Bangalore Test, Day 1, Tea
Wednesday, December 19, 2001

Realisation must have dawned early on Sourav Ganguly that this is not a typical Indian wicket and that his three spinners will have to show greater skills and perseverance to make a dent in the England batting.

The Indian captain showed some bias toward Anil Kumble, perhaps due to the fact that the local hero was just one short of the 300-wicket milestone in Tests. Of course, the fact also remains that Ganguly has a tendency to give undue weightage to reputations, which may have been another reason why Kumble was overbowled and Sarandeep Singh not given enough overs, though the move has not had a major impact on the proceedings in the afternoon session.

I was impressed with Michael Vaughan's batting. He was organised in his defence and exemplified the old saying: Batsmen must smell the ball in defence. He was purposeful with his footwork and is the latest good news for England.

Mark Ramprakash was uncertain early on, a quality which has got him out needlessly in the past. A couple of times, he stepped out and tried to play expansive shots, but was beaten in flight. He weathered that uncertain period, talked to himself more often and became more assured as he spent more time at the crease.

Hussain played well, but he seemed to sacrifice solidity for aggression, which is something that can go either way. Fortunately for India, he was dismissed before he could become a bigger nuisance, as he is quite capable of accelerating the momentum.

England were impressive, and have made good use of the toss they won, on a pitch that can only get worse.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the late '80s and early '90s, was talking to H Natarajan.

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