‘Reintegrated’ batsman smashes century as the visitors, who finally get to face some quality spin, end the day on 408/3.
Amit Mishra was there but England got very little exposure to spin bowling on the first day of their four-day warm-up match against Haryana. Despite being the skipper, Mishra restrained himself. He brought himself on as late as the 51st over and bowled only 11 overs on the day. He picked up two wickets — Nick Compton and Jonathan Trott — but that is a different story.
Of the 90 overs, 63 were bowled by seamers. Mishra and off-spinner Jayant Yadav bowled the remaining 27 . For 50 overs, Mishra remained a mere spectator. However, when he decided to roll his arm over, he did not take much time to strike. Only in his second over, he trapped Compton (74) in front.
Why did not he come on early? Actions speak louder than words. India do not want England to play quality spin before the Test series. Incidentally, the three wickets that England lost on the day were to spinners — two for Mishra and one for Yadav, who denied Alastair Cook a ton.
England chose to remain silent over India’s strategy. Ian Bell said, “It is not in our control. But it felt nice to face a few balls from a quality spinner, first time on this tour. It helped me and Kevin (Pietersen).”
But will the strategy hurt Mishra, more specifically the Indian team? If there was no such directive, Mishra sure would have had more success and if any of the three selected spinners — Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha — were to fail, he could have given the selectors an option.
Coming to the match, England, electing to bat, ended the day at 408/3, with Ian Bell and Samit Patel at the crease. From England’s point of view, it was a good day. Captain Cook (97, 114 balls, 20x4) missed his century but the southpaw had good batting practice. The best part of the day for England was that they managed to find an opening partner for the captain. Nick Compton, who made a solid 64* against Mumbai ‘A’ last week, followed it up with a responsible 74 at the Motera ‘B’ Ground on Thursday.
After the openers missed their centuries, Kevin Pietersen rode on a couple of ‘lives’ and reached his three-figure mark before retiring. He faced 94 balls for his 110 during which he smashed 14 fours and three towering sixes.
Scorecard
England: A Cook c Singh b Yadav 97, N Compton lbw b Mishra 74, J Trott lbw b Mishra 46, K Pietersen retd hurt 110,
Bell batting 57, S Patel batting 11; Extras: (B7, LB1, W3, NB2) 13; Total: (3 wickets; 90 overs) 408 (4.53 runs per over)
Fall of Wickets: 1-166 (Cook, 34.1 ov), 2-211 (Compton, 52.1 ov), 3-247 (Trott, 60.1 ov)
Bowling: S Budhwar 15-3-62-0 (W1), A Vashisht 21-1-115-0 (NB1, W2), S Rana 19-6-48-0 (NB1), C Saini 8-2-40-0, J Yadav 16-1-85-1, A Mishra 11-1-50-2
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