No Spitting Lungs

India to tackle England in Sweepathon?

    India’s net session on Wednesday witnessed a flurry of sweep shots, even some reverse-sweeps, which were conspicuous by their absence in Hyderabad where England’s batters made all the running, or sweeping. If it represents a change of team tactics, it’s a remarkable one for a group of batsmen who have reached the highest level mostly without the shots.

But India were not out-played in Hyderabad by not playing the shot, they were out-swept by ignoring England’s use of it. History suggests it was reasonable for Rohit Sharma to expect a mistake, and a catch, soon after England’s approach was confirmed. It was the third innings of a Test match on a spinning pitch in India, after all.  

    By the time Ollie Pope had reached 70 or 80, perhaps even 40 for more outgoing captains, a change of strategy would not have represented a wild leap into Wonderland. Set a field for the reverse-sweep, ask the bowlers to feed the shot, and see what happens. Would ego play a role? Would Pope have continued to play the shot because he’s good at it? Rohit will never know. The rebuffal of Axar Patel’s pleas for a field change will linger in the memory and, maybe, haunt Rohit in the future.  

The travel day from Hyderabad to Vishakapatnam was another slog. The crow would have covered around 750 kilometres if he was doing the journey in a straight line, but Air India does not fly like the crow. Instead, it was closer to 1850 kilometres with a three-hour stop in Mumbai. The repetitive security checks and a 4:40am start leave you staring blankly ahead in the departure terminal.

    Still, the air in ‘Visag’ is clean compared to Hyderabadi air and you know you’re on the coast when there are fish sellers on the streets. Although this lady was about 8km from the coast and battling to keep her catch fresh with regular sprinkles of non-seawater.

    A long morning run revealed that the Vishakapatnam city council have commissioned several kilometres of murals to educate its population towards a better, more sociable and responsibly way of life. Hygiene and traffic sense were foremost amongst the messages but the chap depicting illustrating the ‘don’t spit’ advice appeared to be coughing up both lungs.

Statues are a bit thing in India, and national (or international) fame are not a prerequisite. If you have the cash, inclination and someone with a cast or an eye for a figure, up you go. The pastor at the local church may have enjoyed the vast, 108-foot statue of Dr BR Ambedkar which featured prominently in the last column. He may not have been the architect of the Indian Constitution, but the pose and posture fitted perfectly.

Talking of Dr Ambedkar, about whom several readers admitted ignorance (how many Constitution authors can you name, let’s be honest) I am indebted to the Guardian’s brilliant sports-writer, Andy Bull, who sent me this image.

Andy walks past this Heritage sign every day on his ‘school run’ in Primrose Hill, close to Lord’s. So perhaps Doc Ambedkar had some cricket inspiration in his earlier years after all. And maybe Andy’s school ‘run’ is actually a school walk, given the clarity of the pic. Doesn’t appear to have been taken by a 10-year-old leaning out of the passenger window of Andy’s Volvo.

    Could England select a debutant spinner for two consecutive Test matches? All the signs are that 20-year-old off-spinner, Shoaib Bashir, will play in place of the injured Jack Leach. But when you thought Bazball couldn’t get any funkier…