Ahmedabad Test, Day 1, Close
Tuesday, December 11, 2001

A complacent attitude by the Indians, and a few baffling moves by the captain Sourav Ganguly, allowed England to wriggle out of a tight situation and reach a position of relative comfort. For much of the last session their attitude was one of "we'll-get-you-eventually", which probably stemmed from the win in Mohali and the belief that they're the superior team. I'm not sure that's the right attitude to carry into an international match.

When Ganguly looks back at the day's play, he'll probably realise that he underused a couple of his bowlers, and he overbowled one of them. Javagal Srinath was India's best bowler in South Africa, but he rarely looked threatening today. There was nothing in the pitch by way of assistance for the seamers, and Ganguly went more on reputation than performance.

The services of Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh could have been utilised better. Sehwag is a more regular bowler at domestic level than Sachin Tendulkar, and while it was a good move to try Tendulkar's legbreaks, Sehwag deserved more than just one over. Harbhajan should have been given a few overs from the Pavilion End, from where Kumble wrecked havoc. England are still a few runs short of feeling safe, but India's complacency has allowed the opposition to get up from the mat.

Craig White and James Foster didn't look entirely comfortable when they came into bat, but they were helped by the fact that Srinath greeted them instead of Kumble and Harbhajan.

White settled in and got the measure of India's bowling and the pitch, as he spent more time at the crease. He was decisive with his footwork, either going down the wicket to the pitch of the ball, or using the crease to go back. This gave him ample time on a slowish pitch, and presented gave him with enough scoring opportunities too.

Harbhajan had another lacklustre day. His inability to get the regular offspinner to turn should cause some concern to him and the team.

England's late resistance has meant that neither team will go into the second day with too much of an upper hand. The pitch might become slightly slower, but the bounce should remain quite true.

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

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