Munaf, Piyush share honours

Three months ago, during a Ranji match at the Jamia University grounds in Delhi, a tall bowler took on the umpires and challenged their verd...

Three months ago, during a Ranji match at the Jamia University grounds in Delhi, a tall bowler took on the umpires and challenged their verdict. 8216;8216;I don8217;t have to play for India, so I don8217;t fear you,8217;8217; he had then said. The statement earned him a strong reprimand, but Munaf Patel has always been temperamental. Some call it his weakness. To the very few who have seen him closely, that8217;s his strength. He needs that little thing to spur him on 8212; a typical fast bowler.

Much of today, the proceedings seemed ironical. There he was, playing for India and taking the new ball. To the few hundred spectators sitting under fading lights, the pace wasn8217;t too much for the English batsmen and the first Test nerves were clearly showing. First spell figures of 3-0-13-0 showed nothing of his promise. No carry, no movement, no great line or length.

The skeptics had almost written him off till he got the old ball. Slowly, he built up pace and at a top speed of 144.9kmph 8212; that too a yorker 8212; he made those watching realise why Chappell or Dravid had backed him and made him jump the queue. It was after a long time that someone was bowling consistently at this pace for India and made the old ball count, someone who could sneak in the yorker at will when batsmen tried to plant the front foot forward. His final spell of 3.3-0-8-1 would probably have helped him sleep tonight.

There was another young lad who bowled his first ball in Test cricket at the PCA stadium on the opening day. When his contemporaries were writing their exams, he was playing his first Test. Like every class XII student who would cram into his notes, this 18-year-old knew his brief well. It isn8217;t a coincidence that Anil Kumble presented him his Test cap; soon he8217;s expected to make that transition from the supporting cast to the lead role. Piyush is different from Kumble and belongs to the leg-spinner tribe; the Aligarh lad turns the ball a lot although he8217;s yet to justify that in his limited spell of five overs.

The pitch was definitely one factor in his favour but Chawla deserves credit for not falling over bowling to Kevin Pietersen 8212; a big-hitter and arguably one of the best players of spin bowling in the English camp. 8216;8216;Yeah, it was a bit tough on the young kid as I went after him but that8217;s how I play my cricket,8217;8217; said Pietersen, silently acknowledging the young spinner8217;s effort.

He didn8217;t flight the ball much; bowled quicker through the air than he would have normally liked and didn8217;t experiment too much except for an odd googly but bowled on one side of the wicket and allowed the skipper to attack with a packed off-side.

In whatever little first class cricket he8217;s played, Chawla has a high percentage 8212; as high as 52 8212; of caught out dismissals. On this wicket, he needs to bowl a lot slower but it8217;s important for a leg-spinner to bowl in long spells to be effective and work on the batsman.

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Chawla will be back tomorrow; a day in the field and a late evening chat with his parents will make him more confident. The ball will turn square tomorrow and Munaf will zip it across. They both belong to different categories; it8217;s difficult to compare them but Day One honours were shared equally between the two debutants.

SCOREBOARD

	nbsp;	England 1st Innings Andrew Strauss c Dhoni b Pathan 18 Alastair Cook lbw Pathan 17 Ian Bell b Kumble 38 Kevin Pietersen c038;b Patel 64 Paul Collingwood batting 19 Andrew Flintoff batting 4 Extras: lb1, nb2 3 Total: for 4 wkts, 50.3 overs 163 Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-36, 3-117, 4-157 Bowling: Irfan Pathan 16-3-54-2, Munaf Patel 11.3-1-44-1, Harbhajan Singh 6-0-15-0, Piyush Chawla 5-1-20-0, Anil Kumble 12-3-29-1	nbsp;

First show, first day

	nbsp;	Munaf Patel	Piyush Chawla	nbsp;
	nbsp;	FIRST BALL		nbsp;
	nbsp;	Alastair Cook hits down the ground for four	Ian Bell puts his front foot forward and plays a defensive shot	nbsp;
	nbsp;	BEST BALL		nbsp;
	nbsp;	Yorker that gets the crowd up on its feet; it goes past Collingwood8217;s defensive bat, narrowly missing the stumps	Bell tries to negate his stock leg-break delivery that turns a bit and goes towards gully. First sign of Chawla looking to turn the ball	nbsp;
	nbsp;	TEST CAP		nbsp;
	nbsp;	Skipper Rahul Dravid hands it over to him	Anil Kumble does the honour to the young	nbsp;
	nbsp;	SIGN OF NERVES		nbsp;
	nbsp;	Three overs in his first spell, drooping shoulders is no great sign. Looked confused whether to bowl quick or look to swing	Great first over, and keeps his smile intact going through the difficult period when Pietersen gets going	nbsp;
	nbsp;	BODY LANGUAGE		nbsp;
	nbsp;	Head down and resigned, he was found wandering on the field; not a great advertisement of a promising young quick but makes up for it with a sensational spell later	Very positive. Termed as a complete cricketer, he is a good leggie, decent batsman and an excellent hand on the field. He could dive and do something or the other to get the tempo going	nbsp;
	nbsp;	OTHER FACTS		nbsp;
	nbsp;	At 17 years, Piyush Chawla becomes the second youngest Indian debutant after Sachin Tendulkar to play Test cricket. He leaps ahead of Laxman Sivaramakrishanan and Maninder Singh. 8212; G.S. Vivek		nbsp;