To say the least, this has become a fashion for Team India and virtually there is no end to it. While over the last couple of years, India has managed to scale new peaks in the longest version of the game, they have always struggled with the bat in the first match of a series. Can’t take anything away from the way England played the first Test, but to be honest India was always one bowler short in this match, with the resources further depleting thanks to the injury of Gautam Gambhir and the virus that Tendulkar picked up also added to an unfair advantage to England.
There had been a long dispute over India’s number one spot, if they are really deserving for it or not. And perhaps after this match the debate is on its pinnacle. But does this first match performance take away all the laurels of recent past? England’s former cricketer’s are already boasting of dethroning India from number one spot, but is it so simple?
Finding a Winning Way for Trent bridge!
Four years back, similar thing happened to team India at Lord’s, as they managed only 201 runs in the first innings of the match and fought very hard to save it. Trend continued in Australia where they were reduced to only 196 runs in the first innings at MCG and lost that match by a huge margin. But what followed both those first matches were brilliant batting performances in the second matches of the series. At Nottingham in 2007, India scored 481 runs in the first innings to make sure that they win that match comfortably to win the series later on. While at Sydney, India powered their score to 532 runs but ultimately lost the controversial match. Though, they hit hard when they won a Test at Perth with a splendid performance and easily managed a draw at Adelaide.
This record of first test matches has been alike for both home and away series. Since March 2008, India has played 13 Test series losing only one of them in Sri Lanka in 2008 where India’s batting was disaster during all three matches of the series. Besides that they have won 8 Test series and drew 4 of them (3 against South Africa & 1 in Sri Lanka). This speaks volumes for their consistency over the last four years. Though, in all these series if we see their record in first test matches (Not including recent match at Lord’s), India have lost 4 and won 5 out of 13. Therefore, maintaining W/L ratio to 1.25 in the first matches of a series which boosts to 7.0 in second tests, (Won 7, Lost 1).
Whilst under Dhoni, only good performance for India in the first test of an away series came in New Zealand where they amassed a total of 500 plus at Hamilton to win that test and later on the series after 41 years. Otherwise, India ceded to shameful defeats in their first matches at Sri Lanka (Galle) and South Africa (Centurion). But again what followed both these disgraceful performances were mighty comebacks to square both the series by winning a Test match in each of those series. Dhoni has now lost 4 matches in his tenure as a captain and all those losses have come in first test of the series, one at home and 3 away. But India has never lost a series after those early losses with his record undefeated in the remaining Test matches. And that is definitely a respite for all Indian team supporters.
Let’s have a look at the difference of Indian team’s away record in 1st and the 2nd matches of a Test series over different spans.
Here we can see considerable improvement in the second matches of the series during different time spans. And under Dhoni team has looked very solid in every series after first match blues (home or away). It doesn’t necessarily have to do with warm-up matches always; fact is that Indian batsman take time to settle into different conditions.
To read more into this, have a look at recent performances of Indian batsman in first two matches of all the away Test Series.
These records clearly show ‘every’ batsman improves after first match of the Test Series. Tendulkar has been most consistent Indian batsman for last four years; his performances have been astonishing irrespective of first or second test. But Gambhir, Sehwag and Laxman bring staggering improvement after playing their first matches on the foreign soil. India is definitely missing services of brutal Sehwag for an indefinite period much to the relief of English bowlers, but other four batsmen will certainly look to strengthen India’s scoring in next matches with even Rahul Dravid peaking at the right time.
Not only batsman, same has been trend for all Indian bowlers. They all improve after early hiccups in a series. Since Kumble’s retirement, Zaheer and to an extent Harbhajan have been the spearhead of Indian bowling. Zaheer’s average in the first matches of an away series is 38.47 which improve to 20.95 in the second. Meanwhile, Harbhajan has been under scrutiny for his poor performances in last one year or so, but even his stats suggest that he is a much improved bowler after playing first time on a foreign soil. His average improves from 58 to 33.35 for the second match which is not very bad for spinner on seaming wickets.
Looking to these statistics, one thing is certain that India will look to take inspiration from their recent comeback performances when they take the field at Trent Bridge on Friday. Although it still won’t be India’s best XI on the field, as Zaheer Khan is likely to miss out due to Hamstring injury. But then Ishant and Praveen showed lot of resilience at Lord’s bowling their heart out in second innings. Moreover, Dhoni will have fully-fit fourth bowler in Sreesanth or Munaf Patel, which will allow him to focus on field placements and hence galvanizing his troops. Dhoni has a reputation of backing his players; it is highly unlikely that Harbhajan will be dropped after pathetic 1st Test match. In the batting department, Gambhir is expected to recover from injury and Tendulkar will return healthy to churn runs at his favorite venue in England.
Nottingham has been a happy venue for India in the past, they won only Test match here to win the series in 2007. Indian fans would of course hope that just like in some previous Tests, India can manage to recover and continue their dominance in Tests. Though, all those statistics and history will stay on paper when India will take on rather cocksure English side at Trent Bridge, result will be decided on how energetically they play on the field. Rest assured India will give their best to pause the debate of England dethroning India from first spot to shut the ranting mouths of Geoffrey Boycott and Ian Botham. Plus, if India does well in this match it will make it even harder for hosts with Sehwag and Zaheer expected to be back in scheme of things for third test to strengthen Team India for the rest of this tough test series.
The fifth edition of Indian Premier League is not running less in umpiring controversies. The rules books are searched again and again to explain the decisions made by umpires on the field.
It was a very positive series and a joy to watch. It may not have been teams 1 and 2 vying for the world championship but it was a tale of two teams on the up and some of the best captaincy, best fighting and best heart that you are ever likely to see.
To say the least, this has become a fashion for Team India and virtually there is no end to it. While over the last couple of years, India has managed to scale new peaks in the longest version of the game, they have always struggled with the bat in the first match of a series. Can’t take anything away from the way England played the first Test, but to be honest India was always one bowler short in this match, with the resources further depleting thanks to the injury of Gautam Gambhir and the virus that Tendulkar picked up also added to an unfair advantage to England.
