 India were drubbed into submission on the third and the final day of the warm-up
game against Somerset. While the match ended in a draw, there is no doubt that
the Indian bowlers will need to do a lot more than what they did in the warm-up
game.
In the 137 overs that were bowled by the Indians, they conceded a total of
705 runs and scalped only five wickets. That is hardly becoming of the number
one side in the world, even if it must be said that it was virtually the second
set of bowlers who were bowling in the game. There was Zaheer Khan only in the
first innings and he did not bowl in the second, while Ishant Sharma, Praveen
Kumar and Harbhajan Singh were all rested for the game.
And yet, for someone like Arul Suppiah to score a 150 and then have Peter Trego
blast the Indian bowlers off for a 57-ball 85 could have hardly made sense to
the fans.
On the other hand, the Indian batting struggled for traction. On the second
day, when they got the chance to bat, India were left in a poor position
by the bowling of Charl Willoughby. Willoughby ran through the top-order to
peg the Indians back to 138 for eight at the end of the second day's play.
This included the wickets of Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, all of whom were dismissed rather cheaply. Yuvraj Singh got a
duck to his name which puts his place in the side as uncertain for the first
Test match. The only saviour for the Indians was the batting of Suresh Raina,
who was unbeaten on 30 overnight, and came out all guns blazing to get to a
century. He will make it to the playing eleven of the Indian side.
On the other hand, England have named their squad as well, for the first Test
and there is no place for either Ravi Bopara or Steve Finn. The batting will be
handled by the same set of six batters who had played against Sri Lanka - Strauss,
Cook, Trott, Bell, pietersen and Morgan. Matt Prior will be the wicket-keeper
whereas the bowling department will have five bowlers to choose from - Broad,
Bresnan, Swann, Anderson and Tremlett. Three of these will have no competition
for their spots while the fourth spot will be fought for between Broad and Bresnan.
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