Vaughan hands India the advantage

They all say that it is a great honour to lead your country. That it is a dream, the ultimate aspiration, for every lad who picks up a bat, to wear the skipper's armband.

They must be kidding you -- the simple truth is, being captain of India sucks! Especially under the new dispensation that rules Indian cricket.

Consider this: If you were captain of the national team, how would you spend the evening before the last Test of a series? You would get your mates around you and with your coach, you would start figuring out plans, roles for each of your playing eleven, et cetera, right?

But not if you were leading the Indian team -- if your name were Sourav Ganguly, you spend the evening before a Test in your room, brooding over your many humiliations, wondering whether it is a good idea to look for another day job.

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Because why? Because it is only the Indian cricket captain who can find a team -- one he is expected to lead to success -- picked without even the courtesy of a telephonic consultation, an attempt to seek his views. What is worse, you will find yourself immeasurably humiliated by a chairman of selectors who proudly tells the media that he did not bother to consult the captain, and thus ensures that every cricket fan in the country knows that the selectors don't think your views are worth listening to.

And you will find that you can't even really make plans for a Test -- because the selectors will tell you that they will pick the playing eleven -- and that too, on the morning of the Test, not even the previous evening. So that all the players can have a good night's sleep, not knowing whether they are going to be playing or no.

The irony is that the selectors are people who have played for the country, themselves -- can a single one of them recount one instance, from their own playing days, when the then selectors picked sides without consulting the captain, or worse, insisted on picking the playing eleven at the eleventh hour? No they can't, because it never happened.

In the event, India chose to go in with one seamer in Srinath, with Sarandeep Singh getting to play at the expense of Tinu Yohannan. Fair enough -- by the looks of it, the green look of the Chinnaswamy stadium wicket is a bit of mirage -- not much really for seamers, and unless I miss my guess, it should turn like a top by the end of day three.

Nasser Hussain won the toss for the second straight time -- and obviously opted to bat. The dew -- which has forced the administrators to delay start of play to 10 am here -- helped both Srinath and fill-in seamer Sourav Ganguly get early movement off the deck. And the former struck early -- with yet another demonstration of superlative seam bowling. Against the aggressive Marcus Trescothick, Srinath produced a stream of deliveries that pinned the batsman down, and came up with a beautifully directed bouncer that had the opener scrambling to get away. With the batsman now pinned to the back foot, Srinath then bowled the full length delivery angling across, forcing the batsman to play, and seaming away just late enough to take the edge through to Laxman at second slip (8 runs off 25 balls, and England 21/1).

Butcher was a touch lucky, in the very next over, to get the benefit as Ganguly pitched one fullish that held its line and hit the front pad with the batsman offering no stroke. As time wore on, though, both Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain shrugged off early alarms and settled down to the job.

Hussain started off with a pulled six off Srinath, and got more belligerent by the minute. It did look at times as though the England captain was riding his luck a touch much -- but the shots he played were well selected, and hit with conviction. India brought on its two main spinners immediately after the first drinks break -- but that early in the game, there really was nothing in it for either Harbhajan Singh or Anil Kumble.

The wicket fell against the run of play, when Mark Butcher drove Harbhajan out onto the off side and took off for a single. Hussain was never going to move, and said as much -- but Dravid, at extra cover, slammed the return to the keeper before the opener could make his ground (27 off 51 and England 68/2).

Lunch was taken with the score on 82/2, after 26 overs. The 3.15 run rate was very good for the first session of a Test, but against that, England had lost two wickets after opting to bat first.

Srinath, again, was the best bowler on view at the start of the session, and in the third over after lunch produced another beauty to get rid of Nasser Hussain. Bowled from wide of the crease, the ball angled in on off forcing the England skipper to push his bat at it, the leg-cutter breaking away late to find the edge through to Dasgupta (Hussain 43 off 64 balls, England 93/3).

It was almost 93/4 when, in the next over, Kumble pitched a flipper short. It was a rank bad ball, the kind that deserved to be pulled for the maximum -- but an edgy Mark Ramprakash, from top of the crease, pushed hard at it in parody of a back-foot forcing shot. The ball stopped a touch, hit the bat low down, and VVS Laxman, normally electric in close positions, saw a simple chance go right through his legs.

From then on, it was all England as Michael Vaughan and Ramprakash settled down to bat England out of jail. Vaughan in Ahmedabad looked as though he were walking into the outpatient's department of the local hospital -- here, he looked every inch a top batsman as he played spin and seam with assurance, his shot-selection impeccable and the execution inch perfect. Ramprakash looked less assured in comparison, but against that, he concentrated on rotating the strike, and when occasion offered, picked the right shots to hit.

The session saw a second chance go to waste when Sarandeep Singh, in his first real spell in Test cricket (the offie bowled one over before lunch) found the outer edge of Mark Butcher's bat, with the keeper unable to get his gloves into line of the chance and letting the ball richochet off his pads.

The session produced 94 runs off 32 overs, at a healthy 2.94. Vaughan went in on a superbly compiled 56 (107 balls) while Ramprakash had a less elegant 33 (103) to his name, England going in on 176/3 at the end of 58 overs.

Batting looked at its easiest immediately after tea, with both batsmen playing fluent shots from the get-go. Ramprakash, the more aggressive after the break, got to his first 50 of the tour (125 balls) and England seemed to be coasting, when Vaughan went in unfortunate circumstances.

Against Sarandeep Singh, Vaughan had a big swipe looking to hit from off to midwicket. The ball turned and bounced enough to beat the shot, Dasgupta scrambled around to try and make a catch of it, and Vaughan -- for no reason anyone could see -- reached down, picked up the ball and tossed it away. There was a muted appeal from Sarandeep, and the umpire really had no choice but to give the decision (Vaughan 64 off 138, England 206/4). It was a sad end to a partnership of 113/235 that put England in the driver's seat -- and Vaughan now joins the likes of Steve Waugh, Graham Gooch, Mohinder Amarnath et al, who apparently haven't been told that the hand is meant to hold the bat, not the ball. And for trivia buffs, it was A V Jayaprakash who, earlier this year, gave the decision against Steve Waugh -- and here, now, against Vaughan.

Much has been made of Flintoff's batting abilities. On the evidence till date, it is hard to understand why -- the fourth ball he received, off Sarandeep Singh, was clipped straight down the throat of Sachin Tendulkar at midwicket, and England was 206/5.

It was Sarandeep again who struck, some 13 runs later. Ramprakash treated himself to a lovely drive on the up over long on for four, but the next ball was pushed through quicker and the batsman pushed at it, with the pad in front and bat tucked just behind. The ball curled back in, hit the pad, deflected past the bat (it could have feathered the edge, again, it could have missed -- you'd need caliphers to tell), Dasgupta again mimicked a hockey goalkeeper in the way he padded away what should have been a take, and Dravid at slip reacted to hold the ricochet (58 off 133, and England 219/6).

Gloomy overhead conditions prompted the umpires to offer light to the batsmen -- this, despite the fact that the lights were shining down as per ICC regulations, and two spinners were operating. England grabbed the chance to go off and regroup, with the score on 231/6 and with 14 overs left to bowl in the day.

England, until the loss of three quick wickets, were in the driver's seat -- but with six gone, after opting for first strike, the tourists are back behind the eight ball. The idea should have been to pile up runs and in the process, deny India any batting time on day two when conditions should be good, but as things stand at close of play, the advantage is firmly with India.

The other point of interest is Sarandeep Singh. For those who haven't seen him bowl, he runs in like a right-handed version of Bishen Singh Bedi, bowls with a very high arm action, gets lots of flight into the ball, and tends to really rip his fingers over the seam, turning it more than fellow off spinner Harbhajan Singh without (at least, there was no sign of it thus far) having Harbhajan's 'doosra'.

The response to our article yesterday on India coach John Wright has been incredible -- and hearteningly, 99 per cent of those who have written in expressed their support to the coach. Inter alia, several readers wrote in asking how they could let Wright know that they were sorry for the way he was being treated, and express their support.

Simple -- you can do it through the feedback button here. Do mark your mail "Attention John Wright" and we will make sure he gets every single one of them.

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