England celebrates their win

The second Test at Manchester promised to provide great entertainment after the outcome of the first Test at Lords. England was expected to win, and they did. However, the victory was very tricky for England as it had to overcome some very solid batting by Bangladesh in both the innings.

Hence, this test was a good chance for England to show that they were the same dangerous side which won the Ashes last summer at home, and would go on to defend it in Australia this year.

Under sunny conditions, Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected to bat first on a slow pitch. Strauss and his opening partner, Alastair Cook gave England a good start. Cook was not amongst the runs, after his exploits as captain in Bangladesh in March.

He looked settled, until Strauss got out to a good delivery by the young Shaiful Islam, giving a regulation catch to a waiting Imrul Kayes at third slip. The score was 44/1 when the double-centurion of the last Test, Jonathan Trott came out to bat. However, it wasn’t long until Shaiful came up with another peach of a delivery which angled into Trott and bowled him comprehensively.

Why wasn’t Shaiful picked for the Lords Test? This must have been the question in every Bangladeshi fan’s mind, after the wicket of Trott. Kevin Pietersen, at No.4, joined Cook. Both of them wanted to build a huge partnership, but were prevented from doing so thanks to Cook falling to spinner Abdur Razzak, off his very first ball of the series.

At lunch, England was tottering at 92/3 with wickets belonging to the two changes that Shakib al Hasan had brought into the team for the Test. Could this session have an impact on the course of the match? It didn’t prove to be, as England showed that winning a session doesn’t necessarily mean that a team has the momentum to do well later in a Test match.

Kevin Pietersen was batting like a free bird, especially attacking the left-arm spinners. He scored 64 runs off just 81 balls, until it was Shakib al Hasan who got him out again!

A very rash shot ended Pietersen’s innings and England were in a Catch-22 situation at 153/4 when the 1-Test old Eoin Morgan came out to bat. It was a good opportunity for him to prove his worth as a Test player.

Morgan took the responsibility to attack, while Bell was quietly at the other end scoring runs by taking the ones and twos time and again. At tea, Bell reached his fifty and he looked to score a lot more.

Morgan was dismissed by an erratic Shahadat Hossain, giving him his first wicket of the match. However, that didn’t stop Bell as he had an able partner in Matt Prior. The duo batted right till the end of the first day putting England in a much better position at 275/5 in 83 overs.

One of the highlights of the second day was Ian Bell reaching a well-deserved hundred. Prior also made a half-century, which was crucial for England to build a challenging first-innings total. However, England suffered a setback with the wicket of Bell, leaving England at 399/7 at lunch.

The last three wickets fell quickly as England were bowled out for 416, just after lunch. The Bangladeshi skipper ended once again as his team’s best bowler with figures of 5/121 in 37.3 overs which included four maidens. Shakib al Hasan’s proved that the Old Trafford was a spinner’s paradise.

In 2006, Muttiah Muralitharan took 10 wickets in the match to lead Sri Lanka to a win against England. In 2008, Daniel Vettori picked five wickets in the first innings, although England went on to win. So it was a good sign for spinners to have a good game altogether.

Tamim Iqbal in my book, is definitely a prime candidate for winning the ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year award this year. And his 108 runs off just 114 balls is justification of my belief. A strike rate of 94.73 only goes to show the mess that he got England into, and what a Sehwag-like impact he can make.

He is proving to be an asset for Bangladesh and his growing maturity was shown even as wickets fell at the other end, with Swann doing good business with the old ball.

The next highest score was 36, by his opening partner Imrul Kayes! Bangladesh were cruising at 126/0, until it was time to watch the Swann show. Quick wickets of Junaid Siddique and Jahurul Islam alongwith Anderson picking Tamim Iqbal reduced Bangladesh to a treacherous 169/4, when Shakib joined Mohammad Ashraful at the crease.

Bangladesh’s two best batsmen also struggled as Shakib fell to Swann’s brilliant flighted delivery outside the off-stump, giving Swann his fourth wicket of the match. Ashraful became the young Ajmal Shahzad’s first Test victim, leaving Bangladesh at 200/6.

From here on, there is nothing much for Bangladeshi fans to even watch, let alone rejoice. Swann ended the Bangladeshi innings in style, with a five-wicket haul as Bangladesh was all out for 216 at the end of the second days play.

It was proved that Swann is extremely effective on a turning track as he went wicketless on a much grassier Lords surface. So Swann would have to improve a lot as Australia isn’t too far away. He needs to recreate the magic that he had displayed in South Africa, if England has to do well to retain the Ashes and rise in the ICC Test rankings.

However, the match was not over by any means even as the end was hasty. Bangladesh was trailing by 203 runs in the first innings, very similar to the situation they were in at Lords.

Strauss had no hesitation in asking Bangladesh to bat again. It was a good chance for Bangladesh to bat better as they would be rejuvenated enough after a demoralizing second day.

However, England’s bowlers were much fresher than Bangladesh’s batsmen because cloudy skies dominated the start of the third day’s play. England took full advantage of the poor weather conditions as they showed that they are very much the dangerous home team that they traditionally have been.

Bangladesh’s second innings was dominated by the English pace duo of James Anderson and Steven Finn. Tamim Iqbal, who had so far scored 266 runs in 3 innings in the series so far, fell of the second ball of the innings to a short-pitched ball from Anderson. Anderson was at his best, as he picked Iqbal both the times in the match.

It didn’t take long for Kayes, Siddique and Jahurul Islam to fall as Bangladesh were left reeling at 21/4 in 8 overs only. Ashraful tried to put up a fight but was dismissed on 14, giving Anderson his third wicket of the innings. The other formalities were completed by the rest of the crop, especially Finn who picked up another five-wicket haul in the series.

Mahmudullah delayed the inevitable by scoring a sedate 38, but these individual performances haven’t allowed Bangladesh to play as a team. And the result was a loss to Bangladesh by an innings and 80 runs. It just took one session for Bangladesh to be bowled out on Day 3.

Shakib al Hasan had every right to be disappointed with the batting, which failed miserably in swinging conditions. The team could be consoled with Tamim Iqbal’s performances which won him the man of the series award. Andrew Strauss was a happier man and rated this victory a lot higher than that at Lords, for obvious reasons.

England have also benefited with Steven Finn sharing the man-of-the-series award with Iqbal for picking 15 wickets in the series. It is good to see Finn coming off age and he could be the next Harmison for England, with the build that he has. However there are still concerns for the team. They need to enhance their game in such a way that they are unbeatable.

Under cloudy skies, England are unbeatable but in sunny conditions, the same cannot be said. Australia would have hard, bouncy pitches and sunny conditions.

The bowling, in particular has to be worked upon as if Bangladesh can win sessions easily, why can’t teams like Australia do so? And if the immediate future is concerned, why can’t a new-look Pakistan team look to win a Test series in England for the first time since 1992?

On the first day, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first on a sporting wicket as well as under extreme sunshine, unlike Chittagong where conditions were extremely murky. So, Bangladesh had the opportunity to hit back hard on the Indians and exploit the conditions.

On the other hand, India will be boosted with the return of MS Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh from injuries. However, a big setback for India is that Laxman won’t be playing after he sustained an injury on his left hand during the first test. Sreesanth too has flown back home due to a thigh strain.

However, the momentum was surely on India’s side when Ishant Sharma continued his good form by getting opener Imrul Kayes out first ball. The following over saw Zaheer Khan pick Tamim Iqbal who went without scoring too, after a near to unplayable in-winger from the left-arm fast bowler. And soon later, Junaid Siddique who replaced Shahriar Nafees in this match, also lost his wicket to Zaheer and the score was pathetic, 13/3! In came Mohd.

Ashraful, who had been criticized prior to this Test for his poor form. He was under a lot of pressure, but took charge and went after the Indian bowling. In between, Raqibul Hasan’s poor form continued as he gave Ishant his second wicket and Dravid taking an easy catch of a lazy drive on the off-side.

In the process, Bangladesh were four down. And worse, Ashraful too lost his patience and looked to play yet another aggressive but risky shot, as a result getting stumped off the bowling of off-spinner Pragyan Ojha, smashing 39 runs off just 31 balls. As the Bangladeshi skipper Shakib-al-Hasan and wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim were batting, lunch was called with Bangladesh in dire straits at 84/5.

After lunch, to a certain extent, Shakib and Rahim resurrected Bangladesh with a vital 50-run partnership until Ishant Sharma bowled a ripper of a ball, in-swinging to get Rahim lbw for a solid 30. Ishant got his third wicket and was on fire when all-rounder Mahmudullah entered the crease.

He batted remarkably well even as Shakib got out playing a rash shot of Zaheer Khan’s bowling. At 127/7, Mahmudullah had to bat out of his skin to assure Bangladesh reaching a competitive total. And to a certain extent, he did help his team do extremely well as he remained unbeaten on 96, just 4 short of a maiden test hundred.

Some resistance from the low order helped Bangladesh reach 233, with Ishant, the star for the Indians, picking up as many as 4 wickets. Still, it was India who had the upper hand due to no time constraints for the Indians for batting and weather too wasn’t expected to be a problem.

As Gambhir and Sehwag walked out, the tension could be cut with a knife. Can India this time around tear apart the Bangladeshi bowling? The batting wasn’t so convincing at Chittagong, so Bangladesh were in with a chance if they get early wickets. However, at stumps on the first day, India were 69/0 in just 12.5 overs with Sehwag in a usual attacking mode.

The start was ideal as Gambhir played well enough to stay in the hunt for bringing up his 6th century in 6 Tests. The man who has averaged close to 77 since 2008 was determined enough to get to Sir Donald Bradman’s record, even as Sehwag was given out of a good delivery by Shahadat Hossain, who ripped apart the Indian batting line up in the first test.

However, Gambhir was undone by a short delivery from the 2-Test old Shaiful Islam, and was caught by wicket-keeper Rahim for 69. Sehwag too got out in similar fashion, thus both the openers were back in the pavilion. Unfortunately, Gambhir missed out on a record hundred, yet added another half-century to his impressive tally of runs in the last two years.

The score was 130/2 when Tendulkar arrived at the crease. And thus came the marathon partnership. Both the batsmen have nearly 25000 runs between each other in test cricket and are the bulwarks of Indian cricket as they have carried the team forward to some famous victories. And today, was yet another day when the two put up a huge 222-run partnership, battering Bangladesh completely.

The Bangladesh attack, for the first time in the series looked toothless as well as hopeless. Dravid, returning to his best scored a cracking nelson, i.e., 111 before he went retired hurt after being hit on his jaw by a short Shaiful Islam delivery. Whereas Sachin Tendulkar registered his second century of the series with an exceptional 143, before some clever bowling on the leg-stump by the Bangladeshi skipper sent him packing.

But when will Tendulkar’s hunger for runs and making records come to an end? He scored his 45th century which was the highlight of the day as he has now gone 6 ahead of Ponting. Surprisingly, he also surpassed Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene by scoring 5 centuries against Bangladesh in test cricket, whereas Jayawardene has scored 4.

Coming back to the match, Dravid’s injury helped Bangladesh to fight their way back into the game as they were able to dismiss a well-set Murali Vijay for just 30. Vijay replaced Laxman for this game and clearly at that stage, Laxman’s experience could have helped. Especially when its known that Laxman and Tendulkar put up big partnerships more often than not. Bangladesh could celebrate with the wicket of Harbhajan Singh on the last ball of the day by the skipper yet again, leaving Dhoni stranded at 22.

Day 3 is expected to be a thriller as Bangladesh cannot breathe easy due to the possibility of Yuvraj Singh joining the Indian captain at the crease. Rahul Dravid too, could come out to bat. What would be interesting at this stage is the timing of Dhoni’s declaration which could give India’s bowlers ample of time to bowl out the Bangladeshis and win comprehensively 2-0. So, its clearly India whos on the drivers seat in the game.