Cricket Archive

India v England Tests 2006 - marks out of 10 by Matthew Reed

Event:

England in India 2005/06

9/10 ANIL KUMBLE
Overshadowed by Shane Warne and then Harbhajan throughout his career, the grand old man of Test cricket (along with Tendulkar he is the longest serving Test match player, having debuted in England in 1990) proved that his control of subtle variation was as potent as ever. His batting had long since faded as a relevance before this series, although his first innings, four hour occupation of the crease in Nagpur probably saved the match for India. He then, more predictably, ran through England in Mohali as India took what should have been a series winning lead. India’s man of the series.

8/10 MUNAF PATEL
With a Lion like mane of hair, a keen exponent of swinging the bat from no.11 and an ability to bowl fast, Patel could be a fan favourite for years to come, especially if he continues to bowl as well as he did in this series. His pace persuaded Pietersen and Flintoff to pop return catches back to him on his debut in Mohali, and he then blew through the English tail second time around to leave the batsmen with a straightforward total to chase.

8/10 MOHAMMAD KAIF
His painstaking, Dravid-esque 91 kept India in touch with England in the First Test. In the subsequent run chase all and sundry were promoted ahead of him though, and his axing for the rest of the series proved that Indian selection policy was safely anchored around a megastar protecting last in first out policy.

7/10 WASIM JAFFER
The least glamorous (both personally and cricketingly) member of an Indian batting line-up which now expects A listers in it’s ranks, he was the only home batsman to register a century, and after Dravid was India’s safest pair of batting gloves. He will probably retain his place for the next couple of series to come, especially as the rest of the Indian line-up has an aggressive nature to it. However, the fact that a couple of his dismissals came about through catastrophic misjudgements of line and length was a concern.

7/10 SHANTHAKUMARAN SREESANTH
Although he was overshadowed by Munaf Patel, Sreesanth’s reverse swinging ability and ability to more than hold a bat means that he is likely to feature for some time to come. Without his regular wickets in Mumbai England would have posted far more than the 400 they did. India’s second most important find of the series, he could be a key man as the current Indian team is restructure din the years to come.

6/10 RAHUL DRAVID
With Lara and Tendulkar both going through the batting doldrums, he took the chance to prove that he is now the best batsman in the world on current form. In a misfiring Indian batting order his wicket was worth double that of most of his team-mates. However, his near nonsensical decision to insert England in Mumbai glared erroneously at the time, and will probably go down as one of the most toss decisions of the modern age.

6/10 IRFAN PATHAN
As a regular wicket-taker, and the man who first made England think the unthinkable on the last day at Nagpur with some lusty hitting, Pathan was a decent contributor to the Indian cause. His run a ball 52 in Mohali also helped give India a first innings lead and crucial momentum as the basis for victory was established. He deserves credit for opening in place of Sehwag on the fourth evening in Mumbai, although showed that it will probably be a short term experiment by allowing a James Anderson full toss to bowl him.

5/10 MAHENDRA SINGH DHONI
Proved his ability to tailor his game with a restrained 64 in Mumbai, he then undid all the good work with some boorish slogging as India headed for defeat. He will probably keep his place, although this series marked a plateau on his inexorable rise to the top so far.

5/10 VIRENDER SEHWAG
With his only non failure coming as India cruised comfortably to victory in Mohali, and more compelling evidence of a weakness against half trackers, the butcher of Delhi currently needs a drawing board much more than a chopping block

4/10 YUVRAJ SINGH
Preferred to Kaif for the final two Tests thanks to some thrilling ODI knocks against Pakistan, his three knocks only produced one score of substance, although at least England had to work for his wicket on the final day at Mumbai, as he fought gamely until Flintoff beat him for pace.

3/10 SACHIN TENDULKAR
With a first innings booing from his home crowd, and his dismissal by a 37 year old county pro being the Indian death sentence, the defeat in Mumbai was arguably the lowest point of his career. Only once in the series did he come close to looking like the genius of old, when his 19 ball 28* at Nagpur sparkled while England started to go jelly legged. With the axing of Ganguly still fresh in the memory, and with Tendulkar’s 33rd birthday approaching and a shoulder requiring surgery, the unthinkable looked possible for the first time during this series.

3/10 HARBHAJAN SINGH
Lucky to survive for the Third Test (especially after just one wicket on the spin friendly Mohali wicket), he then responded by dismissing both Strauss and Shah when they were well set. However, after the disastrous Pakistan tour, this series did very little to change the feeling that Harbhajan is currently way off boil.

2/10 PIYUSH CHAWLA
The most obscure player of the series on either side, his expensive bowling in the English first innings at Mohali ensured he was far and away the third spinner of the Indian bowling attack, although he has the very real compensations of his first Test ending in victory, the part in which he played by claiming Andrew Flintoff as his maiden Test scalp.

1/10 VVS LAXMAN
Earmarked as the next post-Ganguly batsmen on the chopping block before the series even begun, a golden duck in Nagpur was all the selectors needed to press the eject button.

March 2006