India Vs England 3rd Test: Dhoni Rises to the Occasion

As the post lunch session began, it was a repeat of the previous test match all over again. Wickets continued to tumble. Laxman was at fault for getting out to such a casual and innocuous shot. He was timing his shots so well and the boundries were coming at a very regular rate.

But a harmless short ball from Bresnan was pulled straight into the hands of Broad at fine leg. Laxman got out for 30 when he was actually showing some. Raina came in next, he must have been expecting a barrage of short balls but what he got from Anderson was a full ball that swung in a bit, and his timber was rattled.

Mishra got out like a typical tail ender. He missed a full half volley from Broad and got a faint nick. India was really down the barrel now at 111 for 7.

Captain Dhoni was joined by Praveen Kumar. Praveen looked to have some fun as usual but he was censured by the captain who wanted someone to bat around him. Guess the captain’s words worked like magic.

Praveen started playing responsibly after that. The English bowlers were also guilty of bowling too short to Praveen. When a full swinging delivery could have done the trick, the English pacers were more obsessed with chin music. But Praveen was more than up to the task and he also had a couple of crunchy hits to the fence. But, in all he was helped by some poor English bowling, for a change.

MSD was getting into his own rhythm at the other end after a rather circumspect start. The fours and the huge six started coming from the captain’s bludgeoning blade. The couple of sixers off Anderson down the ground and Bresnan over deep mid-wicket was a real treat to the fans of the swashbuckler. He reached his 50 with boundary from a cover drive off Swann. Other than this, he pulled, and drove with typical confidence, raw power and utter disdain.

Coming to Swann, his nightmare continued. He has this reputation of getting wickets regularly. But he has been put in place this series by the Indians. The way he has been handled has been the only silver lining for the Indians.

Praveen smashed him over his head and through the covers in the same over. And the icing came a few overs later when he swatted him coolly over long on for a 6. Swann was baffled. So was the pro-English crowd.

Now the sun was out and Dhoni and PK were comfortably negotiating the English quicks and Swann. The partnership was the best of the inning by far and promised much more.

If only the top order batsmen had shown a semblance of this application, the story could have been different. But still, MSD and PK were putting up a fight and a more than decent total was definitely gettable.

All this changed all of a sudden when Bresnan’s relentless short ball routine to PK finally worked. It was 195 for 8. A stubborn and entertaining run-a-ball partnership of 84 had finally been broken. Praveen had done his job by contributing 26 off 39 balls. It was entertaining and a fighting knock for sure by the UP boy.

Umpire Steve Davies had faltered yet again. Strauss took the review system and hot spot confirmed the edge from Praveen’s blade and England heaved a sigh of relief. Bresnan had scalped his 4^th for this inning and 11^th of the series in his 2^nd match

Bresnan continued with the short ball routine to Ishanth too. When he has such success with this routine, no wonder he will continue doing the same. But, against the tail, a full yorking length at a good pace works like a charm more often than not.

The session stats are 29 overs, 130 for 4 at a rate 4.38

India finish with 205 for 8 after 56 overs at the stroke of tea, with Dhoni unbeaten on a 72 ball enterprising 61. The session rate was more than 4 thanks to the pyrotechnics of MSD and PK.

So, a 50-50 session, with India having a good chance of getting close to 250 and beyond, if captain cool MSD stays for some more time, with some support from the likes of Ishanth and Sreesanth.