India sweat over Zaheer as Trott steadies England

Test cricket lovers celebrated the arrival of the 2000th match. But even in its 134th year, the sport sadly has no mechanism to deal with its oldest foe: bad weather.

This could have been India's day --- a rarity, considering how they usually struggle at the start of a Test series. England made 127-2 with Jonathan Trott's fifty after being dropped twice. Bad light stopped play just before tea in the 50th over. Steady rain made a restart impossible.

Zaheer Khan took 2-18 in 13.3 overs. In the noon session, he walked off the field clutching the back of his right knee. The word from the dressing room is that he has strained his hamstring and is undergoing a scan. In his absence, India spread the field out, choosing to keep the runs under check rather than attack the struggling Kevin Pietersen and Trott.

MS Dhoni elected to bowl --- a decision that divided at least two former England captains. Andrew Flintoff said it was a 'negative' decision since the wicket was slow. Michael Vaughan reckoned it was a wise choice since persistent rains and made the conditions considerably pace-friendly.

While bowling first in overcast conditions certainly have their benefits, India could have justified this decision better by bowling a fuller length.

Dhoni's bowlers, though accurate for the first couple of hours, played on the England batsmen's patience rather than getting them to drive the swinging, seaming ball. They kept the ball on a good length around off-stump. Hence, not many scoring opportunities were created in the first session of 21 overs, in which England crawled to 43 for the loss of Alastair Cook, who fell LBW to Zaheer's in-swinger.

This is a huge change for India coach Duncan Fletcher. When he was with England, he favoured express pacers such as Steve Harmison and Simon Jones. Nasser Hussain commented that India beginning with two medium-pace swing bowlers is not out of Fletcher's playbook.

Praveen Kumar's inclusion meant that Sreesanth and Munaf Patel were benched. Praveen bowled tidily for a first spell of 9-4-18-0, bowling out-swingers across the two left-handed openers. But most times, Cook and Strauss could leave them alone comfortably.

Wasim Akram said India looked flat at the start and could have been better served running in with full intensity on the first morning on an important series.

England skipper Andrew Strauss rarely looked convincing today and had three lucky breaks. A couple of inside edges whooshed past his off-stump while Harbhajan Singh missed a chance to run him out. His problems outside the off-stump against left-arm pacers are well documented.
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Sehwag survives injury scare at team practice

Opener Virender Sehwag on Friday survived an injury scare after being hit on his ribs by a local fast bowler during the Indian cricket team`s practice session ahead of the much-anticipated World Cup clash against England on Sunday.

Sehwag was one of the first to take strike at the nets at the National Cricket Academy and his batting session was cut short when a rising delivery from a local boy hit him on the left rib cage.

He was taken to the dressing room immediately but fortunately for India, nothing serious was found. He later went to the gymnasium and also joined back the training session.

Team Manager Ranjib Biswal spoke to media and cleared the air about Sehwag`s injury.

"He is fit to play. There was no need to even go for scans," Biswal told reporters.

Before the batting and bowling session, the Indian cricketers played football for about 45 minutes.

Later, the batsmen practised with plastic balls and also had a catching practice session.
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