CH

Jadeja, Dhoni take India from rubble to respectability

Ravindra Jadeja scored his international best, MS Dhoni came close to his highest score of the tour, the two put together India's third-highest partnership of the tour, R Ashwin followed up with a cameo in the Batting Powerplay, but India were in such crisis before all that happened that the target was nothing more than respectable. On a green track, under overcast skies, England had India down at 25 for 4 and 58 for 5, but couldn't quite administer the knockout blow.

Dhoni and Jadeja - the latter has barely been in England for 24 hours - ran hard between the wickets, placed balls well, and helped India recover from an early James Anderson assault. Anderson swung and seamed the ball around in a first spell of seven overs for 24 runs and three wickets, and also chipped in with a smart direct-hit to get rid of Rahul Dravid. Once the recovery job was done, though, Alastair Cook wilted a touch in the Batting Powerplay as India looted 60 off the last five overs despite the loss of Dhoni's wicket.

Perhaps the pitch had eased out by then. For earlier, the top order struggled to handle the movement and menace of Anderson and Tim Bresnan. The two got the ball to move either way from short-of-driving lengths, but Anderson picked up the wickets. Ajinkya Rahane fatally chased an outswinger in the first over, Parthiv Patel played all over a rare full ball in the seventh, Dravid kept looking over his shoulder when trying to steal a quick single, and Virat Kohli edged one outside off in the 11th.

Suresh Raina had a horror stay at the wicket, and looked to slog his way out. One of the slogs failed to connect, another went out of the ground, and the final one - off Stuart Broad - took the toe edge of the bat through to the keeper. India still had 31 overs to bat.

By then, though, the ball was moving less, the second string of bowlers didn't provide that much threat, and Dhoni and Jadeja put their legs to a solid test. They didn't risk losing wickets by trying to hit the bowlers off their rhythm, but they tested every single fielder with every single hit. They took 23 overs to reach 101 runs for the stand. England didn't completely back off during that spell, but there still remained a distinct middle-overs feel to the ease with which the two could find gaps.

In the 44th over, with both their fifties reached, they asked for the Powerplay. The first over they saw off, but in the second Dhoni skied a low full toss from Bresnan. It seemed that once again England were going to ruthlessly crush India just before a comeback was about to assume meaningful proportions. The script changed for a while here.

Jade Dernbach's slower balls became predictable, Ashwin upper-cut Bresnan, Anderson bowled length, and Cook didn't know what to do with the fields. The bowlers didn't help by not bowling to their fields. Ashwin scored 36 off 19, punching, upper-cutting, scooping, but he knew he and his bowling partners would need a much better show if India were to register their first international win on the tour.