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London: Andrew Strauss was assailed by a massive doubt when he won the toss on Thursday morning. He looked at the underfoot pitch, cast an eye on the overcast sky and feebly declared: "We will bat."
"It is a tricky one," he admitted, when asked by Nasser Hussain to mull over his call. Strauss knew that India were distraught and on the verge of disintegration; so even a tiny opening for an escape - however improbable it might sound -- would have been foolhardy.
Could the overcast conditions turn India's timid bowlers into opportunistic hunters? Could the dry track give a lease of life to their batsmen? Was there a danger that England would miss the chance for a total demolition?
All these thoughts might have flashed through his mind just before he mouthed his intent; 30 minutes later, though, all his doubts evaporated with the hint of dust that RP Singh kicked up with his first delivery.
Almost ambling in, like he was bowling in the nets, RP unleashed his opening missile: it came at the grand speed of 78 miles per hour, pitched down the leg side and went away harmlessly. The rest of the over was equally eventful, if not amusing.
At the other end, Ishant Sharma picked up the cue and allowed the England camp to break out in smiles. He beat Strauss once and rapped him on his pads too; but neither was enough to wipe out the joy from their faces.
England waded through the next two hours as easily and peacefully as a happy child in a park; they moved to 75 for no loss at the lunch break but by then India had lost all their appetite; they had the entire day to work it up though.
The skies opened up, ever so lightly, to keep the players indoors for the rest of the day. There were a few stoppages to make them frown; but in the end, they just proved to be false alarms. The umpires came out once at 4.30, promised another inspection at 5.10 but one more small burst made sure that play was abandoned.
The England openers must have been pleased to see RP come in place of the injured Praveen Kumar: RP was as gentle with his pace; more importantly, he was gentler with his swing and in his approach too.
Alastair Cook began with an outside edge off him; a few overs later, he cut him with such disdain that he had to be withdrawn to avoid further embarrassment. (An aside: what is Munaf Patel doing on the tour if he can't be the fifth choice pacer even?)
Eventually, in the 10th over, Sreesanth was brought into the attack. MS Dhoni had an interesting field for him though: a short mid-wicket and a square leg near the umpire and two men in the deep. The idea clearly was to bowl straight and invite the batsmen to hit through the line.
It didn't work, just like his outswingers had become ineffective against the two left-handers. Each over, he yielded at least one delivery to make life tougher and more frustrating for himself.
Ishant, who began from the pavilion end, was much more effective when he came back from the Vauxhall end. He hit Strauss on the helmet and beat him, and Cook too, to raise some hopes of a breakthrough. But it wasn't meant to be. They would only get a break from the leather hunt; tomorrow is, however, another day.
Brief scores
England 75 for 0 (Strauss 38*, Cook 34*)
