Sport

Kevin Pietersen leads England’s fightback

. — Photo: S. Subramanium

ON CLOUD NINE: Ishant Sharma is delighted after accounting for Ian Bell on the third day of the Mohali Test

Mohali: The quick-thinking Kevin Pietersen was also light on his feet. Flair and freedom underlined his astonishing effort. The England captain was brave yet responsible in a stress situation. Among international cricket’s sunshine men, Pietersen created an innings of 144 on a sun-lit Sunday afternoon.

He innovated to disrupt the rhythm of the bowlers; his eloquent willow found the gaps on either side with ease. India struck back at the fag end of the third day; Pietersen was adjudged leg-before to Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Flintoff was prised out by Amit Mishra.

England — 282 for six pursuing India’s first innings 453 — might be stretched to salvage a draw from the second and final Test. The late Indian strikes have almost ruled out a series-levelling win for the visitor — the surface is still playing good.

Harbhajan got a delivery to pitch in line and straighten from round-the-wicket. Pietersen played around the ball. Then, a determined Flintoff (62, 132b, 6x4, 1x6) was brilliantly held at short-leg by a diving Gautam Gambhir after Mishra got one to skid through quicker on middle-and-leg.

In a compelling fight-back, the fifth-wicket pair added 149 runs. Pietersen was the aggressor. Apart from unleashing the occasional blow, Flintoff reigned in his attacking instincts for the team.

Pietersen’s 15th Test hundred was one of the landmarks — he crossed the 4000-run mark and went past 1000 runs for the third successive year.

But then, his batsmanship is not about numbers alone. It’s high on entertainment — a sense of adventure is unmistakable in his approach — and enterprise.

Harbhajan watched in disbelief as Pietersen employed the switch-hit to send the ball over the mid-wicket fence. The manner with which the English captain changed his stance and grip in one fluent motion was breathtaking.

Pietersen was almost balletic in his movement. He has a two-eyed stance. Batsmen adopting this rather open-chested method are in a good position to essay the pull stroke or the back-footed punches on the off-side.

However, they encounter serious problems in getting their front foot across for the drives.The England captain’s stance is definitely wide to begin with. However, he does move into a straighter position at the point of delivery.

Prompted by Pietersen’s stance, the bowlers are tempted to bowl a fuller length and the quickly moving batsman cashes in. With incredible bat speed, Pietersen flashed drives off the front foot through the covers.

His front-footed straight drives and the on-drives were classically executed. While playing the flick or the whip through the leg side, he moved across in a jiffy without losing balance. There were also occasions when Pietersen simply got his left leg out of the way to free his arms and fire the ball on the on-side.

Pietersen’s tactics are fraught with danger but he is decisive in what he does. When Mishra bowled from round-the-wicket, the loose-limbed batsman negated the tactics with stunning reverse sweeps.

Play started 90 minutes late on the third day due to a thick fog. Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma struck early by rightly employing the fuller length. Andrew Strauss, played across, was trapped leg-before the left-arm paceman in the first over.

In the second, Ishant had an out-of-form Ian Bell inside-edging an in-coming delivery to his middle stump. Pietersen walked in and Dhoni brought in occasional left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh in the third over to have a crack at the England captain.

The right-hander played out the over and then displayed a healthy blend of offence and defence. Later in the day, Yuvraj and Pietersen were involved in a verbal exchange.

Opener Alastair Cook (50, 67b, 8x4) batted with poise and balance to put the innings back on the road with Pietersen but failed to consolidate. Zaheer got him on the shuffle with a full, straight ball.

Then, Paul Collingwood was consumed by a lovely leg-spinner from Mishra. The delivery dipped in flight around the off-stump and spun away.

Harbhajan operated to a better line but his bowling lacked fizz off the pitch. Bounce is such an essential aspect of his bowling and the off-spinner needs to flight more.

England —1st innings: A. Strauss lbw b Zaheer 0, A. Cook lbw b Zaheer 50, I. Bell b Ishant 1, K. Pietersen lbw b Harbhajan 144, P. Collingwood c Dhoni b Mishra 11, A. Flintoff c Gambhir b Mishra 62, J. Anderson (batting) 1; Extras: (b-1, lb-6, w-1, nb-5) 13. Total (six wkts. in 73 overs): 282.

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Strauss), 2-1 (Bell), 3-104 (Cook), 4-131 (Collingwood), 5-280 (Pietersen), 6-282 (Flintoff).

India bowling: Zaheer 18-2-71-2, Ishant 12-0-55-1, Yuvraj 6-1-20-0, Harbhajan 15-2-56-1, Mishra 22-0-73-2.

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