In its own way, the first day of the second test match between India and England brought out the gripping nature of this longest format of the game; something that may have been lost on some of the ardent T20 fans. And understandably so; with Virender Sehwag dismissed early, a score of 179/1 in 72 overs wouldn’t have been full of shots to the fence. Yet, in the backdrop of cloudy and murky conditions, consistent drizzle, Virender Sehwag’s duck, and Rahul Dravid’s poor run of form leading up to the match, it would have been fair to say that Team India would have taken the score.

Stuart Broad celebrated his return to the test cricket with three successive deliveries that beat Sehwag all ends up; the third of which deviated enough to take the edge of the bat to the wicket-keeper. The last match’s player-of-the-match had failed to open his account and the English were understandably buoyant by their success. There had been quite a few talks of Dravid’s lack of runs and that of dropping him down the order if not axing him altogether. In the hindsight, it proved to be a good move, as Dravid almost set camp on the pitch and refused to get affected by all the off-field chatter.

Gambhir, on the other hand has had hit a purple patch ever since his run-scoring spree in the 2007 edition of the ICC World T20 and his average of more than 60 in test cricket this year, speaks volumes of his adjustment to the longest form of the game. The so-called unsung hero of the opening combination, was tested early on with the little swing that there was, but once he settled down, there was no looking back. There was hardly a difficult passage of play for the diminutive batsman, and even fewer false strokes, as he kept punishing the few-and-far loose balls that came up. Gambhir got to his fourth test century, and the thirdof this year with a push for a couple, just going on to show the change in Gambhir's fortunes over the last couple of years.

To my mind, England bowled well enough, and the fact that even a usually aggressive Gambhir couldn’t really get going even after having settled down bears ample testimony to this fact. With the overhead conditions favouring the bowlers, one would have, however, hoped for a little more purchase from the wicket than they actually obtained. Agreed, there were two decisions that went India’s way, one against each of the batsmen, when Daryl Harper declared the duo not-out against rather close LBW appeals. In fact, it looked closer than the deliveries that had got rid of both in Swann’s first ever over in test cricket in the Chennai test match.

Despite the conditions, the pitch does look to be one that would aid the spinners as the game progresses. There is enough bite and some of the deliveries have already begun to keep lower than others on the same length. Monty Panesar got increasing turn from the wicket, and Swann was at his stingy best, giving away only 30 odd runs from 15. A combination of extremely straight-batted and cautious batting and the return to form for Dravid meant that the English were on the verge of been batted out of the match.

The second new ball on the second could be England’s last resort to get back into the series.