INDIA REDISCOVER STEEL

INDIA REDISCOVER STEEL

Dhoni, Kohli Take The Fight To England; Late Wickets Leave Test Hanging In Balance

Nagpur: The challenge couldn’t have been more daunting. The response couldn’t have been more resolute. Under immense pressure to deliver following poor returns with the bat in this series — and with India staring at another embarrassment in the fourth Test — Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni dug deep to produce out-of-character marathon innings on Day Three.
    Having batted the longest they ever have in Tests, Kohli (103; 11x4, 295 balls) managed to get to three figures while a brain freeze resulted in Dhoni being run out on 99 in an absorbing, occasionally dramatic day’s play. That run-out tilted the scales a bit back in favor of England, since Saturday’s script could have been a perfect one for the hosts but the loss of four wickets before the close.
    What Kohli and Dhoni did with their steadfast approach was serve a reminder that Team India — down and out in recent times — could still engineer a patient fightback and show some spine.
    The day began with India fighting to avoid defeat and finished with them at 297/8, trailing England by just 33 runs to set the Test up nicely. With England already leading in the series, all the pressure is on India to somehow manufacture a result in their favour.
    With his captaincy under the scanner and his batting ability in Tests at the point of being ridiculed, Dhoni displayed supreme patience — an aspect which isn’t considered his strongest suit — on the low and slow Jamtha wicket to play out 246 balls, the most he has ever faced in a Test innings.
    Kohli’s 295-ball stay was his longest in Tests too. Together they added 198 runs and opened up a possibility, however slim, of India levelling the series.
    Dour defence and hard graft was the need of the hour when India resumed at 87/4 in the morning, and the two unlikely candidates, both known for their flamboyant strokeplay, proved they could curb their natural exuberance and grind it out. In between the day’s long exhibition of self denial, Dhoni’s natural instincts did rear up occasionally. With it came the allmuscle slog-sweep to Swann and a flat-bat slap to the covers off James Anderson. But a classic outswinger with the new ball from England’s best seam bowler Anderson served up a reality check, and very soon Dhoni was back to blocking.
    Dhoni’s half-century came off 137 balls, his slowest Test fifty in 72 matches.
    Past fifty, and with the onus on India to make things happen, the urge for flashy runs reappeared. Dhoni hit a six over mid-on off Greame Swann and survived a heartin-the-mouth moment off Tim Bresnan a few overs later. The near caught-and-bowled evoked a shake of the head and
subsequently Dhoni didn’t let impatience get the better of him till the ill-judged single on 99 — after being stuck in the 90s for more than an hour — brought about his downfall.
    At the other end, Kohli was a picture of calm, barring a solitary false shot post his fifty. There was no exhibition of his natural flair as he admirably embraced the waiting game, save for occasional glimpses of his gorgeous cover drive and some square cuts and wristy clips. Each of Kohli’s boundaries had class written over it. The tide turned when Kohli, just after his century, fell to Swann. Ravindra Jadeja was a disappointment, and with Piyush Chawla gone too, the onus is on Ashwin to come good.
MEASURED AGGRESSION Kohli was a picture of calm, barring a solitary false shot post his fifty. There was no exhibition of his natural flair as he admirably embraced the waiting game...

A LEAP OF FAITH: Virat Kohli is a bundle of joy after scoring a patient hundred against England on the third day of the fourth Test against England, at Nagpur, on Saturday