Dhoni's Bowlers Have To Combine Creativity With Discipline

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India have all but taken the gloomy scenario of being bowled out inside 350 and facing a tricky final two sessions in the first Test in England out of the equation, thanks to the 111-run tenth-wicket stand between Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami on Thursday. It is time to create more pressure on the home team with smart bowling when play resumes on Friday.
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If the Indian pacers put all their eggs in the reverse swing basket, they can be in for a long day's work and come face to face with frustration like the England bowlers. It is imperative that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni does not let that happen by encouraging them to combine creativity, especially with the slower ones, with perseverance, patience and discipline that the track demands.

Former England captain Michael Atherton pointed out that most of the home batsmen are naturally inclined to play off the backfoot. The Indian bowlers must look to exploit that on a track on which the ball is not bouncing as much as on traditional English surfaces. As also the influence the low bounce has had on umpire Bruce Oxenford, particularly in ruling Murali Vijay leg before.

Indeed, if India are to try and gain a psychological advantage over the home side, they must look to take wickets rather than hope that containing the batsmen will lead to their downfall. They must get the batsmen to play a lot more deliveries than they did on Thursday evening. The batsmen will only be too happy to let the cricket ball go through - at whatever height - to Dhoni.

Besides, with a clutch of left-handers in the England batting line-up, it is a moot point that India can rue the absence of R Ashwin's off-spin. But Ravindra Jadeja can step up the plate by trying to use the small rough being created outside the left-hander's off-stump to try and create pressure on the crease-tied home batsmen.

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Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar should also raise the bar in testing the left-handers by getting the ball to angle across them. For that to happen, Ishant will have to land the cricket ball in better areas than he has done thus far to Gary Ballance. On a track of this nature, bowlers must fancy their chances of getting a batsman bowled or trapping him in front more than getting him.

Dhoni's Bowlers Have To Combine Creativity With Discipline

It will be interesting to see how analyst Sandeep Raj Anand prods the think tank of Dhoni, coach Duncan Fletcher and bowling coach Joe Dawes to come up with a plan of action for the third day. With smart bowling and captaincy on the third day of the Test, Dhoni can ensure that spectator interest in the game stretches over the weekend rather than ebb away.