Back to being poor starters

London: Had the David Cameron government’s Happiness Index survey been conducted at Lord’s, on Monday, the result probably wouldn’t have been encouraging. It was, after all, teeming with India supporters, many of whom had actually queued up from well before dawn.

Despite high expectations, that lot went home empty handed. Physically tired and emotionally bruised. Poorer in the pocket as well.

A survey in the pubs across England, though, would throw up an entirely different result, with toasts surely being raised in honour of Andrew Strauss and Co.

Very well deserved as England thrashed India by 196 runs in the bilateral Centenary Test to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series. India, clearly, are back to being poor starters.

Fortunately, this isn’t a three-Test series, but unless Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men raise their game, the No.1 ranking is going to become a thing of the past.

India did have their share of ill luck. Spearhead Zaheer Khan could only bowl 13.3 overs, reducing the attack to three specialists. Then Sachin Tendulkar fell ill and Gautam Gambhir took a blow on his left elbow, forcing changes in the batting order in the second innings.

Having been set a target of 458, winning was straightaway out of the equation. However, India should have saved the Test. Instead, over 68 balls after tea on the final day, five wickets were lost, for the addition of just 36 runs.

When Ishant Sharma got out, bringing the Test to an end, 28.3 overs remained to be bowled.

England are No.3 in the Test rankings, behind South Africa, but their attack is on a par with the Proteas. Some may say even better.

In fact, James Anderson and the rest were brilliant at Lord’s. They had the skill, the aggression and the hunger. England wanted to win; India never gave the impression that they were desperate to save the Test.

Often, hunger and desperation carry a team across the line. On Monday, we saw that with England.

[It’s no surprise that England have retained the XII for the second Test, in Nottingham, from Friday.]

It doesn’t help when Sachin Tendulkar goes totally defensive, allowing the bowlers to call the shots. He was lucky to survive an appeal for leg-before, by Stuart Broad, and failed to capitalise on a drop by Strauss off Anderson.

Sachin fell two balls after the let off and, despite scoring 12, was applauded by the nearly 26,000 paying spectators. Eric Clapton was among those who rose and clapped, realising that another Test appearance at Lord’s was unlikely.

“Yes, Sachin did go into his shell, which surprised me... Overall, I wouldn’t fault the way we approached the final day... We were up against a fantastic attack,” former India captain Sourav Ganguly told The Telegraph.

Rahul Dravid, a centurion in the first innings and on whom rested much of India’s hopes of killing time, went rather early (not moving his feet to Anderson) and the problems got compounded.

That V.V.S. Laxman, who usually plays a great hand in the second innings, left soon afterwards (out pulling) made it worse.

Much later, Harbhajan Singh played a reckless shot to end whatever chance there was of playing out the overs. Somebody with his experience, and two Test hundreds down the order, ought to have done better.

Suresh Raina, of course, impressed with his 78 (212 minutes, 136 balls, 10x4). His was the second last wicket to fall and while he wasn’t given out leg-before, on 63 to Broad, by Billy Bowden, his determination became the talking point.

With Raina coming good, poor Yuvraj Singh could sit in the dressing room right through the series. As things stand, for him to play, somebody will have to get injured.

Dhoni didn’t exactly offer an excuse, but did make the point that his team had been struck by injuries/illness. On Zaheer’s availability for the second Test, he said: “He’s being assessed... We’re keeping fingers crossed.”

Strauss, who is Dhoni-like in that he doesn’t show much emotion, saluted his bowlers. “It was an outstanding bowling performance over five days... Showed the value of persistent lines and lengths over a period of time.”

Typically, Strauss had words of caution. “The performances of the guys was tremendous, but we cannot get too satisfied.”

Kevin Pietersen’s unbeaten 202 in the first innings fetched him the MoM award. Quite a few, though, felt Broad’s claims were as strong — wickets both times and a game-changing unbeaten 74 in the second innings.

Broad may be the England player to watch over the next few weeks.

Footnote: Dhoni is in the clear where the over-rate is concerned. “I have been told that I’m fine,” he himself confirmed.