India heave sigh of relief as Tendulkar scores

Tendulkar raised a mild injury scare after he was struck on his leg and appeared to be limping towards the fag end of his knock. An ice pack on his calf was said to be a minor niggle which prevented him from taking the field when India bowled. Indian coach AnshumanGaekwad told reporters there was no cause for any alarm and that he was asked to rest only as a precautionary measure.

It seems though the team’s brains trust favours Tendulkar opening and playing in a Test match mode, despite the suggestion in some quarters that he drop down the order.

After Saurav Ganguly wafted one to the only slip and lost out on practice on a good batting wicket, Tendulkar put that regimen into effect, getting his eye in first and then opening up with a couple of big cover drives. But a passing cloud dropped a shower on the ground, robbed an hour of the game, and reduced it to 44 overs, bringing Duckworth and Lewis into play. Dravid settled down nicely and was soon puttering along. Noticeably, when Tendulkar is batting at the one end, Dravid’s stonewalling dissipates.

The two put on 155, raising the tempo gradually and worked the innings into a lather before Tendulkar (91, 113 balls, 1×6, 9×4) blasted one into short-cover’s midriff. Dravid, with the 60 against Leicestershire,outpaced Tendulkar before chipping one to short third man for 89 (96b, 1×6, 6×4). His form and confidence augurs well for India. Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja failed in the fading overs but Robin Singh heaved three boundaries in 21 not out as India collected 33 in the last four overs.

Not having bowled a ball since the team landed here, Javagal Srinath let rip a few and cleaned up the Nottinghamshire top order to send them to 34 for four. Evidently, the Indian bowlers have been working on a few variations at the nets and some were on show today, including some smart slower ones from Srinath, who is less prone to bowl them than the more versatile Venkatesh Prasad.

The best of dismissals involved Tim Robinson, a former Test player who toured India and made big hundreds in the mid-80s when Srinath was still green behind the ears. But today, the quickie, who looked very sharp in his first spell of six over (3-10), slipped one between Robinson’s leaden feet before throttling back. If Srinath needed anyinspiration, this Trent Bridge ground offers plenty — Garfield Sobers and Richard Hadlee played for Nottinghamshire.

The Indians now move to Brighton, near Hove, to iron out the wrinkles before they take on South Africa in what must be the toughest draw.

Scoreboard

India: S Ganguly c Gallian b Drakes 2, S Tendulkar c Dowman b Bowen 91, R Dravid c Bates b Dowman 89, M Azharuddin c Archer b Bowen 12, A Jadeja c Read b Wharf 12, Robin Singh not out 17, N Mongia not out 7; Extras (lb4, nb3, w6) 13.

Total (for 5 wickets, in 44 overs) 243

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-168, 3-204, 4-210, 5-235.

Bowling: Drakes 9-2-30-1, Bowen 9-0-62-2, Wharf 9-0-51-1, Dowman 6-0-27-1, Bates 7-0-39-0, Gallian 4-0-30-0.

Nottinghamshire: G Welton b Srinath 3, M Dowman c sub b Srinath 9, J Gallian not out 79, T Robinson b Srinath 2, G Archer lbw b Agarkar 0, N Gie lbw b Ganguly 16, C Read lbw b Kumble 5, V Drames not out 23; Extras (lb7, w4, nb11) 22.

Total (for 6wickets, 44 overs) 159

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-23, 3-29, 4-24, 5-92, 6-107.

Bowling: Srinath 8-3-21-3, Prasad 9-0-39-0, Kumble 9-3-20-1, Agarkar 5-0-19-1, Robin Singh 4-0-19-0, Ganguly 4-1-17-1, Jadeja 5-0-17-0.