Alistair (or is it Alastair? I always forget) Cook calls correctly, and asks MS Dhoni if he will bowl. Cook licks his lips as he says this. By the end of the day, he has has chipped, nurdled and generally defended his way to 158 not out. At the other end, Joe Root - batting at six in preference to Samit Patel - is looking accomplished on 85 not out. The pitch is slow, but is already taking spin, and England have the runs on the board - 358-4.
The second day is a hot one. Root only adds three before he falls for 88 to Ishant Sharma, but Cook presses on, grinding his way onwards with Matt Prior playing well at the other end. By mid-afternoon, with the pitch deteriorating rapidly, James Anderson finally edges R Ashwin to slip, and England are bowled out for 555.
As one might expect, England open up their bowling with their spinners. With a perceived hoodoo over the Indian batsmen, Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann leap in - but without any effect. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Ghambir show what incredible batsmen they are, as they craft the score up to 55 after 5 overs. Anderson and Steven Finn take the ball, but whilst Finn is able to strike Sehwag with a lifting bouncer, neither England bowler is able to make a breakthrough. With five minutes to go before tea, England need a change bowler in order that Finn may get another over. Thrown the ball, Root floats the ball between bat and pad, bowling Sehwag through the gate, as he dances down the pitch and tries to hit the Yorkshireman into the River Hooghly. 66-1 at tea. That is England's last success of the day, however: India close on 151-1 (Ghambir 89*, Pujara 21*).
The third day is a mixed one for England: they bowl poorly, and drop a great many catches, but MS Dhoni follows up on his episode with the dry pitches by declaring the Indian innings closed with just 2 wickets down, 100 runs behind, in the mid-afternoon. He explains later that he wanted to have the maximum time to force a result. Duncan Fletcher defends his man, explaining that Dhoni is occasionally stupid and is not to be blamed for that. Anyway, England score a further 176 runs during what remains of the day, for the loss of just (a very tired looking) Cook. Nick Compton, in particular, shows that the goatee beard he shares with Kevin Pietersen is a signature of a shared talent.
The fourth day is, unfortunately, lost to rain.
The fifth day sees England bat for an hour, with Ian Bell chipping a number of easy boundaries; eventually England declare, setting India 362 to win off 75 overs. Panesar and Swann bowl well, but once again Ghambir and Sehwag are too good for them. As Sehwag quickly passes his century, it looks as if the chase is on. But drawing inspiration, Cook once again runs to Root. He tosses up a looping off-break, and for the second time in the match, Sehwag tries to hit him into the River Hooghly; and for a second time it all goes wrong. The ball skies, and whilst closest fielder Panesar loses the ball in the sun and has to run for cover, Prior is safely on hand to pouch the catch.
In that moment, Panesar and Swann understand the great beauty that it is India. In India, they do not just have pitches that spin, they have pitches that spin in different ways, depending on how quickly you bowl. After watching YouTube footage of Philippe Edmonds during the lunch break, Panesar in particular is able to adapt to the uncomfortably slow surface. After lunch, the England spinners are very splendid indeed. India are all out, just after the tea, as the red sun makes its way down over the Eden Gardens scoreboard. Eden Gardens indeed; probably the best country in the world, this.
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