Murali Vijay made a superb first day hundred to guide India to 259/4 at the end of Day 1 of the first Test at Trent Bridge. The Tamil Nadu opener has shown a fine tendency towards playing long, patient innings over the past year. He made his 90th run off his 165th delivery today, and ended the day on 122 in 294 deliveries. If Vijay embodies India's approach to batting in this series, India need not worry.
India won the toss and chose to bat first on a pitch which disappointed the Sky commentary team as the day wore on. These commentators, who are all former England captains or coaches kept coming back to how wonderful this pitch was for India. A more reasonable explanation for the conspiring mind might be that the wicket was prepared especially for Alastair Cook. Cook has struggled against teams other than India since the 2010-11 Ashes. In 54 Test innings against teams other than India since January 2012, Cook has made 3 centuries and averages 33. If I can figure this out, so can the England management.
As for me, I'm inclined to wait until we have a cloudier, cooler day before judging the conditions. Day 2 is forecast to be much cooler than today and the conditions for batting might be very different as a result. With rain forecast for Day 3 and Day 4, India's first day score may prove to be decisive.
England used the conditions to their advantage to get Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Both were dismissed in ways which are rare for top order Test players. Rahane toe ended an attempted pull shot and the ball fell kindly for England's captain who was fielding at an old fashioned silly mid-off. Pujara was also dismissed on a delivery which help up off the pitch to be caught at silly mid-on by a diving Ian Bell. The fields were well placed, but the dismissals had as much to do with the indifferent pace off the pitch as they did with the quality of the shot. England may also have been bowling cross seam to effect some of this indifferent bounce. Both batsmen were early into their shots. I don't think the short bowling bothered Rahane. He was playing it well and seemed to be waiting for something around off stump which he could hit in front of square, since the two men on the boundary were dead on square and behind square. Unfortunately, he played too early at the first chance he got.
Virat Kohli made a misjudgment early in his innings and sent India's fans into a panic. The fact that Vijay and Rahane spent a quiet hour after Pujara and Kohli fell in close succession brought about the usual pointless discussions of the run rate and suggestions about "slow" batting. A quiet hour is not "slow" batting.
M S Dhoni came to the wicket and made the most of the old ball and a tiring English attack. England erred in my view by continuing the line of attack they had used against Rahane against Dhoni early in his innings. The Indian captain tends to feel for the ball outside his off stump early in his innings and must have been pleased that he was getting short bowling from outside leg stump instead of having to defend the top of off. A few runs later, Dhoni revealed a method he will probably use very often against right arm seamers on this tour. He repeatedly took a short step down the pitch and got his pad outside the line of off stump. Only the very greatest of batsmen have been able to pull this off without falling over to the off side. The key lies in making the move and then being still when the ball arrives. This is very hard to do. If Dhoni can do it well enough to disrupt England's battery of right arm pacemen, he will do well at Number 6, especially against the older ball.
The player of the day was Murali Vijay. His certainty around off stump, allied with his fine judgment of length made him look untroubled at the wicket. The most impressive thing about his innings was the maturity with which he navigated the century and then continued to play within himself until the end of the day. Losing Vijay for 96 or so just after losing Rahane would have given England the advantage. As it happened, Vijay and Dhoni have ensured that Day 1 belonged to the visitors.