Watch cricket highlights from the 2nd Mohali Test - England vs India - Day 1 from the 2008 RBS Cup.
Scoreline: Gautham Gambhir hundred 106 n.o, Rahul Dravid half century 65 n.o. India opting to bat were 179/1 on Day 1, after poor light forced a late start and early end - 18 overs of play were lost, and by the end of this test we may have a session and a half of play lost to the weather.
Though Gautham Gambhir continued his super run, scoring his third century in 4 tests, a lot of the attention was on Dravid, who looked the best he has in recent times. Sehwag was out for a duck, and Dravid spent most of the morning session withdrawn in a shell. It wasn’t just about his batting but even his demeanour was like - let me blend into the surroundings, I just want to be with myself sort of thing. The overcast conditions and some good bowling by Stuart Broad, Flintoff and Anderson ensured that even Gambhir had to eke out his runs, going into aggressive mode mostly against Monty Panesar. Even though Dravid was scoring slow, the leaves, and defence were working fine. The post lunch session saw a phase of Dravid reminiscent of the 2002-2004 kind of stuff, with the Shot of the Day. Pietersen had a couple of close-in fielders for the cover drive and a midoff. Rahul tried to pierce them twice before perfectly bisecting them - a beautifully funny moment that - the two fielders diving across each other and then another dive from midoff being dodged by the ball.
Dravid did have a couple of silent phases but, if the first couple of overs don’t do anything painful to him tomorrow, a hundred or even a double could be on offer.
Gambhir batting alongside him definitely helped, because Gambhir does his own thing alongside either extreme - Sehwag/Dravid getting back into form. Gambhir had a bit of luck when a very very close LBW from Swann was turned down. Swann had a fantastic spell going for him in sharp contrast to Monty Panesar.
Tough times for England ahead, but I’m not sympathetic - How dare you leave Harmison out.
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