India v England: Fiery Finn exposes lack of backbone

Not only do the cracks encourage uneven bounce as the match wears on but they are also abrasive enough to scuff small chunks of leather from the ball and leave it in a perfect state for reverse swing.

Both Finn and Jimmy Anderson have utilised old-ball skills superbly in this match. It was Anderson who, in the game?s defining spell on the first day, removed Sachin Tendulkar (for the eighth time in 13 Tests) and Virat Kohli in quick succession, bending the ball both ways at a decent lick.

He seemed to have raised his intensity in this Test, and bowled more balls in the 88 mph category than in previous matches. He also disposed of the obdurate Ashwin with the second new ball. Meanwhile Finn had finished off the innings with a snorter to MS Dhoni.

On Saturday, after Anderson had sparred with Gautam Gambhir, exposing some frailty but failing to land the killer punch, Finn took over.

Thundering in from round the wicket, he bent one or two back into the left-hander, then took one the other way.

Gambhir played and missed. He tried the same sequence in his next over and Gambhir, after one streaky four, was drawn into a wide slash and edged to the keeper.

It looked an appalling shot, but it was the product of a fast bowler?s craft, eliciting a jerky reaction from a fragile player.

The mode of dismissal also drew attention to the Indians? earlier inflexibility. Not once did Ishant Sharma try going around the wicket to Alastair Cook.

Anderson then softened up Yuvraj Singh with a hostile over, following up with a sharp delivery - again from round the wicket - which caught Yuvraj on the crease.

The ball kept a touch low and smashed into his stumps off the bottom of the bat. A three-card trick - two inners and an outie - was too much for the beleaguered MS Dhoni and he edged tamely to his opposite number.

A keen student of fast bowling, Finn subsequently produced an over of classic reverse-swing, impressing the master of the art, the watching Wasim Akram.

Kohli was pinned on the back foot by a succession of sharp inswingers, some hitting high up the bat. Seizing on a ball which was fuller and wider, he drove hard but the ball curved elusively away, mocking his gullibility and finding an edge through to Matt Prior.

After this, the faint-hearted Zaheer Khan was no match. He was soon pinned lbw, though it was an unexpected way to go as he was rarely in line in his brief innings. Once again Finn proved he has an asset you can never acquire - the knack of taking wickets.

As Steyn, Akram and Co have done before, Finn?s 90 mph attack peered into the Indians? soul, exploring if it had any real backbone. Not much was revealed until Ravi Ashwin stood up to him and threw a few punches back.

Afterwards Finn said he had relished bowling on this pitch and wasn?t surprised by England?s success as ?this team are always looking to improve?. That highlights India?s fundamental problem: they are stuck in reverse.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568364/s/26678daf/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Csport0Ccricket0Cinternational0Cengland0C97319680CIndia0Ev0EEngland0EFiery0EFinn0Eexposes0Elack0Eof0Ebackbone0Bhtml/story01.htm

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