While proceedings on Sunday petered out into a tame draw in the first Test at Trent Bridge, MS Dhoni said he was pleased with how his Indian side performed.
Test debutant Stuart Binny’s 78, supported by a half-century from Bhuvneshwar Kumar (63), saw India move away from some early danger on the final day to finish on 391 for nine declared to ensure honours finished even.
“It was a good Test match for us, we managed to put pressure on them and then we held up well when we were under pressure,” the India captain said. “We haven’t had a seaming all-rounder, but Stuart Binny can be someone who can really contribute for us in the future.”
India started the day on 167 for three in their second innings, 128 ahead of England, and they looked to be briefly in trouble as Virat Kohli (8) and Ajinkya Rahane (24) fell to Stuart Broad and Dhoni (11) was bowled by Liam Plunkett.
But Binny put on 65 with Ravindra Jadeja (31) and then 91 for the eighth wicket with Bhuvneshwar to ensure there was no danger of England being able to bowl them out quickly enough to try to chase a target.
There was some light relief in the final hour of proceedings when Alastair Cook, the England captain, looking to rest his weary pace bowlers, brought both himself and Gary Ballance on to bowl, with Cook taking his first Test wicket as he had Ishant Sharma (13) caught behind by wicketkeeper Matt Prior.
Cook found the humour in his unlikely prowess with the ball.
“A few people aren’t talking to me,” he said. “It was an extraordinary moment for me to have more Test wickets than [bowling coach] David Saker.”
Cook took the positives from the fact that it was his side who had a small chance of victory on Sunday, having at one stage been 255 runs behind India, with three wickets remaining in their first innings, before last pair Joe Root and James Anderson put on a world-record stand of 198 to change things around.
“We dragged ourselves out of a hole,” Cook said. “In this game, we had a poor session when we lost six wickets.
“It was an outstanding hundred from Root and with Jimmy to have got 80-something. I didn’t see it coming, but thank goodness he got it.
“We threw everything into today, but when they got above 250-260, you felt we weren’t going to win. We had a sniff when they were only 200 ahead, but the wicket won.”
The second Test begins on Thursday at Lord’s and England named a 14-man squad, with Lancashire spinner Simon Kerrigan, called up to increase the side’s bowling options following their struggles to dismiss India over the past five days.
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