Pietersen Helps Himself To 175, Bell Makes 181

For a session on the second day of this fourth Test match at the Oval, India looked to have brought out their A-game. Or at least something close to it anyway.

Then, much like the script in the rest of the series, the English pair of Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen took over in style. They saw off the initial attempts at hostilities by the Indian bowling and once the sheen was off the ball and off the Indian body language as well, the batting glutton in them took over and licked away all that was on offer from the bowling buffet.

Coming together at 97 for two, Bell and Pietersen ensured that the Indian side would continue to be run ragged and in the process, helped themselves to 350 runs between them. By the time Pietersen had bored himself out to death, for a second score of more than 150 in the series, England had batted themselves into a position from where the only team that could win the match was the home team.

A night watchman was sent out to see through the rest of the overs, which was a surprise in itself given the toothlessness of the Indian bowling. They ended at 457 for three and will now look to ensure that they can get some quick runs in the first session of the third day before calling it quits.

If Pietersen murdered the bowling, Bell dissected it with clinical precision. If there was brashness in Pietersen’s walking down to the pace bowlers and pulling them to square-leg, there was finesse in Bell’s glides to the third-man and drives through the covers. And if Pietersen was the only player who could Pietersen out, then it never looked like Bell would get out through the day.

By the time Suresh Raina leapt to his left in his follow through and caught hold of a straight drive from Pietersen, he had made 175 while Bell remained undefeated through the day, 19 short of what would be his first ever double century in Tests.

Earlier, in the first session, Ishant Sharma and S Sreesanth bowled their hearts out and had the wickets of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook as reward for their effort. Little would they have known that it would be followed by barren patches filled only with runs.

Ishant was the one bowler who looked like he belonged at the level at which England was playing the game, but the same can barely be said about the rest. The three of them, Sreesanth, RP Singh and Amit Mishra had a different story to tell. Apart from the early wicket, Sreesanth went to the fence as quickly as the ball came off his hand. Mishra repeatedly failed in his endeavour to tie the English batsmen down, let alone get wickets.

A special mention must be made of Singh, who looked more a replacement for a fastish spinner than a Praveen Kumar or a Zaheer Khan. In fact, his selection to the squad was galling at the very least and most of those sitting in the commentary box in the two broadcasters’ studios could have probably done a better job than him.