Daijiworld Media Network
Nottingham, Jul 13: Greetings and welcome to the final day of the opening Test at TB. As is the norm, let us have a gander at what the newspapers have in store for us before the action unfolds.
The English bowlers will be keen to make early inroads, bundle out India and stretch for a 1-0 lead. Can India's middle order thwart England's plan and salvage a draw?
Another wicket or two in the closing stages of the penultimate day could have propelled England to pole position. Kohli and Rahane saw through the pesky period with calmness although the latter played a few flamboyant strokes as well.
Cutting back to TB, it is quite dreary and gloomy now. There was a shower in the morning to go with the overnight rains. Hopefully, play kicks off on time.
In other news, Lancashire spinner, Simon Kerrigan, who endured a horror debut against Australia in the Ashes last year, is in line to be picked for the second Test at the HQ.
'England deserved credit for its fight, but Dhoni wasn't entirely innocent. He and his medium-pacers got blinkered to the idea of bouncing out Anderson with the fielders forming an umbrella cordon. The off-with-your-head philosophy just didn't work.'
Vijaya Kumar writes, 'Last-wicket pairs are supposed to split quickly in a variety of ways; a comical shot, cart-wheeling stumps or the tame edge. The first Test here at Trent Bridge bucked those odds with a vengeance. If for India, it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami, who added 111 and embarrassed England, the host found its saviours in centurion Joe Root and James Anderson on the fourth day.'
Meanwhile, K.C Vijaya Kumar's report for the Hindu carries the headline: 'Root and Anderson dig in create history'
'There were many questions asked about India on Friday. One was from Geoffrey Boycott from the commentary box: “What is the man who bowls off-spin and carrom balls doing in the dressing room?'
'The first session showed that India not only misread the pitch, but had picked the wrong horse. They hadn't even utilised the available resources well or employed the right tactics. These are early days in the series, but there are those who vouch that the famous Dhoni Test match freeze might have been sighted at Trent Bridge.'
Sandeep Dwivedi writing for the Indian Express, questions MS Dhoni's baffling tactics. Dwivedi adds, 'The 26 wicketless overs that England needed to take the lead this morning saw Mahendra Singh Dhoni look far and wide. His bowling changes and funky field placements failed to dislodge the last-wicket pair of Joe Root and James Anderson. Dhoni tried everything. He even threw the ball to opener Murali Vijay. But nothing worked. '
Booth adds, 'Prior allayed fears with a smart catch to his left to see off India opener Shikhar Dhawan on Wednesday morning, but has since missed three chances low to his right: MS Dhoni was dropped on 50 on the second morning, and on Saturday afternoon he twice failed to lay a glove on chances offered by Murali Vijay. Whether Buttler would have snaffled them may no longer be the point. He is 23, full of drive and invention, and is averaging 40 for struggling Lancashire. He is just the sort of cricketer, in other words, who might fit neatly into the template of a brave new era.'
'The 32-year-old Prior is a warhorse of 78 Tests, well-liked by colleagues and with a proud record as a counter-attacking No 7. Things though have threatened to unravel. It's hard to be over-critical of his batting: he alone held on during England's first-innings collapse against Sri Lanka at Headingley, and on Friday here in Nottingham he fell victim to a dismal piece of umpiring from Kumar Dharmasena. But his glovework is another matter. The alarm bells began to ring at Headingley, where Prior dropped Kumar Sangakkara on 27 shortly after lunch on a chaotic first day.'
Lawrence Booth, writing for the Daily Mail, throws the spotlight on the up-down Matt Prior. He writes, 'It was after Jos Buttler's incendiary 121 off 74 balls in the Lord's one-day international against Sri Lanka in May that Alastair Cook announced his limited-overs wicketkeeper was not ready for Test cricket.'
He goes on, 'The fact is, this schedule is crazy. Trying to squeeze five Tests into 42 days is just too much and it may well be that by the end of this series we conclude they would have been better off keeping it to four because the players are too exhausted to be performing at their peak.Test matches are seriously hard work. The physical effort required to bowl or keep for a day and a half is enormous.'
Jonathan Agnew focusses on burnout in his special for BBC Sport. Agnew writes, 'The incredible 198-run partnership and two late wickets have given England an outside chance of victory, but the more likely scenario is that their bowlers are going to have to get through a lot of overs on Sunday with the Lord's Test just round the corner.'
'He deserved the plaudits too, for this was no fluke. The pitch may have been placid but his defence was sturdy and some of his attacking shots were timed with the precision of an atomic clock. Most of all he deserves credit for hanging in there while Root added a further 104 runs to his own total.'
Selvey carries on to write, 'First of all Jimmy Anderson looked flummoxed, then embarrassed. Mohammed Shami, one of the three India seamers who had been flogging away for much of the morning on the pitch of broken hearts, had just banged in a short ball to him. First he advanced, and then swivelled before swatting it to the midwicket boundary almost with one hand.'
Mike Selvey's piece for the Guardian wears the headline: 'England's Jimmy Anderson and Joe Root break records and Indian spirit'