Tendulkar takes out insurance policy

There is nothing more entertaining in world cricket than the Indian batting line-up and at Kingsmead it was revealed at both its best and worst. First, there was a wonderful opening stand of 60 in 10 overs between Sachin Tendulkar and Verinder Sehwag that gave the innings the insurance policy it needed after Sourav Ganguly had won an important toss.

While Tendulkar and Sehwag were together England must have been frightened that they would be chasing a score of 300 or more. Andy Caddick was flayed to all parts of the ground and when he comes in for this kind of treatment he seldom seems to have anything to fall back on in defence.

One felt sorry for James Anderson, who, after two excellent overs, was also put to the sword. He made a wonderful start at this level and it was simply a matter of time before two experienced campaigners took it upon themselves to show up his callowness. He will be a better and wiser bowler for what happened here.

Once Andrew Flintoff had put an end to this extravagant beginning with what must be his best-ever piece of bowling at this level, India were in danger of losing their way. Ganguly and Dinesh Mongia could make nothing of Flintoff and Craig White. For 10 overs it looked as if we were watching a different match from the one earlier.

Both Ganguly and Mongia are worldly wise enough to know their requirement was not to try and play as Tendulkar and Sehwag but to settle down and rebuild the innings. They needed to push the singles in order to rotate the strike and hit the bad balls for four. As it was, they allowed the innings to stagnate.

The pressure got to the captain, who tried to slog when he should have known better, and after that Rahul Dravid found it difficult to pick up the pace of the pitch. It was only after Mongia's self-defeating effort had come to an end that Yuvraj Singh came to India's rescue.

English bowlers need no reminding of the power of Singh's strokes after his splendid showing in the one-day internationals at the start of last summer. He now proceeded to go through his full range and the 42 runs he made in 38 balls guaranteed that India's wonderful start was not wasted.

Dravid played his part too, after being becalmed early in his innings. The trouble with that cascade of runs at the start was that it seemed to upset the thinking of the other Indian batsmen, just as much as it upset the minds of the England bowlers until Flintoff was able to restore order. A hectic opening partnership is invaluable, but the other Indian batsmen should by now know how to make the most of it.

None the less, England's innings was only half a dozen overs old before India must have been pretty confident that they had enough.