For India, the first day of their first Test in Birmingham was a roller-coaster ride. By the end of it they had a fair grip, bowling England out for 13 short of 300, a psychological edge.
The men responsible for restricting England to a reasonable score were two bowlers who were not everyone’s choice.
Some suggested that if India go in with one spinner, then it should not be Kuldeep Yadav, and not Ravichandran Ashwin. Likewise, many thought pacer Mohammed Shami was not in the right frame of mind or physically fit, at least for the first Test. If India were to go in with two pacers with Hardik Pandya as back-up, then many felt that the man to sit out would be Shami.
Both played, and both vindicated the selection committee’s faith in them, accounting for seven wickets. Ashwin took four, a remarkable feat for a spinner on a first-day pitch outside the subcontinent.
The way Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan got over their early jitters and posted a 50-run partnership (the first for India in England after four years), it seemed like things were looking good. Then Sam Curran happened. After trapping Vijay in front, the pumped-up left-arm seamer dispatched KL Rahul off his second ball, and then Dhawan, rattling the southpaw with an outswinger.
Kohli must have been thinking about his selection choices after seeing three of his colleagues leave so quickly. His own bogeyman from four year ago, James Anderson, had him snicking perilously close to the slips again.
It is never easy to play genuine pacers in England, and Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav were as good as any. Though Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah — two genuine movers of the ball — would have added more teeth to India’s attack.Anderson and Stuart Broad were expected to use the conditions to make batsmen hop and weave, but it was 20-year-old Curran who showed that young legs can do the same.
That Vijay and Dhawan found their zone for a while must have reassured India’s dressing room. But the way they departed must have irritated the other batsmen. To see both Kohli and deputy Ajinkya Rahane batting in the first session must be unnerving.
Not many had Dhawan in their playing XI. They wanted Vijay to go in with Rahul so that Cheteshwar Pujara could be accommodated, despite his poor stint for Yorkshire.
The argument in favour of Pujara is his class and an impressive Test average of 50-plus; good-enough incentives for Kohli to retain him. Come to think of it, Pujara in his chequered career has been dropped against every Test playing nation. Indispensable at home, but expendable on foreign shores.
Even if Kohli holds one end up and gets runs, like Wednesday, the others will have to bat around him to put big runs on the board. The likes of Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha and Ravindra Jadeja have been helping India’s tail wag at home. But it’s a different ball game overseas. India’s bowlers showed in South Africa that they can get 20 wickets in a match. It is now time for their batsmen to get the runs they need to win a Test.