Yuvraj v Pietersen
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
AFP
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's introduction of the part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh was an astute exploitation of Kevin Pietersen's Achilles heel, writes Mike Brearley in the Observer.
There is rumoured to be no love lost between Pietersen and Yuvraj ... Over the past three days, Pietersen has been thrown and reduced by someone he cannot rate as a bowler. On Thursday, he had tried early on to hit Yuvraj over long on, smeared the ball horribly, and was lucky to away with it, the ball just evading mid-wicket. Thereafter he treated him with all the respect he said England have for Dravid, scoring a mere four runs off 34 balls. Yesterday, the outcome was starker. Pietersen pushed forward to Yuvraj's first ball, played for non-existent turn, missed, and was lbw. It was a prime case of the batsman playing the man and not the ball.
England were praised for their courage in returning to India in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks and have been saluted for the character of their cricket since. But if they are to win this Test, they may have to rely on the player whose confidence is the most fragile and whose character the hardest to fathom. It is D-Day for Monty Panesar, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.
Panesar has more than 100 Test wickets to his name yet doubts are being expressed about his future, even though at 26 he should have many good years ahead of him. Shane Warne hit the nail on the head when he said Panesar had not played 33 Tests but the same Test 33 times. In other words, he wasn’t learning anything.
If England do push on over the next two days to script a victory at this famous old stadium, it will be India’s fifth defeat of 2008 and a crippling blow to their ambitions of taking top-dog status from Australia. Great teams don’t lose that many Tests in a year and they most certainly don’t lose at home, writes Dileep Premachandran in the Sunday Times.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo