New Delhi: The cameramen would be more keen on capturing the facial expression of Ravindra Jadeja and Jimmy Anderson when the fourth test starts at Manchester on Thursday.
Jadeja has fallen three times to Anderson in his 11 Tests. Anderson trapped him lbw on his debut at Nagpur in 2012 and has taken his wicket twice in this series. So Jadeja need to focus on his performance rather than thinking about what happened in the past.
Aside from Anderson and Jadeja, the two players most likely to exchange a few unpleasantries are probably Joe Root and Virat Kohli. It went scarcely remarked upon on the last afternoon at Lord's that Kohli celebrated in Root's face after Matt Prior was caught at deep midwicket. And when Root himself hooked to deep backward square, Kohli made a point of posturing provocatively in his direction while the rest of the Indian team celebrated in a huddle.
However Manchester does not hold pleasant memories for Anderson who has had a poor record on his home ground. His 12 wickets in four Tests at Old Trafford have cost a middling 35 apiece. Last year against Australia he returned first-innings figures of none for 116 — the worst of his 97-Test career. Stuart Broad has taken two wickets at 108 each in his two Manchester Tests.
This will be only the third Test staged at Old Trafford since 2008, but England have a proud record here. Since losing to Australia in 1997, they have lost only one of 12 Tests in Manchester — against Pakistan in 2001, a Test famous for umpire David Shepherd missing a string of wicket-taking no-balls from Saqlain Mushtaq.
India have played eight Tests at Old Trafford and are yet to register a victory — losing three and drawing five. Their most recent game here was as far back as 1990, when the 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar made an unbeaten century on the final day to salvage a draw.
