The 19-year-old opener compiled an unbeaten half-century on debut but it was the manner in which he did it that suggested Cook’s latest opening partner might be here to stayAlastair Cook described Haseeb Hameed as unflappable when announcing the 19-year-old’s Test debut would come in Rajkot but it is pretty safe to assume he did not envisage his new opening partner to be the type that launches straight sixes early on in potentially perilous situations.But just six overs into England’s second innings on the fourth day, with a session to negotiate and a lead of 49 to bolster, the right-hander decided the aerial route represented a viable response to the left-arm spin of Ravi Jadeja and duly danced down the...
Cheteshwar Pujara’s 124 was the first 100 scored by an Indian batsman on the ground – and he was watched by his father in person for the first timeCheteshwar Pujara is the local hero here in Rajkot. On the third day of the first Test hosted by the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, and with his father-cum-coach Arvind watching in person for the first time, it was somehow fitting that his was the first hundred scored by an Indian batsman on the ground.If such layers of additional meaning upped the pressure on Pujara, the No3 showed little of it on 99 when he calmly cut Chris Woakes’ third delivery with the new ball after tea behind square before haring down the...
The tourists ended day one in the ascendancy thanks to Joe Root and Moeen Ali but the No1-ranked Test side are far from beatenAfter suffering a first defeat by Bangladesh and the horror show of a 10-wicket collapse inside a session that brought it about England went into the first day of their five-Test series with India as a team who could ill-afford any more dents to their confidence in the opening exchanges. With no warm-up games scheduled – a mistake unlikely to be repeated – only net practice and team talks came before the most daunting of away series. They needed a few things to go their way in Rajkot to establish an early foothold. Related: Joe Root and...
England’s cricketers arrived in Delhi 23 years ago expecting easy pickings. What transpired was a catastrophe that bordered on satire, the hosts treating their guests to perilous travel, dodgy prawns – and a humiliating cricketing lessonA generation of brilliant England cricketers has been sacrificed at the altar of banter. Talk about English cricket in the 1990s and many will snigger about how relentlessly crap it was. The reality, as presented so brilliantly in Emma John’s book Following On and Mark Butcher’s documentary England in the 90s, was a bit more nuanced. England contributed significantly to the second golden age of Test cricket.There was, however, one winter where gallows humour or outright derision was the only reasonable option. On their tour...
The opening practice session of England’s India tour took place in the pleasant surroundings of the Brabourne Stadium, with few clues as to the tourists’ likely first Test lineupEngland tiptoed on to the most genteel patch of cricketing turf in India for their first practice on the second leg of their tour. The training session at the Brabourne Stadium, the home of the Cricket Club of India was, theoretically, optional but everyone attended.It was meant to last two and a half hours, but, having completed all that was required, a group decision to practise some more was reached. And so they did. While we can quibble about the quality of some of England’s play on the tour, there can be...