England picked up where they left off with a crushing victory over India at Old Trafford. After levelling the series with a 266 run win at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, both teams knew that they could take a giant step towards wrapping up the series by taking the encounter in Greater Manchester.

 

India won the toss and elected to bat, but found themselves facing an uphill task very quickly, with their top order ripped to shreds by Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson. The two fast-bowlers got the ball swinging, with experienced opener Gautam Gambhir the first to go. In an extraordinary opening half-an-hour, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara were all dismissed for ducks, leaving India on 8-4. Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mahendra Singh Dhoni steadied the ship somewhat, with the latter being the only Indian to pass 50. However, Broad skittled the tail-enders to leave India all out for 152 and finish with personal figures of 6-25.

 

 

The gloss was then slightly taken off the bowling performance as Sam Robson and Alastair Cook went out cheaply. Gary Ballance looked set to build on his burgeoning reputation with some nice shots, but fell for 37 in the final over of the first day to Varun Aaron. Ian Bell and Joe Root then got England back on track with knocks of 58 and 77 respectively, while Jos Buttler also contributed with 70 to help England to a solid total of 367. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed three wickets along with Aaron, the real story was Pankaj Singh’s two wickets. His international test career has mirrored the old adage about London buses. After an interminable wait for a wicket, he claimed two in quick succession, which must have warmed even the stoniest Barmy Army hearts.

 

England were clearly determined to avoid having to bat again and set about India with purpose. Vijay was the first to go, and although Gambhir and Pujara tried to offer some resistance, both were gone in quick succession. Spinner Moeen Ali is really starting to come into his own on the international stage and showed tremendous athleticism to take the catch of Rahane. Kohli then fell at the hands of Anderson, before Ali continued to showcase his rapid improvement, as he drew both Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja into errors and then ran out Kumar. It was left to the bustling Chris Jordan to finish off the tail-enders, and his quick deliveries put paid to Aaron and Singh’s time at the crease and secured a crushing triumph.

 

After England’s surrender at Lord’s just under three weeks ago, the response has been remarkable to witness.A series win would surely stave off speculation surrounding Alastair Cook’s future as captain and vindicate the decision to reinstate Peter Moores as coach. However, there will be a considerable number who believe that the rapid turnaround in fortunes is predominantly due to India’s deficiencies rather than England’s strengths. Whatever the reason(s), long may it continue!

Alex Bowmer

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