Ahmedabad, November 16
It’s early days yet, and England have lost merely three wickets in the Test series, but it’s clear that England’s weakness against spin bowling is similar to India’s weakness against swing and bounce abroad.

In a manner highly reminiscent of India’s capitulation in England last year, the visitors went through their second consecutive days of agony. India are masters of the situation now – after declaring at 521/8, they reduced England to 41/3 in 18 overs at the end of the second day. They’ve done this on a pitch that, despite much talk of its deadliness, is devil-free. The devil lies in the visitors’ lack of familiarity with such wickets, and the lack of the requisite knowhow.

One man holds the key – the hastily-forgiven, hastily-reintegrated Kevin Pietersen. Atop the partially breached walls of the English citadel, Pietersen is keeping his wits, as was clear from the manner he faced his first ball in Test cricket after ending hostilities with his cricket board and teammates.

Cheteshwar Pujara clebrates after scoring double century on Friday. — PTI

As three English wickets fell in a rather limp manner late today, Pietersen came in at 30 for three. After Jonathan Trotted had bat-padded the previous ball to short-leg, down went Pietersen to Ravichandran Ashwin and hustled through for a single. He wasn’t going to await the ball and the accompanying doom at his crease – he’s a doer, not a hanger-on. Survive or perish, he’ll play the ball on his own terms, and he knows that he can make it work. If the task of rebuilding the England innings and escaping defeat is to be accomplished, he has to be at the centre of it.

It’s not going to be easy. The weight of Indian runs on the scoreboard is messing with the English minds, and that underscores the fact that India were very fortunate to win the toss. On a wicket on which the Indian batsmen never looked like getting out – and got out only when they attacked with indiscretion – England lost three wickets playing defensive shots.

Ashwin bowled debutant Nick Compton through the gap between bat and pad and then got Trott. Nightwatchman James Anderson was consumed by Pragyan Ojha through a catch at short leg.

India had worked hard at their close catching a day before the Test started, and they got the opportunity to put it into practice on the second day. Five hundred runs gave India the confidence to throw a ring of five close catchers around the England batsmen. To combat India’s spin and banish the fear of being caught close to the wicket, the England batsmen need to scatter away the catchers. They need to attack and score runs. That’s a tactic fraught with danger, and this suggests that the third day would be very exciting.

Today was a rather dull day to begin with, as the England bowlers failed to endanger the Indian batsmen, who went about scoring runs without any urgency.

Cheteshwar Pujara was unthreatened as he coolly reached his first double century in only his sixth Test, and Yuvraj Singh made his comeback memorable with a fine 74. India did lose four wickets today, and at least the specialists among the four would be kicking themselves for the strokes they played.

Yuvraj hit an ugly full toss from Samit Patel down to long-on, MS Dhoni exposed his stumps to Graeme Swann as he attempted a sweep. Ashwin and Zaheer were untroubled but gave away their wickets. That was the story of the Indian innings – as Virender Sehwag said yesterday, it was difficult to get out if you blocked the ball and took no chances.The story of the England innings was vastly different, though only three wickets have fallen, one of them of the nightwatchman.

The fear of their batsmen, labouring under the burden of India’s massive score, however, is evident. It would take nothing less than a supreme Pietersen innings to conquer fear retrieve the situation.

Ahmedabad, November 16
Late on the second day of the first Test today, Ravichandran Ashwin reached 50 wickets in Test cricket in his ninth Test – becoming the quickest Indian to that mark.

The day, though, belonged to Cheteshwar Pujara, who became the 19th Indian batsman to score a double century in Test cricket, and the sixth against England.

The man whose shoes Pujara is attempting to fill, Rahul Dravid, a commentator here, would approve of what he’s seen of him. Indeed, Dravid sent Pujara a congratulatory text message yesterday, after Pujara came off the field unconquered on 98 when play ended. It would be unjust to both men to draw a comparison between the two at this stage of Pujara’s career, and without seeing Pujara excel on overseas tracks. But this much can be said safely – Pujara is a proper long-form batsman, possesses great patience, puts the bad balls away and his driving is easy on the eye. If that sounds like a description of Dravid, so be it.

Pujara likes to bat on and on – his feats of endurance and patience in domestic cricket are legion. Apart from his two Test centuries (159 and 206*), he has 14 first-class centuries – knocks of 145, 177, 139, 100, 109, 148*, 151*, 302*, 189, 176, 112*, 204*, 110 and 208*. Clearly, he likes to make them large.

His second double century was nearly unblemished, apart from a couple of quarter-chances. “I’ve done the same thing in domestic cricket… I never like to get out,” Pujara said today. “There’s always a price on my wicket. Even after scoring a double-hundred I never wanted to give away my wicket. That’s the reason why I’m able to score big runs.” Pujara was promoted to No. 3 in only his second Test innings (after batting at No. 5 in the first), against Australia at Bangalore in 2010, and he responded with a nerveless 72 as India chased, successfully, a target of 207 for victory.

Incidentally, it was in that match an Indian last scored a Test double-century – Sachin Tendulkar, with his 214 in the first innings.

Ahmedabad, November 16
Yuvraj Singh, having smacked a full toss from Samit Patel to Graeme Swann at long-on, seemed immobilised with disappointment. He dragged his feet on his shuffle back towards the pavilion, no doubt giving himself a mental kicking for an ugly shot to an ugly ball.

Indeed, Yuvraj was quite upset – upset enough to refuse to talk with him mother after close of play. “He’s very upset with the way he got out, and he’s so down that he’s not talking with me,” Shabnam Singh said over the phone. “He was batting very well, he’s determined to do his best in Test cricket.”

His disappointment is a good sign – a good cricketer should regret such an error, but Yuvraj should take heart. He has much to be cheerful about since returning to cricket. After an early hiccup, when he may have been fortunate to survive an LBW appeal off the bowling of Graeme Swann in the day’s first over, Yuvraj had settled down.

The first sign of offence today came from Cheteshwar Pujara, not Yuvraj. Having reached his 100 with a single off the last ball of the day’s fourth over, Pujara straight-drove Swann for four. Two balls later, Yuvraj advanced down the wicket and smacked Swann for a six over long-on, and then swept to mid-wicket for four. Yuvraj attacked sporadically and, on the whole, it wasn’t an attacking innings. From 35 off 65 balls, he slowed down to 47 in 97. He was prepared to put his head down and grind it out. The 98th delivery he faced, bowled by Patel, was met by Yuvraj where it pitched and smacked over mid-wicket for four – a half-century on his return. He then drove Patel for six straight down the ground and pulled Swann for a four to go off for lunch with 72 off 140 balls.

He didn’t last long after lunch, getting tempted by possibly the worst ball of the match, a very high full-toss from Patel. Yuvraj knew he’d gifted it away, and Patel looked suitably bashful at getting an undeserved wicket. “Yes, I got a wicket (off a full toss) and that too Yuvraj,” Patel said later when asked if this was the best full toss he’d bowled in his life. Yuvraj, meanwhile, went off the ground with a heavy heart and leaden feet.

“He knows that he has missed a good opportunity to score a century on his comeback,” said Shabnam Singh. “It’s a good return to Test cricket for him after a difficult year, and he was determined to do well.”

Two months ago, Yuvraj had said: "It is hard to believe that I will be playing for India again. A few months back I had trouble climbing four steps, now I can't wait to take the field. It is like starting a new life." Yuvraj must not fret too much – he must remember it’s a good comeback. It’s a new innings, and he must make his second coming count more than his first arrival, in Test cricket. He’s on the right track. 

SCOREBOARD

WI first innings 527-4 decl

Bangladesh first innings (overnight 455-6)

Iqbal c Narine b Sammy 72

Siddique c Bravo b Rampaul 7

Nafees c Ramdin b Rampaul 31

Islam c Ramdin b Sammy 108

Shakib c Sub b Rampaul 89

Rahim c&b Permaul 43

Hossain c Gayle b Best 96

Mahmudullah c Powell b Narine 62

Gazi b Narine 4

Hossain b Narine 13

R.Hossain not out 0

Extras: 31

Total: (all out; 148.3 ovrs) 556

Fall of wickets: 1-25 2-88 3-119 4-286 5-362 6-368 7-489 8-493 9-554 10-556

Bowling: Rampaul 32-2-118-3, Best 23-3-77-1 (w-3), Sammy 23-3-83-2, Narine 32.3-5-148-3, Permaul 29-7-75-1, Gayle 3-0-14-0, Samuels 6-0-21-0

WI 2nd innings

Gayle c Rahim b Rubel 19

Powell c Rahim b Shakib 110

Bravo c Rahim, b Rubel 76

Samuels c Shahriar b Gazi 1

Ramdin lbw b Shakib 5

Sammy not out 15

Permaul b Gazi 10

Extras: 8

Total: (6 wkts; 64.5 overs) 244

Fall of wickets: 1-20 2-209 3-212 4-218 5-225 6-244

Bowling: Gazi 18.5-2-63-2 Hossain 14-4-35-2, Mahmudullah 3-0-12-0, Shahadat 7-1-34-0, Shakib 11-2-56-2 , Naeem 8-0-22-0, Hossain 3-0-18-0

New Delhi, November 16
Former India captain Kapil Dev today heaped praises on double centurion Cheteshwar Pujara but said it was too early to say that the Indian team has found Rahul Dravid's replacement in him.

“He has just started. He has shown great temperament but you cannot compare him with Rahul so early. Let him make his own position in the team and name for himself. It is unfair to put him under pressure and say he is the replacement of so and so," said the 1983 World Cup winning captain. “Rahul gave 15 years to cricket and then became what he is,” added Kapil.

Another former skipper, Ajay Jadeja, said he was impressed with Pujara's hunger for runs.

‘Trott breached the ‘Spirit of Cricket’

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar today lashed out at England's Jonathan Trott, saying the player "breached the spirit of cricket" by refusing to acknowledge that he had not cleanly taken a catch on the opening day of the first cricket Test. “It was quite clear that the spirit of cricket was breached. I think there should have been a sanction against Trott," Gavaskar said. Gavaskar recalled a similar incident that had taken place in the past, during a match between England and Pakistan. “We have seen in the past when there was a Pakistani wicketkeeper who appealed against Ian Botham," he said. — PTI 

Ahmedabad, November 16
England all-rounder Samit Patel is confident that the likes of skipper Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell have the ability to hit big hundreds and also save the Test match in the remaining three days.

“We have two world class batsmen at the crease and (Ian) Bell is still to come," Patel said. “That happens, that's cricket. Both of them (Cook and Pieternsen) can go and get big hundreds," Patel exuded confidence.

The left-arm spinner feels that since the ball is new, it is helping Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha to extract more turn off the pitch. "I think the ball is hard. It spins when it is harder. When it gets soft, we can get in. Cookie and KP should bat long." The all-rounder praised Cheteshwar Pujara, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh for their impressive knocks.

“Sometimes you have to give credit to the batsmen. Sehwag played an outstanding knock yesterday. Pujara carried on from yesterday and today, Yuvraj played well too.They are good players of spin bowling and we know that."

Questioned on his team's strategy tomorrow, Patel said, “We know what we can do tomorrow. On this wicket, you can wear teams down and that's what they did. It's also something we expected. We were prepared.” — PTI

BRIEFLY

Watson in Australia squad for SA Test
Sydney: Shane Watson was today included in Australia's squad for the pivotal second Test against South Africa, despite concerns about his fitness. Watson sat out the first drawn Gabba Test against the world number one Proteas with a calf strain and his inclusion for next week's Adelaide clash is the only amendment to the line-up. Rob Quiney, who was added when Watson pulled out of Brisbane, remains with the team.

Taylor eyes quick bowlers for first test
Galle: New Zealand are likely to pick two quick bowlers and a spinner as they attempt to win their first test match in Sri Lanka since 1998. "I haven't seen the wicket so far today, but it's got another day to go and pitches do change," New Zealand captain Ross Taylor said on the eve of the first test which starts on Saturday.

I will play with injury rather rest: Jeeve
New Delhi: Out of action due to a finger ligament tear, Jeev Milkha Singh said he would rather play through an injury. "My doctor has told me in future if you keep playing then the ligament will go and the bone will start protruding. I said fine, I have 10 years more in this game and I want to make use of it," Jeev said.

Egypt end India's dream run in women's squash
Nimes (France): Egypt ended India's run in the quarterfinals of the WSF Women's World Team Championship squash with a 3-0 win. It was only in the first game of the first match where Dipika Pallikal was point-for-point with Raneem. Raneem stepped up the pace and played flawless drives ensuring Pallikal’s loss. — Agencies

Punjab take on Railways in Ranji
Chandigarh: Punjab, with 14 points after two outright wins, will play Railways at Bhubaneshwar on Saturday. Punjab go into this match as favouries after innings victories over Hyderabad and Bengal at home. Railways will play their second match after not featuring in round two. HP will face Andhra Pradesh at Nadaun, while Haryana will face Odisha at Lahli.