The fascination inherent in any contest between a quality spinner and competent batsmen was the theme of an earlier report; post-tea events prompt an encore.
Flintoff started the session with Panesar at one end and kept him going; the left arm spinner, who seems to have grown two inches since Nagpur, responded beautifully.
Initially, he had Dravid in some trouble, primarily because the Indian captain initially looked to lunge way forward in defense, and more often than not was reaching for the ball.
Dravid changed tack, began to play the left-armer late and on length, either rocking back to cut/flick/paddle or coming well forward to drive off his pads.
Panesar countered by over the wicket into the rough to try and tuck Dravid up. Against Jaffer, perceived to be weak on the off side of the deck, he stuck to the around the wicket mode -- and on the stroke of the first hour after tea, got his man. The ball was tossed right up, with lots of flight and loop. Jaffer hadn't hit a drive on the off in anger all innings; here, he opted for the shot, without really getting his arms free, and managed only to scoop it to cover (India 96/2; Jaffer 31/104).
A statistic illustrates the differing approaches of the two batsmen against the spinner: At the point of Jaffer's dismissal, he had faced 24 deliveries and scored 5 runs; against that, Dravid had scored 21 off 23, including 9 singles, a two, a three and two fours.
Jaffer's exit set up an even better contest -- a pumped up Steve Harmison against Sachin Tendulkar. Bowlers round the world tend to step up a couple of gears when bowling to India's number four -- Harmison was no exception, greeting the batsman with the fastest ball of the match thus far, a 152.3 kmph scorcher that thudded into the pad off the thick inner edge.
The next one was a replica of the ball that got Sehwag; the difference between the two batsmen showed in the way Sachin immediately dropped his wrist to take gloves and bat out of harm's way, swaying back and letting the ball glance off his right bicep.
Ball three, perhaps predictably, was the yorker -- Tendulkar waited on it and pushed it through mid on for three, and the battle was joined -- and finished, by the England captain.
Flintoff replaced Harmison, and produced a stunner -- a ball on a fullish length just outside off, that pulled Tendulkar forward and took off, from that unlikely length. The batsman tried to pull away, but he was a lifetime too late -- the ball flew off the edge to Andrew Strauss for a face-high take, and India was 103/3 (SRT 4/15, and a series aggregate of 48 in three innings thus far) and in trouble, given its truncated batting lineup.
Flintoff, whose post tea spell was unalloyed aggression, immediately went around the wicket to Yuvraj Singh -- a trademark for the bowler rated top of his class in bowling to southpaws, and the batsman opened with a fluent punch off his hips through the long on region for three; an over later, a seemingly gentle push found the straight boundary past the bowler in a striking testament to eye and timing.
The left-hander's one Test layoff with a hamstring problem did not appear to have impacted confidence acquired during a streak that over the last nine innings reads 5, 168, 2, 83, 0, 21, 0, 74 and 144. Facing Panesar for the first time, he first played a flowing drive to mid off, then danced down to drive on the other side of the pitch -- two sweet shots that fetched just one run, but the intent was unmistakable.
At the other end, a back foot cover drive off Panesar took Dravid to his 41st Test 50 (116 balls); almost unnoticed, his career average has crept to within a tick of 58.
With play into its final lap, an incredible piece of cricket took out Yuvraj Singh. Earlier in the session Bell, at short square leg, had taken a Yuvraj pull-sweep squarely in the back of the neck. Hoggard took over from Flintoff with eight overs left in play, and kept angling the ball across the left hander, looking to get him slashing. The batsman left two; the third was more in his range, closer to off, and Yuvraj launched into a trademark cover drive hit perfectly off the meat of the bat.
Ian Bell, at short cover, wasn't even supposed to be there for that kind of shot -- but he took off like an acrobat, or a top class soccer goalkeeper and, in full flight, stuck a hand up and clung on with his left hand to the fierce hit even as the ball was passing him.
The best of fielders take a catch of that quality maybe once, twice a lifetime; it ended an innings that was looking threatening given the ease with which the batsman was knocking the ball around and getting runs (15 off 30; India 134/4).A curious aspect was that Flintoff took Hoggard off after the one over and brought himself back on. You would be tempted to think that it was part of a plan worked out for Yuvraj -- only, there is no way in the world to plan for a catch like that, off a shot that was heading for the ropes before Bell so stunningly intercepted its flight.
In fading light, and at a state of the game where you would expect a batsman to see through the six overs remaining in play, Dhoni played two shots worth going miles to see. Flintoff bowled what can only be called a fast off break, pitching just outside off and cutting back in at around 138k; Dhoni went onto the back foot and forced it back along its line, past cover, for four. The next ball was a late swinging yorker -- flicked almost casually to deep midwicket. Next up, Harmison with the full length delivery in the last over of the day -- and a casual punch back past the bowler for four.
India went in on 149/4, ending a session that produced 97 runs for the loss of three top order Indian batsmen in 34 overs, and clearly went England's way.
India's hopes of grinding England down today and creating a platform for tomorrow has crashed, thanks to two superlative deliveries, one unbelievable catch, and one loose shot. It is at times like this that you feel positively grateful for the stabilizing presence of Dravid at one end. 'Is that captain of ours trying to set a record for the slowest Test innings ever?', asked a mail that landed in my box during the early part of his innings.
Maybe -- but to twist an old proverb a touch, a batsman in the middle is, for the team, worth four in the hut.
In a sense, Dravid is the batting equivalent of his state mate and friend Kumble -- the same grit and grind, the same focus on playing his own game rather than mimic the flashy styles of the pop stars, and the same flint-edged effectiveness.
England's commitment again came through on the day; even when partnerships developed, there was no sign of let up, no perceptible wilt. Just a sure sense that if they went about their job, the wickets would come.
Harmison and Flintoff on the day bowled the glamour balls, but the star for me in the session was Monty Panesar, who bowled unchanged after coming on in the over before tea until just before close (16-3-43-1), tested all the batsmen, shut one end down to let his mates attack in short spurts from the other, and produced a display of fluid, consistently good left-arm spin.
To see a left arm spinner, a Sikh what is more, amble in off three steps, whirr the ball through the air with flight and loop and control and turn for such long spells revives forgotten memories of Bishen Bedi, the prototype for this particular art form. It takes remarkable self-possession, in your debut series, to go up against the Indians and hold your own -- it is a feat a Shane Warne, for all his greatness, hasn't managed.
