Gambhir shines as England toil in vain

Opener's century paves way for India to take control after Broad's early strike

( REUTERS)

It was Gautam Gambhir who struck his fourth Test hundred on the opening day of the second Test, but it would have been Rahul Dravid who finished another punishing day for England happiest.

Dravid's place in the Indian Test side has been the source of continual discussion since England's return 12 days ago, but when bad light brought a premature end to proceedings he had gone some way towards proving his doubters wrong by scoring a stodgy and unbeaten 65.

England's bowlers once again competed hard here in Mohali but, as in Chennai, they had little to show for their endeavour. Stuart Broad claimed England's solitary wicket when he had the dangerous Virender Sehwag caught behind in the second over of the day, and he deserved greater reward in an excellent opening spell. But once the new ball lost its initial hardness batting became a far more pleasurable pastime.

Graeme Swann impressed again too, delivering his off-spinners with guile and out-bowling Monty Panesar. Swann was unfortunate not to walk off with a wicket or two himself. When Gambhir was on 70 Paul Collingwood dropped a hard chace low and to his left at slip, and when the opener was on 71 the same bowler had an extremely strong shout for lbw. Television replays suggested the ball would have gone on to hit middle stump but umpire Daryl Harper gave the left-hander the benefit of the doubt.

"I thought we bowled pretty well all day," said Peter Moores, the England coach. "On another day we would have them three down which would have put us in a pretty good position with the second new ball due. Any time you keep a side to under three an over you know that if you take a couple of quick wickets you are back in the game."

This was Gambhir's second consecutive hundred at the Punjab Cricket Association Ground. He scored 104 in India's second innings during the 320-run victory over Australia two months ago and this performance could, weather permitting, produce a similar result. In Gambhir India have found an outstanding young batsman. He is proficient in both Test and limited-over cricket, and he showed yesterday that he has a superb temperament.

England tried differing tactics against him, including the seamers bowling wide of off stump to a seven-two off-side field, but he refused to indulge. Gambhir showed his ruthless streak too by attacking Panesar as soon as he came on to bowl. The Indians know Panesar's confidence is low and Gambhir twice hit him back over his head in his first over. He struck Swann for a straight six too. Despite these shots a high proportion of his runs were scored behind square on either side of the wicket but, as Andrew Strauss showed in the first Test, there is nothing wrong with that.

Dravid, with 32 runs in his last six Test innings, would have been hoping for more than 12 balls to compose himself but the early dismissal of Sehwag threw him straight under the spotlight. Broad bowled superbly at him, continually testing the right-hander on and around off stump. As he scratched around, scampering the odd single here and there, it was hard to believe you were watching a batsman with more than 10,000 Test runs to his name. Dravid's first boundary, a pulled four of the tiring Broad, came off the 46th ball he faced. It was the first boundary he had hit in five innings.

But with time his touch began to return. Panesar was driven beautifully through the covers for four while Andrew Flintoff was expertly hit to the long-on boundary. A 54th Test half-century was brought up off the 151st ball he faced and he could take some removing today.

Low heavy cloud meant that light was an issue throughout the day. It caused play to start 20 minutes late and end after only 72 overs had been bowled. Time can be made up but it is hard to believe there will not be further interruptions in the Test. The cool, drab conditions, which resulted in most England players wearing a sweater all day, and a disappointing crowd created an atmosphere that was the antithesis of that in Chennai on Monday when Sachin Tendulkar brought solace to a nation. The frighteningly tight security hardly encouraged spectators to attend but the game was not moved here because of the region's desire to watch Test cricket. The determining factor was the safety and security of the players of both sides. Hopefully the prospect of Tendulkar batting will encourage more supporters to attend today.

England made one change to the side that lost in Chennai, with Stuart Broad coming in for Stephen Harmison. When asked at the toss why he had opted for Broad, Pietersen said it was because the 22-year-old's body language was positive and that he was up for it. By using these reasons for Broad's selection Pietersen implied that Harmison was not showing such virtues.

The decision to drop Harmison suggests Pietersen's patience with the man he went out of his way to recall when he was made captain has worn thin after just two Tests. When Harmison returned to the England side Pietersen was full of praise for the fast bowler. He even managed to cajole him in to coming out of one-day retirement, but that comeback lasted only seven games.

The pair may not be natural bedfellows but they seemed to be working well together. But in his newspaper column a week ago Harmison reported he had had a "bust-up" with Pietersen during a practice session in Abu Dhabi on the day England were deciding whether to return to India. The bowler stated Pietersen had been fine about the altercation but the England captain could not have been too impressed with Harmison's contribution in the first Test, when he bowled him for only six overs on the final day. In a match that will test the team's character it seems Pietersen has lost trust in his fastest and most dangerous bowler.

Moores, understandably, held back from criticising Harmison, preferring to talk about Broad's assets rather than Harmison's shortcomings. "It was nothing particularly against Stephen," he said. "We feel Stuart is developing very quickly and he gives us greater depth batting-wise. He did well here in last month's one-day games and we expect to see that come through in the Test. As much as Stephen has or hasn't done we thought Stuart was a good option here."

Shot of the day

Rahul Dravid has had a miserable time recently in Test cricket but he will have enjoyed several of the shots he played yesterday. The most impressive was an on drive played off Andrew Flintoff. It raced away for four.

Ball of the day

Stuart Broad justified his selection in his first over of the day when hedismissed Virender Sehwag for nought. In the first Test England's seamers fed Sehwag's cut shot but here Broad drew him forward and found his edge.

Moment of the day

England desperately wanted to win the toss to reduce the chances of them batting on a pitch taking spin and so their bowlers could have an extra day's rest. It takes more than a couple of days to get over the exertions of a Test like the one in Chennai.