As Murali Vijay and captain MS Dhoni strode from the Trent Bridge wicket back to the pavilion yesterday evening, it was a surreal moment for Indian cricket.
Traditionally they have been slow out of the blocks on tours of England, playing good cricket only after they have given their hosts a head start, from which they have not always been able to recover.
A score of 259 for four is a solid base to go on and compile a big total to put England’s relatively inexperienced top order under pressure when they come to bat.
But make no mistake, a failure to get to at least 450, if not 500, will be a below-par effort on a flat wicket that, apart from a spell in the afternoon that offered reverse swing, has largely offered little assistance to the bowlers.
Opener Vijay (122 not out) batted through to be the backbone of India’s good day, an unbroken stand of 81 with Dhoni (50 not out) then steering the innings back on an even keel after it had looked as if it may wobble when they had fallen to 178 for four just after tea.
But Vijay’s first Test hundred on foreign soil, which included 20 boundaries and one six, has for once left his country on the front foot in the opening Test of a series in England.
You have to go back to 1986 for the last time India were triumphant in the first Test on English soil and, even then, they had not had a particularly great first day at Lord’s as they had allowed the hosts, led by a century from Graham Gooch, to score 245 for five.
But since then it has been a case of almost permanently being on the back foot, with poor performances ensuring they have lost four of the past five series openers in England, usually in emphatic fashion.
Even the one they did not lose, in 2007 at Lord’s, they almost did, as only bad light and the last pair of Dhoni and S Sreesanth batting out five overs denied victory to Michael Vaughan’s team.
One factor then was these were often series of three or four Tests, making getting off to a good start even more crucial as there was little chance to recover from a poor start. The usual narrative in these series has been that India have rallied from a bad beginning and often played the better cricket in the remainder of the matches.
In theory, it should be less important this time with five Tests scheduled, but if India are victorious in this Test, it is doubtful they will see it that way.
Between 1990 and 2007, the only matches England won against India were the first Test, India raising their game afterwards. In 2007, they used their escape at Lord’s to good effect as they went on to win at Trent Bridge and then were the dominant force in the draw at the Oval to secure a series victory.
Even in 2011, the scene of the 4-0 whitewash in England’s favour, they played their best cricket in the second Test, conspiring to waste being 46 runs ahead with six wickets in hand in the first innings before collapsing to lose by 319 runs.
Given their past traumas in England, it was understandable that the Indians were in good spirits last night.
They are in a position where they can dictate the course of the match, but that does involve following up yesterday’s good day with the bat with another one today to ensure it is not wasted.
For England, it was a tough day in the field and, after a frustrating morning in which India had cantered to 107 for one, it had not looked good for under-pressure captain Alastair Cook, who had lost the toss.
But Cook, to his credit, showed more creativity with his field placings and in using his bowlers. He mixed up the overs between his attack and was rewarded with a better performance from his bowlers than had been offered up in the shambolic loss to Sri Lanka in the second Test last month.
James Anderson and Stuart Broad both bowled a better line and were well backed up by the pace of Liam Plunkett.
Unfortunately, a captain can have all the creative thinking in the world, but if the pitch is offering little and there is an immovable obstacle – Vijay – to negotiate, there is nothing you can do other than keep the run-rate down and try to create pressure.
If England can keep India to below 400, they are right in this Test.
But this is the first time in a long time that India have had the early ascendancy and Vijay and Dhoni will be anxious to ensure their hard work is not wasted.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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