India 395 (Karthik 82, Kohli 68, Walter 4-113) and 89 for 2 (Rahul 36*, Rahane 19*) drew with Essex 359 for 8 dec (Walter 75, Pepper 68, Umesh 4-35, Ishant 3-59)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
© BCCI
Do India know their top order? That is the pressing question that will nag the Indians as they check out of their only warm-up match, against Essex, and check in to Edgbaston, the venue for the first Test against England.
It was the second over of the Indian innings today. The first ball Matthew Quinn bowled to Shikhar Dhawan, pitched back of a length, on the leg stump which prompted James Foster to shuffle to his right behind the stumps. The ball, however, moved over the first slip. Dhawan did not have much to do. Next ball, Quinn pitched on the middle stump, on a good length and once again seamed the ball away. It was a eye-catching delivery, which beat Dhawan’s outside edge before brushing the outside of his off stump en route to the third slip.
Dhawan faced only four deliveries in the match and bagged a pair. If you are part of the Indian team think tank, you have an unnecessary headache: do you stick to the left-right opening combination for the first Test, combining Dhawan with M Vijay or do you open with Vijay and KL Rahul and play Cheteshwar Pujara at No. 3?
Rahul showed the composure to hit his first run – a neatly flicked four – of the 22nd delivery he faced. However, seven balls later, he tried to defend a Shane Snater delivery from the crease, but the ball straightened up a bit to taken the outside edge. Rahul got lucky as Matt Coles, at second slip, juggled thrice before spilling a straightforward catch.
Rahul is in the squad as the third opener, although he can play even in the middle order as he did on Wednesday. Other than that one distraction, Rahul continued to be watchful and found the rhythm he had displayed in the first innings half-century.
Rahul surely is not a strong contender for at least one position: either as an opener or No. 3. Pujara, the incumbent one-drop batsman, showed portents of returning to form. Rahul was on the way to scoring his second fifty in the match, but had to rush off the ground as the rains arrived an hour after tea to a welcome cheer from the locals. It transpires Essex has been thirsty for a rain for nearly two months now.
One man who has remained parched through the summer, though, is Pujara, who managed just one run in the first innings. A dry phase earlier in the summer with Yorkshire had brought back the questions over Pujara’s defence as well as his spot in the team.
When Paul Walter, the Essex left-arm seamer, sprayed frequently down the legside, Pujara delicately flicked and paddled him for fours in the same over. He was also defending nicely, but fell for the bait set by Walter soon. The bowler had brought in a short midwicket and tempted Pujara with an over-pitched delivery. Usually Pujara would push it quietly or bat it down but, in this case, he flicked Walter into the hands of Varun Chopra at short midwicket.
Both Dhawan and Pujara spent extra hours in the training over the last few days here, observed and guided closely by India head coach Ravi Shastri and batting coach Sanjay Bangar. The questions confronting Dhawan and Pujara are different somewhat. For Dhawan, it is more technical; for Pujara a combination of mental and technical.
Vijay is the only man certain of his spot in the top order. As for the other two spots? The jury is not yet out.
Nagraj Gollapudi is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo