Losing another toss like that must have been a real kick in the teeth for England, so to respond the way they did by taking seven wickets on the first day was an outstanding effort.
There really wasn’t much in the Eden Gardens pitch and it is to Alastair Cook’s credit that he has quickly learnt from his mistakes in the first Test and has used his bowlers intelligently.
Cook made sure Jimmy Anderson was fresh enough for when the ball was reversing and still had enough energy to strike late on with the second new ball.
Anderson was excellent. Long gone are the days when we used to say that he was only the man for the job if the ball swung conventionally. Now he has great control and variations and gave us a reverse-swing masterclass.
Jimmy is all over Sachin Tendulkar at the moment and not many people have been able to say that over the years. He’s almost playing with the great man and the ball he got him with in Kolkata was an absolute beauty.
What is his secret in getting Tendulkar out eight times? Well, Sachin likes to work bowlers out. He’s a thoughtful cricketer and he just seems to know what most are going to bowl at him. But with Anderson I just think he has no idea whether the ball is going to swing into him or away from him.
Getting the rewards: Anderson took the wicket of Tendulkar (file picture)Tendulkar was waiting and waiting for the big inswinger yesterday but it didn’t come and Jimmy got him prodding at one he held out there.
All respect to Sachin, though. He was far from at his best again but he showed that he doesn’t just rely on his huge natural talent to score runs. He was gutsy and displayed a lot of heart and character to get to 76. I have rarely seen him so resolute in defence.
I would have liked him to get a century just to prove to everyone that sometimes even the greats have to get their heads down and work hard for their runs. He deserved one for the way he applied himself when he was so out of nick. As it is, this was very much England’s day.
More... BUMBLE TEST DIARY: How I nodded off and woke up dreaming of Monty and Bruno (but Beefy's wrong, it had nothing to do with Timothy Taylor) If Sachin really is on the way out, he's not going in style... and that's thanks to brilliant bogey man Anderson Anderson craft and Panesar guile piles pressure on India as only stubborn Sachin stands between England and paradise at Eden Gardens
