Liam Dawson is not quite the ‘King of Spain’. In fact, Ashley Giles has every right to take offence to the comparison, while Dawson might not take any if one calls his bowling at Test level ‘left-arm nothing’. The 35-year-old is playing this game because Shoaib Bashir is injured. This is his first Test after a gap of eight years and fourth overall, after making his debut in December 2016.
The left-arm spinner provided England with arguably the most vital breakthrough of the day. Yashasvi Jaiswal was batting on 58 and he wasn’t looking like getting out. The ball teased Jaiswal’s forward defence, falling well short of it and held its line to take the outside edge to Harry Brook at first slip.
Jaiswal usually doesn’t get out in the fifties. He revels in scoring daddy hundreds. Rarely does he lose his wicket playing forward defence to a spinner. For 106 balls before his dismissal, he batted with monkish concentration. In fact, it was a masterclass in leaving the ball. It felt like the young opener got the dressing down of his life – tongue firmly in cheek – for his second-innings dismissal at Lord’s and was eager to make amends. Dawson upset the plan.
India made a good start at Old Trafford after losing the toss, not losing a wicket in the first session and putting on a 94-run opening partnership before KL Rahul perished for a well-made 46 off 98 balls. The hosts kept the scoring rate in check, for they were ready to play the waiting game. From their perspective, Jaiswal’s scalp was important, given the player’s ability to take the game away from the opposition.
Suddenly, India were two down, and then it became 140/3 when Shubman Gill shouldered arms to an incoming delivery from Ben Stokes. The England captain’s appeal attested aggression, while his Indian counterpart found the boot on the other foot. Gill was out leg-before for 12.
So, it came down to Sai Sudharsan, back to the fold after two Tests at the expense of Karun Nair, and Rishabh Pant to do the resurrection job. Together, they took the score to 212 when injury struck.
Pant tried to reverse-sweep a yorker length delivery from Chris Woakes and got a faint tickle – it probably saved him – before the boot got involved. He grimaced in pain and had to be stretchered off – golf-carted off to be precise. The wicketkeeper-batsman retired hurt on 37 off 48 balls.
Pant’s fascination for exotic shots saw him get down on one knee and sweep Jofra Archer for a four as if he was facing Eddie Hemmings. He tried a reverse-sweep against the fast bowler next ball and was disappointed with himself for not executing it properly. Eventually, it was one too many and his departure left the door ajar for England, with the second new ball only 12 overs away.
After that, it was down to Sai to take his team through to the stumps without any further damage. But the left-hand batter fell prey to his indiscretion, getting caught at long leg off a Stokes bouncer. It was poor game awareness, which exposed the lower order.
Sai capitalised on an early reprieve to score 61 off 151 deliveries. But he would be disappointed with the manner of his dismissal. India finished the day on 264/4, and it could have been better. For England, their skipper once again was their best bowler.
Brief scores: India 264/4 (Sai Sudharsan 61, Yashasvi Jaiswal 58, Rishabh Pant retired hurt 37; Ben Stokes 2/47) vs England
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