Women Seek Their Place In Sun At World Cup

The women's World Cup open in Mumbai on Thursday by means of the cricketers hoping to put aside reminiscences of an unsettling build-up and gain recognition in a country where the men's game reigns supreme.

Barely a week before the create, the International Cricket Council was forced to revise the agenda because of security concerns nearby Pakistan's participation in Mumbai where the entire tournament was to be played.

All group B match, featuring Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, were shunted to the cricketing backwater of Cuttack following threats from the right-wing supporter of independence Shiv Sena party to disrupt matches in Mumbai.

Pakistan will remain in Cuttack if they meet the criteria for the second round, but will still have to travel to Mumbai if they create the final at the Braboure stadium on February 17.

Indian captain Mithali Raj said she was let down that the Pakistani team had attracted protests.

"I personally feel so as to politics should not be concerned in sport," Raj told AFP.

"Sport is more about activity and a fun-loving atmosphere. So we be supposed to not be getting too a lot of political issues into it."

Preparations were also disrupt when the hosts made Mumbai's Wankhede stadium, venue of the men's World Cup final in2011, engaged at the last minute.

Three grounds in Mumbai determination host group A, involving defending champions England, Sri Lanka, the West Indies plus hosts India.

The players have in use the disruption in their pace and are excited about the tournament, which was first play in 1973, two years before the men's World Cup was inaugurated in 1975.

"I think it is safe to say that the women's game today is unrecognisable from when I started in 1997," said England's head Charlotte Edwards, set to appear in her fifth World Cup.

"We are attracting loads of youthful girls who want to play the game. We have changed people's perceptions concerning women's cricket a lot. Hopefully this tournament will be another step in beating that message home."

India's Raj, preparing for her fourth World Cup, hopes women's cricket will finally take off in her country where a number of of her male counterparts are national icons.

"Indian society is still is not approaching when it comes to women's cricket," Raj said.

"Parents are still more paying attention in putting their girls into more feminine sports like tennis or table-tennis."

Australia go into the contest as favourites to win their sixth title, subsequent victory in the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka last October.

The Australian side include Ellyse Perry, a pace bowler who also plays football for her country, the Indian-born Lisa Sthalekar, and Alyssa Healy, niece of former Australian men's wicket-keeper Ian Healy.

Pakistan are more concerned about adapting to the new one-day rules than about their security in Cuttack, anywhere they are staying in the club house of the Barabati sports ground for security reasons.

"We have not played beneath the new rules where five players have to be inside the circle at all era and the use of new balls as of both ends," captain Sana Mir said.

"We must get used to them previous to the tournament starts."

Three teams from the two group will advance to the Super Sixes round, from where the pinnacle two will qualify for the final.

ICC WOMEN'S WORLD CUP, 2013 SCHEDULE, FIXTURES, TIME TABLE

ICC Women's World Cup, 2013 Live Cricket Streaming Fixtures, Schedule calendar & Time Table Release. The Schedule Of ICC Women's World Cup, 2012/13 Aspect To Held at Thu Jan 31, 2013 To Sun Feb 17, 2013 in India. 8 teams will participate in the ICC Women's World Cup 2013 namely |  Australia Women | England Women | India Women | New Zealand Women | Pakistan Women | South Africa Women | Sri Lanka Women | West Indies Women. This Tour Consist Of 22 Group Matches, 1st And 2nd Semi Final, And At Last Final Cricket Match.

All Matches Broad Cast On Sports TV Cricket Channels While Latest Cricket Highlights Played In YouTube.com, Daily Motion And TV Channels Online Internet.

ICC Women's World Cup, 2013 Live Streaming Cricket Matches Fixtures,Schedule Calender & Time Table:

Thu Jan 31 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 1st Match, Group B - Australia Women vs Pakistan Women At Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai

Thu Jan 31 (09:00 GMT | 14:30 local) 2nd Match, Group A - India Women vs West Indies Women At Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Fri Feb 01 (09:00 GMT | 14:30 local) 3rd Match, Group B - New Zealand Women vs South Africa Women At Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Sat Feb 02 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 4th Match, Group A - England Women vs Sri Lanka Women At Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Sun Feb 03 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 5th Match, Group B - New Zealand Women vs Pakistan Women At Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai

Sun Feb 03 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 6th Match, Group B - Australia Women vs South Africa Women At Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Mon Feb 04 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 7th Match, Group A - India Women vs England Women At Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Mon Feb 04 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 8th Match, Group A - Sri Lanka Women vs West Indies Women At Middle Income Group Ground, Bandra, Mumbai

Tue Feb 05 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 10th Match, Group B - Australia Women vs New Zealand Women At Middle Income Group Ground, Bandra, Mumbai

Tue Feb 05 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 9th Match, Group B - Pakistan Women vs South Africa Women At Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai

Wed Feb 06 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 11th Match, Group A - India Women vs Sri Lanka Women At Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Wed Feb 06 (09:00 GMT | 14:30 local) 12th Match, Group A - England Women vs West Indies Women At Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Sat Feb 09 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) TBC vs TBC (A3 vs B3) At Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai

Sat Feb 09 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 7th Place Play-off - TBC vs TBC (A4 vs B4) At Middle Income Group Ground, Bandra, Mumbai

Sat Feb 09 (09:00 GMT | 14:30 local) TBC vs TBC (A1 vs B1) At Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Sat Feb 09 (09:00 GMT | 14:30 local) TBC vs TBC (A2 vs B2) At Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Mon Feb 11 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) TBC vs TBC (A2 vs B3) At Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai

Mon Feb 11 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) TBC vs TBC (A3 vs B2) At Middle Income Group Ground, Bandra, Mumbai

Mon Feb 11 (09:00 GMT | 14:30 local) TBC vs TBC (A2 vs B1) At Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Wed Feb 13 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) TBC vs TBC (A1 vs B2) At Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai

Wed Feb 13 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) TBC vs TBC (A3 vs B1) At Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Wed Feb 13 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) TBC vs TBC (A2 vs B3) At Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Fri Feb 15 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 3rd Place Play-off - TBC vs TBC At Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Fri Feb 15 (03:30 GMT | 09:00 local) 5th Place Play-off - TBC vs TBC At Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai

Sun Feb 17 (09:00 GMT | 14:30 local) Final - TBC vs TBC At Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Mumbai Humble Saurashtra In Ranji Trophy Final For Title No. 40

Mumbai: A terrifying show of fast bowling handed Mumbai their 40th Ranji Trophy in great haste as Saurashtra wrinkled under pressure at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. It was a premature end to a heavily lop-sided match. The visitors, beginning their second innings 207 behind, were shot out for 82 in just 36.3 overs, leaving Mumbai massive winner by an innings and 125 runs well within the third day itself.

Medium pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (5/32) and skipper Ajit Agarkar (4/15) and were the principal wreckers. Agarkar detached both the openers – Shitanshu Kotak and Sagar Jogiyani – and first innings half-centurion Aarpit Vasavada for a blob apiece. Kulkarni accounted for Rahul Dave (5), captain Jaydev Shah (6) and the dangerous Sheldon Jackson (9) to ensure there be no fightback whatsoever.

Even Mumbai would have been astonished at the degree of Saurashtra’s capitulation and for a while, at 20/6, it appear that the lowest-ever total in the Ranji Trophy was in danger of life form underwhelmed. That discredit avoided, Saurashtra did little else to vindicate their attendance in the final of India’s biggest domestic competition, their reliance on a flat home track at Rajkot surfacing fatally at the Wankhede.

Centurion opener Wasim Jaffer was name Man of the Match, beating Dhawal Kulkarni, who took nine wickets for 56 runs in the match.

"(It's) A great moment to get a hundred in the championship. Once we got them out for 148, it was important to strike well, and that's what we did. The bowlers did the job really well. Probably this wicket had a great deal more help for the bowlers, so it was a good choice to bowl first. Kulkarni has been bowling well. He was unlucky in the league stages, but in this competition he got the wickets too," he said once the victorious group in the middle have broken.

England leave India with a win 5th ODI

5THODI: Bell strikes hundred on Dharamsala's ODI debut.

In a cold town in the foothills of the Himalayas, England’s tour of India ended with a win. The beautiful HPCA sports ground at Dharamsala was making its ODI debut today. The mood was light. The pace of the pastime was relaxed. The jumpers, ski caps and mufflers were out. The sequence had been settled in Mohali. And another Indian batting collapse allowed England the comfort of a small target of 228.

Ian Bell ended a mixed bag tour by means of an unbeaten 113 – his highest ODI score away. With Alastair Cook, Joe Root with Eoin Morgan rallying around him usefully, the target proved no great shake despite the run-a-ball rate needed towards the finish of the game.

Tim Bresnan, who’d struggle with his lines through the series, led the wicket-takers in the game with 4-45. But it was Steven Finn and James Tredwell who controlled the game magnificently with their irritating accuracy. If anything England would want to perk up on in this game, it would be their catching.

RAINA SHINES AGAIN

Raina notched up his fourth as the crow flies fifty of the series.

Suresh Raina rescue India with his fourth fifty in four outings in the series. His partnership of 78 with Ravindra Jadeja put India on the repair after their top-order had been blow away cheaply.

Raina was missed by Tredwell at slip when he be on five, and then by Cook on 61. Tredwell also missed a difficult go back catch off Jadeja while Samit Patel put down a much easier one late in the innings off Shami Ahmed. Some of these misses, mattered, some didn’t since the new ball had complete most of the work for England.

Before one had put left through the first cup of coffee this morning, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh had dead, all for one scoring stroke between the three of them. Rohit and Virat chase outswingers from Bresnan while Yuvraj tried to play a swinging ball from Finn towards mid-wicket.

Gautam Gambhir, who hasn’t made a big achieve all winter, hung around for 24 before cutting Tredwell in the air to point’s hand. The off-colour left-hander is at the end of his rope, and if he is chosen for the future Tests against Australia, he should buy himself a game of chance ticket.

What broke India’s back be the wicket of MS Dhoni, courtesy an in-swinger from Finn that hit him in front of middle and leg. With a number of luck, Jadeja and Raina mended the innings.

The highlight of the company was their waiting for loose balls from the spinners. They stepped down the wicket and empty the sight-screen each occasion Tredwell, Patel and Root toss the ball up. The footwork, timing of the drives and the distances they flew earned the approval of Sourav Ganguly, who knows a thing or two about grueling spinners.

There was a refreshing cameo at the end by Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. We knew he has made some tall scores in home cricket, but it was good to see the young seamer come out to slap the bowlers around for a crazy 30 in the slog overs.

At the end of it all, the world’s No. 1 and 2 would like to see if they’ve lived up to their billing. England leave India have enhanced their reputation as players of spin bowling. They scored a marker win in the Tests, lost the ODIs, but as Dhoni pointed out after the game, it was a taut series that hinged on one or two key moments – Pietersen’s caught-behind in Ranchi, for instance. Tredwell filled in beautifully for Graeme Swann and Finn show he is a great long-term prospect.

For India, Bhuvaneshwar plus Shami sustained to bowl economically, but the great relief was to see Ishant Sharma get a grasp of his line and length as a first-change bowler. The bat continues to be a worry. The openers are out of form, Virat Kohli too is in a rut, and Yuvraj has tended to excel only when the going’s good. It’d be attractive to see how India prepare for their batting evils when Australia come visit next month.

Windies Plan To Take The Fight To Australia

The West Indies head says he isencouraged by the pitch in Australia.

Bridgetown, Captain Darren Sammy says the West Indies plan to play tough cricket against Australia when they get together in a five match One-Day International series preliminary early next month.

The tour starts with a game next to a Ricky Ponting-led Prime Minister's XI on January 29 in Canberra before the West Indies group of actors head to Perth for the first two ODIs.

Speaking to journalists just before the players left the Caribbean, Sammy said his team intend to obtain the fight to the Aussies.

West Indies postpone Pakistan series

"We are going downward there confident and we are ready to play the game very hard. We expect Australia to come at us and we be not going to sit back and let it happen," Sammy insisted.

"We are leaving to play the game in the true strength that it should be played in but yet still we are leaving to play it tough."

Sammy says his players are competition ready having participated in the Caribbean T20 tournament which broken on Sunday after two fiercely competitive weeks of thrilling cricket.

The Windies captain says he is confident by the pitches in Australia which are similar to the one at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St. Lucia where final matches in the Caribbean T20 contest were played.

"The good thing for us is so as to we have been in concert matches. Most if not all the guys in the squad have be playing in the Caribbean T20 and so we be match ready," said Sammy.

"Going down to Australia to similar circumstances like we experience in St. Lucia is good for the team. We are leaving down there and carry on that one day series we had in the Caribbean anywhere the scores were levelled at two-all. We are going out there to finish business downward in Australia."

Saurashtra Not An Easy Opponent At Ranji final In 2013

Mumbai: At the helm of a surface with an unmatched, abiding Ranji Trophy legacy, Ajit Agarkar is not belittling the challenge that outsider Saurashtra pose in what would be Mumbai’s 44th final. The home giants have won India’s premier competition 39 times plus look favourites to add another title next to an outfit playing its first peak clash, at the Wankhede Stadium, start on Saturday.

But skipper Agarkar supposed on the eve of the competition that they would be fools to undervalue the rivals.

"It's a one-off game and we require to be at our best. Whoever perform better these five days will take the honours. Any side that makes the final cannot be an easy adversary,” he said.

Agarkar: Lucky to have Sachin

'Wish Pujara and Jadeja were here'

Ranji final hit by scheduling woes

Agarkar struck a rare, vital century – just his fourth in First Class cricket – against Services in the semi-final, to bring back to life Mumbai from a dicey situation. Notwithstanding that rickety start on a cold dawn at the Palam ground, batting has always been the house team’s strength.

Heavyweights Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Jaffer contain been in fine form, southpaw Abhishek Nayar is final in on a thousand runs for the period, while wicket-keeper batsman Aditya Tare is only slightly behind in the annual tally.

What makes Mumbai still bigger favourites is that Saurashtra will be missing their best batsmen in the final. Domestic huge Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja are both away on nationwide duty as their side faces its main contest against terrifyingly overwhelming opposition.

“It's a very big pastime for us. Mumbai is an knowledgeable side. We would like to get a good start and put in our most excellent effort in the first innings. Against Mumbai you always need to score big runs and after that put pressure at the start. If they don't get a good start, they from time to time collapse. If you take a few crucial wickets in flanked by and hold them out it will be good,” said Saurashtra head Jaydev Shah.

Like his counterpart Agarkar, Shah complete his presence felt in the semi-final, against Punjab at Rajkot, with an significant 87. The last time the two teams met – during the league phase in December - Mumbai collective a total north of 600, thanks to Tare’s twice ton, and bowled Saurashtra out for 300 for the match-deciding first innings lead.

Saurashtra were with no Pujara andJadeja in that game too, a state of affairs that persists to this day.

“We can't help it as they are live for India. If they were part of the team we would have been mentally up and the opponent would have felt more force. But we have to fight without them," Shah said.

Not like Mumbai will go in with their favorite selection. They will be without Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma, as healthy as the injured left-arm spearhead Zaheer Khan and off-spinner Ramesh Powar.

“We are obviously absent Rohit, Ajinkya and Zak (Zaheer), all big players. But we have Sachin whose mere attendance in the dressing room help a lot of the younger guys,” said Agarkar.

Tendulkar has made an crash in each of the three Ranji games he has played this season. He scored a century apiece next to Railways and Baroda, and then made 56 in difficult conditions against Services in the semifinal. The maestro’s presence - and hence the assured throng turn out - has impelled the Maharashtra Cricket friendship to levy an entry fee to the ground for final.

The pitch is expected to have a little something for bowlers in the early stages, and then ease out for bat. Win the toss, bat first, pile on the runs and hope for the first innings lead is likely to be the favored strategy.

Dhoni Hints At Promoting Raina Up The Order

Captain MS Dhoni praised Suresh Raina for his unbeaten 89 that helped India beat England by five wickets on Wednesday and supposed the left- hander has learned the art of finishing matches.

“This kind of innings has a lot of worth because we have been grooming him. At numbers 5, 6 and 7, depending on scenario, more often than not, you hope that players have the talent to come to an end off the games,” Dhoni told reporters after India clinch the series 3-1.

Dhoni said they are also look at the prospect of promote Raina up the batting order. “ He has learned it [ to finish off games], but at the similar time, he has to curb his instincts. He’s a of course aggressive player; he loves to play his strokes, but he has to curb it for the interest of the team. It’ll be high-quality if we can give him some odds to bat slightly up the order,” he said.

Dhoni described Rohit Sharma, who score a fine 83, a “ God- gifted talent”. “ The good thing was he took it as a confront [ to open the innings] and I am glad he scored runs because he is single of the most God- gifted talent around. It’s very important that he capitalises on that. Of course, an innings like this was very much wanted from him. Personally, I am very content for him,” he said.

Also read: Rohit, Raina clinch seriesfor India

England captain Alastair Cook approved that the 68- run fourth wicket partnership between Rohit and Raina made the difference.

 “With 260, we thought we be in the game. We needed a couple of near the beginning wickets.

But I thought the company between Raina and Sharma was significant; they got runs quickly,” Cook said.

Raina was lucky to be out off a ‘ dead’ ball when Steven Finn dislodged the bails in his delivery stride, after life form warned in the preceding games.

“To be fair to the umpire, they had told us that this is the rule. It can be frustrating.

I wasn’t totally sure. They have told us in Kochi (ODI). I couldn’t keep in mind the chat they had,” he said.

Rohit, Raina Clinch Series For India

MOHALI: With one innings, the approach that Rohit Sharma invokes among Indian cricket fans shifted from one great to another. On one extreme are the annoyances he causes: how poorly he have handled his early fame and success, and the bad habit of wasting the many odds given to him. Then, there are the bright sparks we saw today: the gift of inspiring timing, the late dabs and glides square off the wicket, drive down the ground that makes your jaw drop, and the ability to absorb pressure in a big game. That last one you connect only with the best in the game.

Rohit’s innings of 83 today set up their chase of 258, with Suresh Raina finishing off the job in some method with a muscular 89. The five-wicket win give India the series, helping them justify in a number of measure their inexplicably-claimed No. 1 rank despite the deprived show against Pakistan recently.

It was a cold day in Mohali. The PCA Stadium emerge out of a thick coat of fog this morning to be ready just concerning in time for the fourth game of the series. India chosen to field and one Mumbai player made method for another. Ajinkya Rahane has had plenty of odds this winter and has done little to repay the faith posed in him after being bring in as Virender Sehwag’s replacement. It meant that the extra prodigal talent in the team — Rohit — finally got a hit. Meanwhile, Cheteshwar Pujara warmed the bench another day as his state side Saurashtra prepares for the Ranji cup final start on Saturday.

It’s amazing how much aptitude hides in the recesses of India's middle-order while their opening combinations stumble from one breakdown to another. Sehwag and Rahane’s failure aside, Gautam Gambhir has struggled to produce an innings of note for long. Today, he made 10 before nudging Tim Bresnan into Jos Buttler’s fashion accessory. But Rohit has succeed at the top of the order, and with the series sealed the Indian think-tank could think the entirely radical idea of playing two part-time openers in the final game in Dharamsala. How also is Pujara going to get his chance?

Lean Run Was Inevitable, Says Virat Kohli

Kohli crossed the 50-run mark for the primary time in more than six months throughout the third ODI against England.

Mohali, (IANS): Virat Kohli, back in the middle of the runs with a fine 50 in Ranchi, feels the No.3 position in the batting order is most excellent suited to him and he would like to carry on playing in the top-order.

"No.3 has been operational fine for me. I wouldn't know too much about the lower order because I haven't batted too a great deal there. I sort of like the pressure situation going in at three. And I like to come to an end off games as well. So, it gives me the right stage to do the job for the team, which I like to do," Kohli said on the eve of the fourth One-Day International next to England.

Kohli cross the 50-run mark for the first time in more than six months during the third ODI next to England.

It is important for the Delhi batsman to achieve as he is one of the main candidates to guide the side in the future.

Looking back at his lean run, Kohlisaid: "There is forever a balance in international cricket anywhere you will get a phase where you won't score in four-five games and you've just got to keep physically calm at that point of time because you know it is leaving to happen at some tip or the other."

"You can't keep score in every game for a period of over 16 months to 18 months; so I was pretty calm at so as to point of time. For me, it is all concerning working

hard in the nets frequently and just staying calm and staying patient. If you get frustrated, you sort of tend to add to that kind of lean phase that you are going through. You got to be positive, which I be and I am glad I was able to come out with that bang in the last game."

India are leading 2-1 in the sequence and given the extreme cold conditions expected in Dharamsala for the fifth plus final ODI, Kohli said they would want to wrap up the sequence on Wednesday.

"The next pastime is really very significant. We have to step up in addition to put up a consistent show tomorrow. It's not certain that we can contain a game in Dharamsala, so this become all the more significant tomorrow. So, we have to gear up and stay relaxed and get ready well and hopefully encompass a nice match."

Mixed Cricket? No Thanks, Boys

There has been a lot of discussion inexcess of the past few days regarding the news that Sarah Taylor may play a number of matches for Sussex (men's) 2nd XI next period, as a wicket keeper  Much of this has been the length of the lines of praising the development as being welcome and, certainly, far too late in coming.

But if Taylor's assortment, and the idea of varied cricket generally, is such a positive shift for female cricketers, why did the Women's Cricket friendship, the governing body of the game until it merged by means of the ECB in 1998, ban matches by means of men until 1970?

Might there be another side to this story of apparently linear development towards fully mixed cricket?

The WCA's ban on official varied cricket matches was compulsory right from its formation in 1926. One of the founder of the association, Marjorie Pollard (by all accounts an extremely formidable woman), write a book in 1934 entitled Cricket for Women as well as Girls in which she outlined the reasoning behind the policy. There were three main reasons why Pollard felt varied cricket would be a bad thing for the women's game, with all three still hold factual today.

Firstly, she was eager to stress that the pioneer of women's cricket in the 1930s needed to "develop a style and a pastime of our own". "No one tries to bowl as fast as Larwood, no single tries to hit like Constantine... the principles are different."

Imitating the men's game be not going to cut it. These pioneer of women's cricket needed to work out their own habits of playing the game they loved, to adapt it to their own needs. As Pollard put it: "Batting for women is different - the strokes that we need are drive and pulls or anything so as to really hits the ball."

The bowling be also different: less fast-paced (even less so in the 1930s than now) and therefore need a more skilled post of the ball.

This is still the case today; the main fans of women's cricket would not deny that it is a different game in a lot of ways to men's cricket. But letter that Pollard did not say that the women's pastime was in any way worse than the men's game. In fact, she argued that in some ways the "outlook, attack and method of self-expression" of the women's game led to a better focus on skill and less on physical threats, which she saying as positive (and indeed which was recognised as such by many English commentators at the height of the Lillee as well as Thomson era).

The problem by means of mixed cricket is so as to it suggest precisely the opposite to this: that the women's game is lesser to the men's game and that female cricketers be supposed to in some way attempt to competition up to the men.

India Destroy England To Grab 2-1 Lead

It was Ranchi’s ODI debut in addition to India gave the locals a day to remember. After bowling England out for 155, India chase down the runs by means of ease to take a 2-1 lead in the series. But one of the things so as to India can draw strength from, especially in this testing stage they’re going through, is the fine presentation of their rookie seamers, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed.

The new-ball duo took very soon two wickets stuck between them. But often such figures belie their factual impact on the game. They bowled at a decent pace, swung the ball and maintain a tough line and length through their spells – just as they have from side to side their short international careers.

In no mood to let England say aloud terms, they set the phase up for their more experienced generation – Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – and they engineered a fine destruction job of the English line-up.

England were 68-1 in the 15th when umpire S. Ravi erroneously upheld a caught-behind appeal alongside Kevin Pietersen. He had hit his pad at the same time as the ball itself may have deflected off his trouser. To Pietersen’s shock, the umpire ruled in favour of India’s impulsive appeal. Jadeja and Ashwin establish their sweet spot on the pitch and the English middle-order once again showed their susceptibility next to spin.

Eoin Morgan did what Mike Gatting had notoriously tried alongside Allan Border for the same result. Jadeja then worked out Craig Kieswetter and Samit Patel with straight balls – one bowled, the other LBW. But the ball of the day be perhaps by Ashwin – a flighted ball just approximately the driving length spin back sharply into Tim Bresnan, toward the inside the large gap between bat in addition to pad and into the top of the stump.