re: India to host England at Nagpur today 4th Test
**England battle on low pitch after losing openers
Lunch Report ....
**
England battle on low pitch after losing openersEngland endured a distinctly uncomfortable first morning on a sub-standard Test pitch in Nagpur as Ishant Sharma, the sole representative of that increasingly endangered species, an India quick bowler, picked up the wickets of Nick Compton and Alastair Cook to stir their hopes of levelling the series.Even allowing for India's urge to manufacture a victory to tie the series 2-2 and even allowing for the different characteristics of pitches worldwide, this Nagpur surface was inadequate for Test cricket. For a pitch to display persistent low and inconsistent bounce on the first morning of a Test was a travesty; the only question was how much it was by accident or design.
Umpiring standards have also been highly inconsistent in this series. Cook was the recipient of a bad lbw decision from Kumar Dharmasena, with the ball appearing to be heading wide of off stump, but Sharma will counter that in his previous over he deserved to have Jonathan Trott lbw, on 7, when Dharmasena made a marginal call that the ball has struck him outside the line.
On a pitch where the ball repeatedly died on pitching, lbw was in play for any bowler maintaining a strict wicket-to-wicket line. India must have seen enough to rue selecting four spinners instead of providing some fast-bowling support for Sharma. Without support, he was limited to six overs in his first spell, and eight before lunch, when his danger was apparent.
For England to find that they must repel India's challenge in the absence of Cook, their captain, must have come as quite a shock. In his first three Tests in India he had batted 1565 minutes, 1164 balls and 548 runs. He did not adorn those figures very much at all, managing a single off 28 balls - flicking Pragyan Ojha to midwicket - before he was dismissed in the last over of Sharma's first spell by a delivery which swung back slightly but not enough.
On a pitch so discouraging for strokeplay, some turgid periods of batting seemed inevitable, although Trott occasionally swept India's spinners to good effect and Pietersen, who was anxious to play positively against the spinners, muscled one or two shots down the ground. Only a few thousand had turned out to watch it - this modern stadium on the edge of town echoing to the smallest crowd of the series.
There was a hint of turn for Ravindra Jadeja, who was brought in for a debut at No 6, athough MS Dhoni's decision to give him eight overs by lunch - more than R Ashwin and Piyush Chawla combined - owed much to Pietersen's perceived fallibility against slow left-arm.
The Test began in familiar style: Cook played out a maiden, India opened the bowling with a spinner, in this case Ojha, and Nick Compton got off the mark with a tight single. But it was the unfamiliar which gave England most hope. Cook, at the fourth attempt, finally won a toss and inevitably batted on a markedly dry and cracked surface. Immediately, the low, inconsistent bounce on this pitch became apparent with Dhoni collecting several balls on the second bounce.
It was vagaries in bounce that accounted for Compton. Sharma dug one in short, more in hope than expectation, and managed to get one chest high, drawing Compton into a defensive edge to the wicketkeeper. When Cook followed, England were 16 for 2, but Sharma was immediately withdrawn and Pietersen and Trott survived unscathed until the interval.
Such was the low bounce of the pitch that the spinners bowled without silly point or short leg and when Sharma briefly returned for a second spell before lunch he did so without a slip.
After losing the Kolkata Test to go 1-2 down in the series, India dropped Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. Chawla was playing his first Test since April 2008. England made an enforced change: Steven Finn, who had disc trouble in his back, was replaced by Tim Bresnan, who was back for the first time since a disappointing Test in Ahmedabad.
There was also a Test debut for Joe Root at No. 6, ahead of Samit Patel, who was left out, or other potential contenders in Eoin Morgan and Jonny Bairstow. Whatever the outcome, Root, a technician in the accumulative mould, was unlikely to forget his first Test pitch in a hurry.
lets see if this match will over in 4th day or ???????
what a selection nightmare.