What India would give for a fast bowler like James Anderson. Thanks to him England has taken a huge stride towards victory in the final Test and securing their first win in India since 1984/85.
Sending middle stump cart wheeling is the dream of any quick bowler, when done to a batsman with Virender Sehwag’s quality it is even more special. Anderson will dine out on that for a while.
In a later spell he dismissed both Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar to finish the day with 3/24 and put England in the driving seat.
For Tendulkar it was the ninth time Anderson has sent him packing, more than any bowler, and as he walked back to the pavilion with yet another low score to his name he must surely have known that the time is up for him to step aside. It seems obvious that the Indian selectors will never do it on his behalf, with some even calling for him to be made captain, so he must make the hard choice himself.
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| Joe Root hits 73 on his Test debut. |
While one player was trudging towards the end of his glorious career, another was making a very promising start to his own. Joe Root, normally an opening batsman, showed superb application to graft his way to 73 on his debut, with able support from the ever consistent Matt Prior, with whom he added 103, and Graeme Swann, who hit an entertaining 56.
A score of 330 looks pretty decent on a pitch that is only going to grow harder to bat on so tomorrow England will hope to turn the screw on India for the last time in this series, get a good first innings lead then give their bowlers a target to work with.
For England everything seems to be going right at the moment, and for their travelling fans this has been a most surprising and incredibly enjoyable tour – especially given the start in Ahmedabad. For India the questions continue to mount, they will need a master class from MS Dhoni tomorrow to give themselves any chance of appeasing their fans.
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