India v England Review

History was made in Nagpur on the 17^th December 2012, where a touring England side had beaten an uninspired Indian side for the first time in 27 years. Many captains and teams have been to India and come back hardly a team, but not Alistair Cook and his cricketers.

England Tours to India since 1984/85

Year	Captain	Result
1993	Graham Gooch	L 3-0 (3)
2001/02	Nasser Hussain	L 1-0 (3)
2006	Andrew Flintoff	D 1-1 (3)
2008	Kevin Pietersen	L 1-0 (2)
2012	Alistair Cook	W 2-1 (4)

The four match test series looked to be an enthralling one as England looked to bounce back after a poor year in which they have been whitewashed and lost the #1 test ranking, not to mention the Pietersen Saga throughout the summer. India were marked as the clear favourites as they were close to invincible at home. Rarely do they lose a test series in their own backyard. 

The series kicked off in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in November. The toss is always important, but it is emphasised in Indian conditions. The pitch produced in Ahmedabad was a dead track. It was slow, dry and it looked like spin will be the key when bowling. It did absolutely nothing for the seamers. India had two frontline spinners out in Ashwin and Ohja playing and a surprise to many was that Panesar was left out of the England team; with Bresnan playing instead (Finn was injured).  That looked to be a costly decision as India began extremely strongly. Gambhir and Sehwag in particular powering India along to 134-0 before Swann removed Gambhir. That barely changed a thing as new man Pujara came to the crease and looked good. Sehwag continued to a brilliant run-a-ball 117 before he gave his wicket away to Swann, again. Sachin and Kholi came and went, both getting out to Swann.  That made the score 323-4 at stumps, Swann with all four wickets. Day 2 was all about Cheteshwar Pujara. He had never faced England before but caused them all sorts of problems. He rarely looked vulnerable and battled his way to a brilliant 206*. India declared at a mammoth total of 521-8. Seven wickets were taken by spin (Swann: 6, Patel: 1).
Then in came England for a mini session, in which they failed under pressure. Debutant Compton went early, Anderson and Trott shortly followed, leaving England 41-3 at stumps on day 2. All wickets to spin. England could not provide any resistance the following morning as Pietersen struggled against Ohja (left arm spin), Bell fell first ball and after Cook was dismissed, there was no hope of avoiding the follow on. After being bowled out for 191 England followed on and had the evening session to bat. Very few could have predicted that England would be 111-0 at stumps, but somehow they were. Cook had powered himself to a good fifty and Compton had provided excellent support. Fight back maybe? The following morning session didn’t seem like it as England lost three wickets, followed by two more in the afternoon session, but Cook remained at the crease. He passed a well-deserved 100 and with support from Matt Prior in the evening, ended day 4 on 340-5, lead of 10. England needed at least 150 more runs to save this match. The morning session of day 5 went in India’s favour after the spinners remove Prior for 91 and then Cook for 176. Again, the tail provided no resistance. England were bowled out for 406, a significant improvement, but little use as the first innings was so poor. India had a target of 80, they won by 9 wickets. The man of the match was obvious - Chesteshwar Pujara for a truly elegant 206*. He never looked like getting out.

So where do England go next? Again their woes against spin dominate the headlines and cries of 4-0 were being heard all around the camp. It was off to Mumbai for the second test, where England lost the toss again and were put into the field. The pitched looked to be a spinner’s pitch, very dusty and dry. It also offered some assistance to the pace bowlers as Anderson picked up Gambhir second ball of the match with an in-swinger. England were all over India in the morning session and it continued into the afternoon session as well as India found themselves 169-6. However, resistance from Pujara and Ashwin made sure India achieved a respectable score as India were bowled out for 327, with Ashwin scoring 68 and Pujara scoring 135. England were finding it difficult to bowl to Pujara – 341 runs in just two innings. England had bowled better than the first test, but the questions are always about their batting. They showed in the second innings at Ahmedabad that they are capable, but could they deliver when they had a chance? England began well and found themselves 66-0 before losing two quick wickets. Beginning of the end? It was indeed the beginning of the end, but for India, not England. At 68-2, Pietersen joined Cook at the crease. 206 runs later, India had their third wicket and the it was seen that England meant business. Cook had batted beautifully and didn't look like getting out, yet he got a beauty from Ashwin, almost unplayable, and he had to depart for 122. Consecutive hundreds for Cook and that made it four hundreds in four test matches as captain. From that point on, it was all about Pietersen. All the controversy in the summer and debate about his future before the series was put aside as fans and cricket lovers could only watch the sheer class of KP. He dominated the Indian attack, went after the spinners, in particular Ohja. Eventually he fell for a magnificent 186, one of three dominating and fantastic hundreds he cooked up 2012 (151 v SL & 149 v SA).
However, from then on England collapsed and were bowled out for 413, lead of 86, useful. They had managed 31 runs after Pietersen fell at the sixth wicket. Nevertheless, pressure was on India and they did not handle it well. India lost Sehwag early and shortly afterwards they lost Pujara. The score was 37-2. Enter The Little Master, Sachin The Great, potentially the best batsmen ever on what could be his last test innings in his home ground. The stage was set for a masterclass, but to the crowd's disappointment he fell to Panesar again. From then on it was the all about the spin twins. They rattled through India's batting. Batsman after batsman fell and India had finished day 3 on 117-7. They had a lead of 31 but Gambhir was 53* to some people's surprise. This was the session that blew the test series wide open. This was the session that made everyone think England were back, that they meant business. The next day went as planned for England. India were bowled out for 142, which meant England need 55 to win this test match. All wickets in that second innings fell to spin in addition to the 9 that fell in the first innings. Cook and Compton went about the chase positively. England had won by 10 wickets, finishing 58-0 with Compton 30*, useful runs for him. 

A stunning victory for England which meant the series is very much alive. After the annihilation of the first test, England faced a potential 4-0 whitewash, but they proved almost everybody wrong with a thrashing of India. Swann & Panesar bowled beautifully in the second innings especially and had won their first test playing together. England's spinners were better than India's spinners. The man of the match was none other that Kevin Pietersen. Stunning innings.

The "Spin Twins" guided England to a memorable victory

The third test was to be played at Kolkata at the spectacular Eden Gardens. India had won the toss again and decided to bat again. A change to the Indian team was that Ishant Sharma came in for Harbhajan and for England, Steven Finn came in for  lack luster Stuart Broad. India began well, but as soon as a partnership was developing, a bastmen would get out. There were fifties for Tendulkar, who scored 76, Gambhir, who score 60 and Yuvraj who scored 52. This time the wickets were shared among the bowlers with Anderson taking 3, Panesar taking 4 and Swann & Finn taking a wicket a piece. India had scored a below par 316. Now it was England's turn to show their class again, in particular Cook. A mammoth opening partnership of 165 between Cook & Compton clearly dictated the test match. Compton fell for 57 and that brought to the crease an out of form Trott. However, Trott hung around and batted like Trott does, scoring a solid 87 before being caught off Ohja. The score at this point was 338-2. Cook was quietly going on about his business as he passed 50, 100 and 150. He had now scored five hundreds in five matches as captain. Cook was run out in bizarre circumstances for 190. The video below is Cook's dismissal.

Soon after Cook's wicket, Pietersen got to fifty and there were scores and starts for Prior and Patel that escalated England up to a brilliant 523, lead of 207. They had turned this test series around quite dramatically. Again, there was immense pressure on India, but could they bounce back this time? It seemed so because India had got themselves to 86-0 at lunch on day 4. However, from the very first ball of the afternoon session things went horribly wrong for India. From 86-0 they collapsed (again) to 122-6. Game over surely? The only thing that prevented an innings defeat was a resilient 91* from Ashwin. An innings of concentration, cricketing shots and elegance. He deserved a hundred, but unfortunately ran out of partners. England then needed 41 to take a 2-1 lead and avoid a series defeat. They got off to a terrible start as Cook was stumped and Trott & Pietersen were trapped LBW and England were 8-3. But an classy knock from Bell guided England home and they were on the verge of history. The lead 2-1 in the series with one to go. They were on the verge on winning in India for the first time in over 25 years, they were on the verge of being the first team to win in India since 2004. 

Nagpur was the venue of the final test match and what awaited the teams was, quite frankly, a disgrace of a pitch. No bounce & hardly any carry had the cricketing world wondering why India had produced a pitch like this, especially because they needed a win. England won the toss and batted first. A surprise to everybody was selection for both teams. India had dropped Khan and Yuvraj and replaced them with Chawla and Jadeja respectively. They went for spin. Sharma was the only seamer and this was decision that they would regret. Meanwhile, England had selected young Yorkshire opener Joe Root over Samit, Morgan and Bairstow to bat at number 6. To prove how slow the pitch was, England finished day 1, on 199-5. They had scored less that 200 runs in 90 overs. The run rate was just over two. Pietersen top scored with 73 after early wickets picked up by Sharma and England were 16-2. Prior and Root had dug in towards the end of day 1. The scoring was still very slow on day 2, but Prior, Root and surprisingly Swann made it to fifties. Typically Swann scored his fairly quickly, but Root had batted very well for a debutant. England were bowled out for 330 in the end. India began badly again as Sehwag was removed third ball, but then there was some fight shown between Gambhir & Pujara before Pujara, Tendulkar and Gambhir departed in quick succession to leave India 87-4 at stumps on day 2. They looked helpless again. However day 3 proved to be quite surprising as Kholi, a man totally out of form knocked up a 103 and in partnership with Dhoni, who ran himself out for 99, made 198 runs. The tail soon collapsed afterwards, but spent far too long in the middle. Ohja was 3 of 32, Ashwin ws 29 of 65, so Dhoni delcared four runs short of England's total. Now all England had to do was bat. Bat as long as they could, and so they did. Cook was out for next to nothing, but only to dodgy umpiring. Compton made a start, then was trapped LBW to Ohja. Pietersen left a straight one from Jadeja and England were in a bit of trouble at 94-3. Yet it was not time to panic. Trott continued to bat, bat and bat which is typical of him. Stumps of day 4 saw England 161-3 with Trott and Bell at the crease; both batsmen looked settled.

 Day 5 saw no joy for the Indians as Trott continued to bat and was well supported by Bell as both went on to hundreds. Trott fell for a great 143, but Bell finished not out on 116 as England declared on 352-4. The match was called a draw. England had done it. They had broken history. They had won in India for the first time since 1984/85 and after going 1-0 down. They were the first team to win since 2004 in India. A very historic win for England. James Anderson was man of the match and easily the pick of the seamers throughout the tour. The player of the series was none other that Cook. Three hundreds, an average of  80.2 and 562 runs in 8 innings. It was the perfect was to start his career as permanent England captain.