Mohali Test, Day 1, Lunch
Monday, December 3, 2001 One hopes the first session of this Test does not prove too costly for the Indians - England have added some valuable runs, which will deeply disappoint Sourav Ganguly.

Ganguly won the toss and, rightly, put England in. But the three new pacemen could not do justice to his decision, as they failed to take advantage of the new ball. One should not be too harsh on them, though - they were bound to be very nervous, considering that they were all playing in their first Tests. Their anxiety must have been exacerbated by the fact that India bowled first, and all the pressure was on them.

Tinu Yohannan looks to be a very good prospect for India. However, his action does not seem set enough. I noticed all kinds of inconsistencies in it today, with his arms going wide sometimes, or his head falling over. His rhythm was uncertain, but once he gets everything right, he will be a good prospect for India.

Iqbal Siddiqui is a bowler who fascinates me. I often played with him in the past. Sometimes he has been embarrassingly bad: at other times, he's turned the tide for the team with just one short burst. He has always been a mystery to his team-mates - you can never predict what he will do.

Sanjay Bangar was a disappointment - doubly so, actually, because these conditions were ideal for him. But he failed to make any impression on the England batsmen.

Sachin Tendulkar, on the other hand, was very impressive. One characteristic of his bowling is that it tends to show exactly what the conditions hold for the bowler. He made the ball seam off the pitch startlingly, thus demonstrating that the pitch offered much more than the new-ball bowlers had managed to find.

Marcus Trescothick played to his strengths. He took some time to get used to the conditions, but once he did, he played some lovely strokes. Nasser Hussain, meanwhile, played a characteristic knock, resolute in defence, always open to an opportunity to attack.

The England bowlers will be disappointed they did not get to bowl first; they would surely have made better use of the conditions had they done so.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the late '80s and early '90s, was talking to Amit Varma.

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