Keaton sets up England

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, December 8

England must be really thankful to Karun Nair, for he dropped debutant opener Keaton Jennings for 0 early in the first day of the fourth Test. Nair leapt to his left to grab it, but it was a difficult catch. The drop proved costly – Jennings struck a brilliant century, made the Indian bowlers toil, and set up England to reach at least 350.

England threatened to run away with the day’s honours, but then the guile and turn of Ravichandran Ashwin came to India’s rescue. Ashwin’s three-wicket burst in the final session, including key wickets of Moeen Ali (50) and Jennings (112) in three deliveries, somewhat neutralised England’s dominance.

At stumps, England were 288/5, with Ben Stokes (25) and Jose Butler (18) at the crease. They have added 39 crucial runs for the sixth wicket, thwarting Ashwin and Co. for 13.4 overs. The pitch has started assisting the spinners, the odd ball turning and bouncing sharply. England must be very pleased with skipper Alastair Cook for winning the crucial toss, for India would find it very difficult to bat in the final innings of the match.

Debut ton

The day belonged to the 24-year-old Jennings, who became the eighth England opener to score a century on debut. Andrew Strauss and Cook are the only other England openers to achieve this feat in the last 50 years.

Durham player Jennings, who was summoned from the England Lions squad in the UAE to replace the injured Haseeb Hameed and landed in the city only four days ago, showed great composure and technique to tackle India’s pace and spin bowlers. Jennings’ shot-selection was the key. He wasn’t afraid of pulling the pacers while his foot movement was excellent against the spin trio of Ashwin, Jayant Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja. He played the spin with soft hands and took a long stride forward to defend. He used his crease well to mix his shots all around the ground.

Good intent

He played with a lot of intent, something coach Trevor Bayliss has been emphasising on. Playing one’s first international innings, against the world’s No. 1 team in its backyard, can be a daunting prospect. But Jennings is clearly a strong-willed individual.

“I suppose waking up this morning if someone said to me, ‘you will get a Test match hundred’, I would have put them off,” Jennings said. “I woke up at 5 O’clock this morning thinking I will miss the bus. So jumped out of bed, panicked where everything is, settled myself down and then I saw the time. It’s been a dream come true and surreal that it’s come on debut.”

After that drop by Nair — “When the ball lifted up, my heart was in my mouth,” Jennings said about it — he was helped by advice from Alastair Cook on how to face Ashwin.

Jennings was also lucky to survive a DRS review when he was on 10. Barring these initial hiccups, his innings was largely blemish-free. Such was his dominance that England scored a brisk 117 for the loss of Cook (46) in the morning session at 3.77 an over. Another 79 runs were added in the second session for the loss of Joe Root (21).

At tea, England were 196/2 and had India on the back foot. But Ashwin brought the hosts back into the game. In his first over after tea, Ashwin had Ali caught at mid-wicket on the second ball. He then found Jennings’ edge on the fourth ball, the catch taken by Cheteshwar Pujara at deep gully.

Nine overs later, Ashwin found the top edge of England’s leading run-getter this season, Jonny Bairstow (14), who swept only to be caught at deep backward square leg by Umesh Yadav. 

Scoreboard

England 1st innings 

A Cook st Patel b Jadeja 46

K Jennings c Pujara b Ashwin 112

J Root c Kohli b Ashwin 21

M Ali c Nair b Ashwin 50

J Bairstow c U Yadav b Ashwin 14

B Stokes batting 25

J Buttler batting 18

Extras: (LB 1, NB 1) 2

Total: (5 wkts, 94 overs) 288

FOW: 1-99, 2-136, 3-230, 4-230, 5-249

Bowling

B Kumar 11-0-38-0

U Yadav 10-2-36-0

R Ashwin 30-3-75-4

J Yadav 22-3-78-0

R Jadeja 21-3-60-1

Toss: England

Debut: Keaton Jennings

Numbers game

3 Most recent debut centurions for England:K Jennings, born in Johannesburg

J Trott, born in Cape Town

M Prior, born in Johannesburg

19 England batsmen have made a 100 on Test debut. The list includes KS Ranjitsinhji and Nawab of Pataudi Sr 

6 batsmen have made over 2000 Test runs against India. A Cook got there in this innings. R Ponting (2555) holds the record

4Tests lost by India at the Wankhede since 2000, the most at any home ground. The other losses since 2000 have come in Bengaluru (3), Ahmedabad (1), Kolkata (1), Nagpur (Old), Nagpur (New)

11 Tests lost by India at home since 2000 — against South Africa (4), Australia (3), England (3),  and Pakistan (1)

5 Players have made 100s on Test debut against India since 2010 — the most against any team. They are A Peterson, K Williamson, K Edwards, J Neesham and K Jennings

Jennings says

It's been a dream come true and surreal that it's come on debut. The emotion that went over me, the elation, the pride and the satisfaction to get to a Test hundred was really incredible, really special.

I woke up at 5 this morning, thinking I will miss the bus. So I jumped out of bed, panicked where everything is... settled myself down and then I saw the time.

Reactions

Brilliant Brilliant 100 @JetJennings... Make them well Up North!!!! Great job @DurhamCricket....  — Michael Vaughan, also a northern England player 

Made in South Africa, Michael! — Kevin Pietersen, reminding Vaughan of Jennings’ roots

Yet another one slips through our system. Well played Keaton Jennings.
— Jacques Kallis laments South Africa losing Jennings

He may be the worst footballer in the world but @JetJennings can play cricket. Well done mate proud of you.
— Paul Collingwood, Jennings’ teammate at Durham

Congrats Keaton Jennings on a brilliant 100 on debut. Very impressed with his approach & the way he played against the spinners. — VVS Laxman