Ramblings and Reminisces: 1st Test, Day One: The Adventures of Ryder and Danny

Sipping a lukewarm tomato soup with toasts to go with it isn’t how one would usually begin a sunny Wednesday morning.

But then again, one wouldn’t usually begin the morning at 11:55 a.m.

Unfortunately, I have to be against the grain these next few weeks, as my beloved team is in New Zealand of all god-forsaken places.

So what, you say? Well, that means even waking up at 5 a.m. means that you miss the first hour and half of the morning session.

And it wasn’t a session worth missing, in hindsight…There were ctually highlights. Zaheer Khan had brilliant start, and Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel contained the Kiwi middle order well before Sharma shaved off the remnants of all recognised batsmen, bar Jesse Ryder.

This was one big error that would eventually cause unspeakable boredom to a biased fan like me. Indeed, it was a mistake of tremendous proportions.

The Ryder, along with his trusty side kick Dan “the Man” Vettori, immediately began the repair work, at first by frustrating the living daylights out of the Indians, especially the quickies.

Ryder was in full flow, but Vettori kept the "Men in Blue" (in White Kits) interested all the time with daredevil stunts and some amazing diving skills, (not the Gerrard kind), which eventually gave his more tidy partner another Test 50.

Suddenly, in what was an amazing twist in the tale, the side-kick evolved to superhero, almost Pokémon-style, as Dan decided it was time to reveal his true colours...or shot selections in this particular instance.

He slapped, pulled, punched and hooked his way past all the villains that were the Indian bowlers, and thrashed his way to 100 while the erstwhile lead of the story, Ryder, just looked on as his skipper stole his thunder.

Like Jesse, I had enough.

Letting go of the match after having the opposition on the mat isn’t anything for India, but the lack of any threat, not even a beamer, to the batsman meant that I was headed for the pavilion long before tea time.

After finishing a good two-hour catch-up snooze (yes I am highly jobless), imagine my delight (and frustration) when I saw the day’s play come to an end with Sehwag on song.

Of course I missed the better part of “The Great Big Rescue of the Inert Batting Lineup” action thriller, but I hear the climax was quick and entirely unexpected.

For God’s sake, who would have thought Vettori would succumb to the lazy ol’ boy Munaf?

Ryder’s end was classier though, as he fell to the ultimate villain, Sharma, the latest young recruit onto the Dark Side of super pace bowling, who was enjoying a Heath Ledger-esque performance himself.

The rest was tedious work made easy by Patel and Harbhajan Singh.

The comic relief was, of course, provided by Chris Martin’s zero not out. Now who would have thought of that? Seriously, any one offering a bet on him getting off the mark this series, give me a ring.

Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag had an unfair advantage over poor old Martin, what with their heavy blades, so they had no such problem.

Sehwag, or as the Kiwi crowds proclaimed, "Seh-WACK!", was his hungry, greedy self, helping himself to 22 off just 18 deliveries.

In all, it was a good day in the office for the invaders, giving Danny a lot of problems to think about, even making Martin’s batting form fall far down on that list.

In another random note, how dreadfully active was Munaf Patel today? What has Dhoni been feeding him? In his entire career I have never seen him be so agile.

He actually fielded a return drive from Vettori. It must be the weather.

Wonder if NZC could keep him a bit longer…