India have the edge on debutants’ day out

On their debut today, both did their alma mater proud. An absorbing day’s cricket at the VCA Stadium, which ended with India holding the advantage, was memorable for Cook’s fighting, fluent half-century and Sreesunth’s spirited bowling on a lifeless wicket.

Another debutant also tasted success with his first action: Andrew Flintoff, England’s 76th captain, won the toss and promptly elected to bat. The onus was straightaway on Cook (21), who’d been told a day before that he would be opening.

And he played his role with some sensible shots, a few that sparkled and only an occasional fumble; the rhythm that he craves as a award-winning saxophonist was flowing into his cricket.

His first scoring shot was a boundary, which settled his nerves. He grew in confidence from there, displaying controlled aggression and unflappable technique. You could, for a moment or two, imagine it was Marcus Trescothick, the man whose shoes he was filling.

It took a classic delivery from Irfan Pathan that foxed him with some late, unexpected swing and uprooted his stump, to end the innings.

At either end, during Cook’s stint and after, Sreesunth (23) was sticking to his ‘‘line and length’’ that tempted Dravid to use him as much as possible, at times even at the expense of Anil Kumble towards the end of the day.

He ended the opening stand when it was threatening to assume dangerous proportions, dismissing Andrew Strauss with a delivery that took the edge and flew to Laxman in second slips. But what gave him ‘‘immense pleasure,’’ as Sreesunth admitted later, was the scalp of Kevin Pietersen. Sreesunth made his ODI debut at the same venue — and, more important, he shot to fame with a six-wicket haul in the Ranji Trophy three years ago.

Both players, at the end of the day, were delighted when explaining how it felt to wear the Test cap for their country and represent it at the highest level of the game. They spoke of their captains being supportive, the technique and mental toughness that they imbibed with help from seniors and contemporaries and finally that they enjoyed their stint out in the middle.

Cook spoke of Sreesunth’s bowling in the early part of the day, while the latter recollected how well the left-hand batsman managed to survive in the middle despite the sweltering heat.

The camaraderie is likely to remain off the field; on it, over the next few weeks, they will be in the thick of the action, protagonists in a riveting passion play.