In England, it has become customary to look at Kevin Pietersen and see only a problem. In India, the talk is of his star quality.
That unmistakable batting talent was to the fore once more on a sweltering second day of the Mumbai Test as he began to put his tribulations behind him and rebuild an England career that he once imagined might be lost for ever. Alastair Cook, the England captain who must manage Pietersen’s maverick talents, must have looked down the pitch and concluded that this was a problem worth having. Cook, who in his worst moments must have imagined that India was becoming an insurmountable challenge, could spot an ally from 22 yards away. Between them, they stilled India’s spin-bowling frenzy.
Cook was 13 runs short of another Test hundred at the close, another formidable innings in pressing circumstances. Alongside him, Pietersen had made an unbeaten 62 in enterprising fashion. Instead of talk of “reintegration,” as formally laid down by the ECB, they chatted informally between overs of cricketing matters, of runs and wickets and ambitions to win a Test and square the series. It is far too premature to suggest that the good times were returning, but perhaps the deepest pain is behind them.
One bemused Indian pundit, observing Pietersen in full flow, suggested that he struggled to cope with the regimented ways of England, where people “liked to stand in queues.” Well, they have certainly been queuing up in recent months to take a pop at Pietersen. He will hear little such criticism in Mumbai. It is perhaps no surprise that in the country which lavishes more affection on him than any other he began to rediscover his mojo. Pietersen, lambasted for a frenzied approach in Ahmedabad, played confidently against India’s spinners from the outset. He confidently despatched his first ball, from Harbhajan Singh, to the cover boundary. Another upbeat drive against Pragyan Ojha restated his well-being. His footwork was trim, his misjudgements were rare. There were times when his presence alone seemed enough to draw errors in length from the Indian spin attack.
Cook continued to unravel India’s mysteries, a power to be reckoned with in all climes, on all surfaces. Twice he used his feet to Ojha, hitting him over mid-on for six and four, as he combated the bowler’s leg-stump line, backed up by three close leg-side catchers. As his innings progressed, he swept as productively as at any time in his Test career. They were shots illustrative of a batsman carefully extending his range. The sweep shot injured two India short legs in the process. Chesteshwar Pujara was struck in the ribs and left the field. The substitute, Ajinkya Rahane, emerged with more padding than a luxury sofa and pulled off some nerveless, agile stops – a sofa on casters – before he, too took a battering and withdrew from service. There was not a noticeable rush to take his place. R Ashwin bowled the best over at Cook – a top-edged sweep, two play and misses and an edge short of slip reminding England that this test could swing India’s way in a flash – but Harbhajan, returning from a 15-month absence for his 99th Test, found little to sustain him. In just three innings, Alastair Cook’s aggregate for the series has exceeded 300 – it’s 304. The previous England batsman to score more than 300 in a series in India was Graeme Hick, who scored 315 in six innings in 1992-93.
The undefeated 110-run stand between Cook and Kevin Pietersen is the fifth for the third wicket for England in Tests in India; three of those five are by this pair.
Cheteshwar Pujara has a series average of 382, which is the second-highest ever for India, behind Rahul Dravid’s 432 against Zimbabwe in 2000-01. The 111-run stand between Pujara and R Ashwin is only the seventh for the seventh wicket for India in Tests against England.
Graeme Swann became England’s 14th bowler, but only their second spinner, to take 200-plus Test wickets. In all, he is the 16th spinner to reach the landmark. Monty Panesar’s 5 for 129 is the sixth instance of an England spinner taking a five-for in the first innings of a Test since 2000. Panesar, Swann and Ashley Giles have each achieved it twice. In 17 Test innings in Asia, Jonathan Trott has scored 507 runs at an average of 29.82.
