India-England Test series set for more fascinating cricket
The Hindu
India's stunning chase, Tendulkar's gesture, and the historic rivalry between India and England in Test cricket.
The England dressing room at Chennai’s M.A. Chidambaram Stadium had a surprise visitor shortly after the first Test of the 2008 series ended. India had pulled off a stunning chase of 387 on a fifth-day pitch.
After Virender Sehwag blasted a 68-ball 83 and added 117 for the first wicket with Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, with an unbeaten hundred, and Yuvraj Singh took India home. Then Tendulkar walked up to England’s dressing room and thanked the players for coming back to India after the Mumbai terrorist attack.
Steve Harmison was one of the players who were bowled over by Tendulkar’s gesture. “Here was the greatest cricketer of our generation coming to our dressing room to thank us,” the former quick said during a talkSport show.
Coming as it did after the terrible tragedy in Mumbai, the win in Chennai meant much for India as a country, more so with its favourite son making a hundred and hitting the winning shot. And that remains the biggest successful chase in a Test in India.
England was presented with a chance to break that record at Visakhapatnam last week, but India did not let it, as the host paid back for the defeat in the first Test at Hyderabad in style. The series is tied 1-1, with three matches remaining.
The series has already produced some outstanding Test cricket — among the finest this country has seen for years — and there could be more. We haven’t seen too many absorbing and even battles between bat and ball in recent times in India as we have at Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
Neither have we watched such exhibitions of pace bowling like the ones put up by Jasprit Bumrah and James Anderson in just the second Test alone. The series has already given us two epic, match-winning hundreds, by Ollie Pope (196) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (209).
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