Warm up to the Indian summer

I was eagerly looking forward to seeing India at Chelmsford in their second warm up match against a very good England Lions team. I was due to go on the last day but nearly went on the second day as the weather forecast was very bad for the last day. The Indians were in trouble early on but the day got better with a great knock from the little master.

Chelmsford has a nice feel about it and as I approached the ground on Sunday, it was good to see quite a few Indian supporters making their way in.I was so absorbed in getting my first glimpse that I accidentally bumped into two guys and then I looked up to see that it was Laxman and Karthick just coming out from the nets. I smiled at them and watched them walk by talking and smiling. It was a good start to the day to see two of my favourites in the team.

The ground was not full but had a good atmosphere and most importantly, it was sunny. The County grounds have a warm and informal atmosphere about them, and it is the perfect setting to get close to the players and the action in a way that it is impossible to do at the international fixtures. I was surprised that there were not more Indian supporters, as the ground is not far from the Indian community in East London, many of whom travel half way round the world to see their team.

Dhoni was at the crease and the crowd were looking forward to an entertaining knock from the hard hitting hero. He did not disappoint as he smashed the ball all round the ground to loud cheers. I was standing with a group of Indian fans and I noticed a camera was on us as we cheered and clapped. I did not realise that an Indian TV company would be broadcasting the game live back to India. Dhoni was finally out and I was lucky enough to capture the falling of his wicket as I was busy snapping away. It did not take long for the Indian innings to end after his departure.

In between the innings the Prasad, the bowling coach came out for a warm up with Ishant Sharma, the tall and lanky Indian bowler. This would be Sharma's big opportunity to impress the selectors, who were sitting on the balcony, along with Borde, their Manager for the tour.There seemed to be a lot of joviality in the Indian camp as everyone was smiling and they seemed to be enjoying themselves, which is a far cry from the glum images in the West Indies a few months ago.

I made my way to a seat in the stand behind the wicket which gave a perfect view of the action. There was a lot of chirpiness amongst the Indians as Sachin directed the show from the slips and he seemed to be enjoying the captaincy as he was very active, with constant field changes. Andrew Strauss was at the crease, and the pressure was on him to perform after his failure in the first innings. He played some good strokes and had a few lucky edges go past the slips but generally impressed with his stroke play as he hit form in time for the first Test at Lords. Shreesanth was a bundle of energy as usual and a few words were exchanged as he tried to ruffle Strauss and it was a sign of things to come in the Tests. Strauss was joined by Owais Shah after the fall of the first wicket and the two continued to play well on this flat batting surface.

During the lunch break I took a tour around the ground and was surprised to bump into Harsha Bhogle, a journalist that I admire immensely. It was good to have a chat with him and learn that he is every bit as nice as he seems on screen. Ravi Shastri had also resumed his commentary duties as he took time out to sit in the sun.

The post lunch session saw the Lions continue to score well and although the Indian balling was accurate, there was no movement or real pace to cause any problems.The seamers all seemed very similar on this flat track and spin will play a big part in the forthcoming Tests to add variation to the attack. Ramesh Pawar made the breakthrough after he gave the ball more air and flighted his delivery. The fielding was disappointing even for a warm up match with good fielders like Yuvraj and Shreesanth making embarrassing blunders. This is an area that they really need to get a lot sharper as it was disappointing to see the lack of effort made.

The clouds loomed and tea was taken early but thankfully there was not a downpour as in other parts of the country and play resumed without any time lost. The Lions declared with twenty overs for the Indians to get some batting practice. All eyes were on Jaffer as he has much to prove but Karthick took most of the balling and played some brilliant shots all round the ground. He looks in excellent form and could have a really good tour if this display was anything to go by. Jaffer played some good shots at the other end and may have cemented his spot for the first Test. It was interesting to see Yuvraj come in instead Laxman at the fall of Karthicks wicket as they may be competing for a batting place in the Test side.

The matched predictably petered out into a draw, where both teams had some good match practice. The Lions succeeded in getting Strauss a well needed knock and Stuart Broad impressed with his five wicket haul which could see him make his debut at Lords on Thursday after Harmison is ruled out through injury. The Indians still have a few decisions to make, Jaffer is likely to open and RP Singh should be in but they have a dilemma on which batsman to drop and it is likely to be between Laxman and Yuvraj. Laxman would get my vote for the first Test as he has proven Test ability compared to Yuvraj who has yet to really establish himself.

It is all set fair for the opening Test on Thursday for the real action to begin and I am counting the days to what should be a very interesting match and series.