Hailed for his talent, derided for his no-balls, remembered for his spell to Ricky Ponting at Perth in 2008 and quizzically looked upon by hair-dressers, Ishant Sharma has seen it all. His up-and-down career graph was on view during the third day of the first Test here at Trent Bridge but India wouldn’t complain.
After spraying his no-balls, Ishant’s spell after lunch (7-1-29-3) toppled England from its perch.
At tea, England struggled at 205 for seven, a far cry from its lunch score of 131 for one. Ishant’s strikes found a ripple effect in Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and as the duo shared three wickets between them for just five runs from 10 deliveries, Alastair Cook’s men were resigned to play second-fiddle.
Ishant struck repeatedly post-lunch. First-up, the set batsmen — Sam Robson (59) and Gary Ballance (71) — were caught off-guard with their mode of exits being identical. Ruffled pads were followed by lingering doubts — about a probable inner edge from Robson; about may be a no-ball when it came to Ballance.
Umpire Bruce Oxenford was absolutely certain about the first dismissal and he was proved right by television replays.
And though Ishant’s propensity to bowl no-balls forced him to be cautious and place a call to the third umpire, thankfully for India, the lanky speedster’s delivery was legitimate against Ballance.
Ishant wasn’t done yet and the hint of reverse swing, helped him trouble the willow wielders. Ian Bell, pulled his first ball for four, used the angled bat that targeted the arc behind M.S. Dhoni and punished Bhuvneshwar and even Ishant.
But Bell’s tilting at the windmills had to stop. It did when he resorted to a half-measure against Ishant, intending to cut, pausing his bat but by then the ball had skimmed the blade for Dhoni to do the rest.
England was 172 for four and in the next half an hour, Shami banged one into Moeen Ali that stayed at waist-height. The cramped batsman edged to slip.
Next-man Prior did not edge Bhuvneshwar to Dhoni but going by England’s wretched run these days, Kumar Dharmasena deemed there was a feather-touch. The nightmare continued when Ben Stokes nibbled at Bhuvneshwar and India stayed ahead of its host.
The vagaries of fate that afflicted England after lunch hardly cropped up when Friday morning dawned with a grey shroud. Dhoni banked on the overcast skies to pep up his seamers.
Promptly, Shami and Bhuvneshwar were pressed into service but resuming at the overnight 43 for one, England found a sense of calm from the bats of Robson and Ballance.
The two batted in sync through a second-wicket partnership of 125 runs, with Robson being the initial accumulator before Balance indulged.
For Indian viewers, the unheard-of-duo may have reminded them of men like Graeme Fowler and Tim Robinson, who toured with David Gower’s men in 1984, and took India by surprise.
Out here, Robson and Ballance are rated high. With one Test century each in their respective nascent careers, you cannot grudge them their respect.
Classical opener
Robson essayed the classical opener’s role watchful, eager to bide time but equally crisp in dealing with loose deliveries. Ballance, not exactly the stylish southpaw scripting poetry on the off-side, was equally adequate.
Robson found his early appetisers against Shami, a cover-drive was etched and when Shami strayed into his legs, the opener picked his spots on the fence adjoining mid-wicket and square-leg.
Just as Dhoni mixed up his bowlers and watched Ishant do his medley of good deliveries, the errant ones, the odd no-ball and a bouncer that surprised Robson, the opener enjoyed a reprieve.
A sharp edge of Ravindra Jadeja eluded Virat Kohli’s hands at leg-slip. On 43 then, Robson needed no further assistance as he cruised to his 50.
His partner Ballance found his music with three fours off five balls against Ishant and when Stuart Binny strayed wide, the left-hander cut and dabbed, to notch his 50 and helped England enjoy a better appetite at lunch.
It proved to be a limited hurrah once Ishant steamed in under the sun.
Scoreboard:
India — 1st innings: Murali Vijay lbw b Anderson 146 (361b, 25x4, 1x6), Shikhar Dhawan c Prior b Anderson 12 (24b), Cheteshwar Pujara c Bell b Anderson 38 (69b, 7x4), Virat Kohli c Bell b Broad 1 (8b), Ajinkya Rahane c Cook b Plunkett 32 (81b, 4x4), M.S. Dhoni (run out) 82 (152b, 7x4), Ravindra Jadeja c Prior b Stokes 25 (24b, 2x4, 2x6), Stuart Binny c Root b Stokes 1 (11b), Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Root b Moeen 58 (149b, 5x4), Ishant Sharma b Broad 1 (6b), Mohammed Shami (not out) 51 (81b, 6x4, 1x6); Extras (b-1, lb-8, w-1):10; Total (in 161 overs): 457.
Fall of wickets: 1-33 (Dhawan), 2-106 (Pujara), 3-107 (Kohli), 4-178 (Rahane), 5-304 (Vijay), 6-344 (Jadeja), 7-345 (Dhoni), 8-345 (Binny), 9-346 (Ishant).
England bowling: James Anderson 38-10-123-3, Stuart Broad 33-13-53-2, Ben Stokes 34-6-81-2, Liam Plunkett 37-8-88-1, Moeen Ali 18-0-97-1, Joe Root 1-0-6-0.
England — 1st innings: Alastair Cook b Shami 5 (10b, 1x4), Sam Robson (batting) 20 (48b, 2x4), Gary Ballance (batting) 15 (46b, 1x4); Extras (nb-2, w-1): 3; Total (for one wkt., in 17 overs): 43.
Fall of wicket: 1-9 (Cook).
India bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-12-0, Mohammad Shami 5-1-15-1, Ishant Sharma 5-1-12-0, Ravindra Jadeja 2-1-3-0, Stuart Binny 1-0-1-0.
