse sweep against the spinner. It fetched him four runs and a rousing applause from the crowd. He showcased his T20 batting skills again a few overs later and collected another boundary off the same shot against Jadeja. Though risky, the shot was well executed by Jimmy in the end.