England batting coach Andy Flower was a master of playing Indian spin and he has passed on his secrets to Andrew Strauss, writes Vic Marks in the Guardian.
But here we could see shadows of Flower in the batting of Andrew Strauss. Flower, the batsman, tormented even the best spinners with his variety of sweeps. At Chepauk Strauss dutifully followed in his coach's footsteps. Strauss swept hard, he swept gently, he swept in front of square and behind. He swept Harbhajan Singh and he swept Amit Mishra. And when he didn't sweep he nurdled the ball in the same direction. Flower has been pining for hundreds — as batting coaches do — and Strauss obliged.
Strauss is not and never will be pretty to watch. Nor is he blessed with an array of elegant strokes, but he makes up for these shortcomings by being mentally tougher than most, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.
“Best when fresh” was one of Ian Botham’s favourite aphorisms, though it probably works better for the mind. Strauss has certainly been well rested and with the conception of an innings more important in India than just about anywhere else his use of the old grey matter was the principle key to his success, writes Derek Pringle in the Telegraph.
Zaheer's idol is Wasim Akram, and his bustling run-up and aggressive method often led him to be a called a poor man's Wasim. Not any more, writes Simon Hughes in the Telegraph.
A relatively late developer, having been forced in his early 20s to move state from Bombay to Baroda to earn first class recognition, Khan is ready. He is very much the heartbeat of the Indian bowling now and, judging from the way he advises others, its mind as well.
The searing intensity that had overwhelmed the Australians a month earlier was not evident in India's performance, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Guardian.
When the Indians ran out to raucous acclaim a while later, they still seemed in contemplative mood. It was not that England's openers started like a runaway train or that India bowled badly - only 63 runs came in the opening session - it was just that the searing intensity that had overwhelmed the Australians a month earlier was not in evidence. Tidy and restrictive, yes. Menacing? No.
It would be easy to underestimate Kevin Pietersen's contribution to this day's play. A tortuous stay of 33 balls for four runs was not what he had in mind for his first innings as England captain in an overseas Test. But his effort with the bat was insignificant compared to what he did before play by winning an absolutely crucial toss, writes Simon Wilde in the Times.
To describe the pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium as underprepared is more a statement of the obvious than a criticism. Fifteen days ago, the groundsman was working on getting his square ready for Champions League Twenty20 matches, not a five-day Test. Unsurprisingly it was dry and ripe for spin, enough to persuade England to name an XI containing two slow bowlers a day in advance and India to throw the ball to four spinners inside the first two sessions of play. This was not, then, a surface on which anyone would chose to bat second, so Pietersen's success with the coin was vital to England's chances.
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