Since their 2-0 victory under Kapil Dev in 1986, India had won just one of the next ten Tests in England before Rahul Dravid led his troops out, 21 years later, for what would turn out to be his final series in charge. The series marked the introduction of the Pataudi Trophy to celebrate the contributions of Iftikhar and his son Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi to cricket in the two countries, so there was an added incentive for both sides, if that was needed.
India were saved by the weather at Lord’s in the first Test, last pair Mahendra Singh Dhoni and No. 11 S Sreesanth negotiating 30 deliveries, with a little help from umpire Steve Bucknor, when the notorious English rain arrived to deny a hosts a comprehensive victory. Over to Nottingham for the second match of the three-Test series, a venue where India had never won a Test.
Some 13 and a half months previously, Dravid had led India to their first series victory in the West Indies since Ajit Wadekar in 1971. In December 2006, he had also masterminded India’s first Test win in South Africa, so the expectations that he would emulate Wadekar and lead India to a West Indies-England double were high.
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With a rejuvenated Zaheer Khan leading the way, India’s pacers had justified Dravid’s decision to put England in by rolling them over for 198 at Trent Bridge. Having lost his place in the side, the left-arm quick had turned to the English County Championship to revive his career, picking up 78 wickets for Worcestershire in the 2006 season. Making the most of that experience which enabled him to bowl the optimal lines and lengths, Zaheer took four for 49 while old warhorse Anil Kumble complemented him with three wickets to send England spiralling to a sub-par score.
India had a strong and established middle-order core that built superbly on an opening stand of 147 between Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik, playing as a specialist batter. Half-centuries from Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman pulled them well into the ascendancy and when Zaheer walked in at No. 9, India were well ahead of the game at 464 for seven.
England needle Zaheer, pay the price
Zaheer was shocked to find a few jellybeans scattered near the stumps when he was about to take guard, a not-so-subtle suggestion from England that he had used illegitimate means to ‘make’ the ball in the first innings. England ought to have known better than to poke the beast; Zaheer didn’t take kindly to the slight, irate that his exceptional skills were being rubbished by an opposition that had no answer to his craft.
Before he was dropped ahead of the tour of the West Indies in 2006, Zaheer had just 121 wickets from 42 Tests at an average of 36.34. Post the county stint, he was a bowler transformed; his last 50 Tests brought him 190 wickets, average 30.78. He took a wicket nine balls faster in his period than in the first phase. Clearly, by the time of the series in England in 2007, he was close to the peak of his prowess.
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Despite trailing by 283 runs, England gave a good account of themselves in the second innings, shored up by skipper Michael Vaughan’s 124 from No. 3. Through useful hands around him from the top order, the hosts had reached 287 for three when Zaheer produced a burst for the ages with the second new ball. Vaughan played a flick on to his pad and then the stumps and Ian Bell fell two balls later, trapped in front by a ball that angled in from wide of the stumps. Paul Collingwood, smartly caught by Karthik at first slip, became Zaheer’s fifth victim of the innings and ninth of the match, the perfect reply to a shell-shocked England whose fascination for jellybeans came back to bite them where it hurt the most.
With leggie Kumble again keeping up his end of the bargain, England were bowled out for 355 late on the fourth evening, setting India a nominal target of 73. There was no indication of the drama that lay in store when Karthik and Jaffer realised 47 for the opening wicket with few alarms, when the towering Chris Tremlett triggered artificial excitement with the wickets of the openers and Tendulkar for the addition of just 15 runs.
India, though, were in no danger whatsoever and Dravid and Ganguly guided them home to a seven-wicket victory. The final Test at The Oval ended in a stalemate; it was a match notable for Kumble bringing up his only Test hundred and becoming India’s only centurion of the series. Dravid had followed Wadekar into the record books, and India’s wait for a third series triumph in England had come to an end after more than two decades.
Brief scores: England 198 all out in 65.3 overs (Alastair Cook 43, Paul Collingwood 28, Ian Bell 31; Zaheer Khan 4-49, Anil Kumble 3-32) and 355 all out in 104 overs (Andrew Strauss 55, Michael Vaughan 124, Collingwood 63, Ryan Sidebottom 25; Zaheer 5-75, RP Singh 2-52, Kumble 3-104) lost to India 481 all out in 158.5 overs (Dinesh Karthik 77, Wasim Jaffer 62, Rahul Dravid 37, Sachin Tendulkar 91, Sourav Ganguly 79, VVS Laxman 54, Kumble 30; Chris Tremlett 3-80, Monty Panesar 4-101) and 73/3 in 24.1 overs (Tremlett 3-12) by seven wickets.
Player of the match: Zaheer Khan.
