New Delhi [India], July 25 : Former cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar believes India were hard done by Manchester's weather at Old Trafford and should be "glad" to end the second day with two wickets in the fourth Test against England in Manchester.
Under the gloomy sky of Manchester, India struggled to conjure runs in the first innings on the opening day. Many perished in front of the lively seam movement, while the rest surrendered to England's short-ball ploy. Despite the tricky surface, India managed to reach 358.
When England came out to bat, the atmosphere changed as clouds disappeared from the sky, allowing the sun to shine over Old Trafford. India had the new ball to make up for the sudden shift in the situation, but straying away from the line didn't help their cause, and they eventually lost the plot.
"What this tells us is that India were a bit hard done by the weather gods. During their batting, there were dark grey clouds, some moisture it looked like a black-and-white movie at one point. But today, the pitch really eased up, and the skies cleared," Manjrekar said on JioHotstar.
"Suddenly, it looked like a completely different Test match. England could very well get a big score, because even someone like Jasprit Bumrah found it hard to bowl a wicket-taking delivery on this surface. So yes, India will be glad they got those two wickets when they did," he added.
England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett tormented India's pace unit and then switched their attention to the spinners. The world's best Jasprit Bumrah looked ineffective, Mohammed Siraj ran out of steam, and debutant Anshul Kamboj put in the hard yards, finding his rhythm. Kamboj arrived in Manchester after India lost Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh and Akash Deep to injuries and was straightaway drafted into the final XI.
Kamboj bowled in tandem with Bumrah to spearhead India's pace attack. While Bumrah kept Crawley and Duckett silent, Kamboj failed to keep them chained with his wayward spell. By the time Gill introduced spinners and Ravindra Jadeja removed the towering Crawley, the duo had raised a 166-run stand for the opening wicket.
"It's tough, especially for someone making his debut. Ben Duckett was merciless and targeted Kamboj just because he was new. There wasn't much in the pitch for him. Bumrah looked the least threatening he has this entire series so we have to see the other bowlers in that light too," he said.
"Shardul Thakur bowled a few good balls, but there's always a boundary around the corner with him. That will be a problem for India the run rate. Perhaps spin should have come on earlier. Jadeja only came in after the 26th over, and that's something the team management may need to rethink when conditions offer nothing for seam," he added.
Kamboj eventually found his mojo and robbed Duckett (94) of a century by forcing an outside edge which flew straight to wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel. Manjrekar felt the 24-year-old showed "potential" on a turf where he hardly got any help.
"I'm very happy for Kamboj there are clear signs that he has potential. He's got a simple, repeatable action, but he can't afford to bowl back of a length or good length at under 130 kph. That's an area for improvement. To be fair, the pitch also changed dramatically on Day 2, so he didn't get much help either," he concluded.
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