India's Virender Sehwag, batting for the first time in three months, never looked comfortable at Northampton. Photograph: Punit Paranjpe/Reuters
India had another grim day on a tour that has lurched from one catastrophe to another. They were at last able to field their first-choice Test opening batsmen but neither Virender Sehwag nor Gautam Gambhir was in long enough to ready himself for the third Test at Edgbaston which starts next Wednesday.
Both were dismissed cheaply by Northamptonshire second-string bowlers and in a match that is scheduled for only two days, their prospects of another innings before the Test are slim indeed. Both went to the nets later in the day.
Northamptonshire supporters had waited more than a year to watch Sehwag bat. He was due to play for the county in the Twenty20 Cup last year but the signing was vetoed by the Indian board.
A crowd of 4,000, many from nearby Luton and Bedford supporting India, packed into the Wantage Road ground hoping for a Sehwag spectacular but their returning hero looked rusty in a forgettable 25-ball innings as the tourists reached 327 for seven.
Sehwag, who arrived in England on Wednesday, was batting for the first time in three months after recovering from a shoulder operation. He leathered his first ball to third man for a single but never looked entirely comfortable. After playing and missing at Luke Evans, a gangly former Durham quick, he was lbw for eight to a ball that nipped back from Dave Burton, a 25-year-old triallist who has played second XI cricket for five other counties.
Gambhir, the left-hander who missed the Trent Bridge Test because of the elbow injury he sustained at Lord's, was leg-before as well for 18, caught on the crease by the left-armer David Willey, son of the former England and Northamptonshire all-rounder and current umpire Peter.
Soon after tea Mahendra Singh Dhoni, under pressure as batsman, wicketkeeper and captain, and oddly batting at No6, was out cheaply as well, caught behind for two off a good, lifting away-swinger from Evans. As he left the field, he appeared to be heckled by a disgruntled Indian fan. There is no escape for these megastars.
Suresh Raina, who was uncomfortable against the short ball at Trent Bridge, was out for 33, playing a bizarre waft above his head to an unthreatening bouncer from Evans. The Indian tailenders slogged after tea in a pointless period of play when the tourists would have been better served having a bowl. The one Indian who did make the most of his opportunity is unlikely to play at Edgbaston. Abhinav Mukund, the stand-in opener who looked decent in the first innings at Lord's before being worked over by Jimmy Anderson, made 113 before retiring "hurt" at tea.
He rode his luck, often slashing over the slips. It was the innings of a man who was expecting to be dropped but he still looks like a better bet than Raina in the middle order.
However, Zaheer Khan, India's key bowler who pulled up with a hamstring injury on the first day of the series at Lord's, practised after the close with India's assistant coach, Eric Simons. After a few looseners off four paces, he bowled off his full run for the first time since he got injured and looked to be delivering at a decent enough pace. The real test will come today in match conditions.
England name their squad for Edgbaston on Saturday morning with the fitness of Jonathan Trott the only concern. Trott injured his left shoulder in the field at Trent Bridge and was due to have a net at Edgbaston on Friday, though it is believed he may have chosen to rest his injury instead.
The obvious solution for the selectors is to name a 13-man squad with a back-up batsman in case Trott does not make it. Leicestershire's James Taylor made 98 to add to his 76 in the first innings for England Lions against Sri Lanka A at Scarborough on Friday. Ravi Bopara, who made 19 and 25 in the match, has already been passed over in similar circumstances this season before the Sri Lanka series and it would now be a surprise if he were picked, given how highly Taylor is rated.
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