December 4, 2023
It was a spinners’ paradise and the duo of Swann and Panesar didn’t disappoint. Combined 19 wickets in the match and that were enough for India. The home side picked 3 but it didn’t make much of a difference after England batted beautifully in the first innings.
Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann. On conditions tailormade for Indian spinners, Panesar and Swann managed to take, between them, 19 of the 20 Indian wickets to fall. The Indian spinners, on the other hand, took nine between the three of them. If ever there was a case of beating someone at their own game, this would be it.
Let’s accept it. This was a far more comprehensive win than the one for India at Ahmedabad in the first Test. Why? Not becaue India only managed a nine-wicket win there but because they had everything going their way, and still the match went into Day Five. Here, England were playing in completely alien conditions, on a rank turner (as wished for by MS Dhoni), having lost the toss and without their frontline seamer (Steve Finn) and a key batsman (Ian Bell). And they did it in less than four days. Cook would be really, really proud of his team here.
Kevin Pietersen is the Man of the Match for a destructive knock he played in the first innings. He doesn’t forget to add that Cook himself is a brilliant player and will go on to do wonders for England. Thanks a lot of people and also the Indian crowd for their support. Meanwhile, Panesar was one big contender of this award.
MS Dhoni has a word of praise for Panesar, Swann and Pietersen. He feels a score of 200 in the second innings would have made a difference. Winning skipper Alastair Cook also calls a lot of praise for the spin duo and KP.
England’s last win in India also came at the same ground in 2006 and hence, they’ll take plenty of memories from the Wankhede. This was Dhoni’s just second loss at home as a captain and he would be disappointed too. In last 5 years, only South Africa have won in India (twice) and England just become the second team. They’ll be pretty happy!
A comprehensive victory for the Brits and yes, India have been beaten at home and under Dhoni. That speaks wonders of England’s performance in this match. They were brilliant and have been rewarded rightly. The series is now squared 1-1 with two matches to play.