Reprieve of Alastair Cook could be decisive

India could still win the final match, starting on Friday, but Osman Samiuddin wonders what the series would be like had Jadeja caught the England captain at Southampton.

Alastair Cook may have seen a career turnaround in this series, both as captain and batsman. Carl Court / AFP

No ifs, buts and dropped catches, right? For a healthy, sane life, it is best not to dwell on any of those, no? Who wants health and sanity, though, when imagining parallel universes is not only so much idle fun, but also, as in the case of this England-India series, so compelling?

Alastair Cook is a level-headed young man and probably not that different from any modern, professional sportsman.

It must be ingrained in him, like other athletes, to only look ahead. Do not wonder how life could have panned out differently if this had happened, or if that catch had not been dropped.

But even his mind must occasionally stray back to a couple of occasions in his international career, moments when fate, had the universe engineered things differently by a measure of centimetres, might have ended his career.

The first was in the summer of 2010, almost exactly four years ago, at the Oval against Pakistan. Cook had looked like a disaster of an opener through eight innings that summer: Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir had worked him over.

Thrice early in the second innings – including twice in two balls – Cook edged between two slips for boundaries. He had not even reached 25. His career was, potentially, centimetres from being curtailed. He went on to score a hundred, secured a place on the Ashes tour later that year and what he accomplished there hardly needs recalling.

The space in which he found himself during the third Test against India in Southampton this summer was even more cramped. His form was worse, and he was serving as England captain, too. He was the face of a new era, yet England had not won a Test in almost a year under him.

The 35th ball he faced on the first morning was that other fortuitous moment.

He poked at an excellent delivery from Pankaj Singh. Ravindra Jadeja should have caught it comfortably at slip, but spilt it. Cook was on 15. He went onto make 95 as England settled and ultimately overran India.

Sure, there is no point in mulling over dropped catches, but how can you not get stuck on this one? Another failure for Cook, and who knows what would have happened to his place in the side, and to the fortunes of England?

India were one-up in the series. Pankaj was on debut and an early wicket would have turned his fortunes around. Arguably, the entire series turned on that moment. Cook’s form, despite another double failure at Old Trafford, is suddenly not the headline issue.

England are now buoyant, India now drained, an equation that can be accurately traced back to that episode.

It is important to remember that moment, because it is not as if England have suddenly become a different side compared to earlier in the summer. Jos Buttler has pepped up the lower middle order, even though his glovework is going to be an issue for a while.

Joe Root and Gary Ballance are in form, but their opening combination continues to be unsettled. Moeen Ali has traded in wickets for runs.

The back-up pace bowling still looks thin.

The crucial difference has been almost as simple as Stuart Broad and James Anderson bowling fuller lengths in the past two Tests, precisely the kinds they should have been bowling all along.

India have since reverted to the kind of passiveness that has marked their travels under MS Dhoni. They were unfortunate to lose Ishant Sharma right after the Lord’s win, but it is not as if Ishant is an indispensable guarantee of better performance.

Despite the implosion at Old Trafford last week in the fourth Test, the batting has not been bad, but converting their starts into big scores has been a problem. Altogether they have made 14 fifties, but just two hundreds. England have with four hundreds and 12 fifties.

In its own way – a panic-ridden, doom-laden kind of way – the series has been immensely entertaining.

Predicting a score beforehand was difficult enough. About as many would have foreseen an Indian win at Lord’s as would have predicted the subsequent English surge. That is to say, not many.

England cannot lose the series, but if India level it over the next five days in London, the home side will end the summer unhappier.

Only then will we know whether the catch that Jadeja missed represents nothing at all, or everything.

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