England's Liam Dawson was thrilled to make his Test debut count despite the shock of being hit on the head by only the second delivery he faced
England’s Liam Dawson hits one on the leg side en route his unbeaten 66 on Day Two of the fifth Test against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. Pic/PTI
Chennai: England's Liam Dawson was thrilled to make his Test debut count despite the shock of being hit on the head by only the second delivery he faced.
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The all-rounder may have been picked principally for his left-arm spin, as England try to return fire on R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on their tough tour of India, but they were indebted to his fine batting after he arrested a first-innings slide which threatened once again to get out of hand.
Dawson's unbeaten 66, and century stand with Adil Rashid (60) for the eighth wicket, steered England away from the relative crisis of 321 for seven on the second morning at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
The revival followed the ball of three quick wickets, including that of centurion Moeen Ali for the addition of only 26 to his overnight 120, which had created a Groundhog Day feeling in a series the tourists have already lost. The limit of England's ambition here can only be a consolation victory to reduce the eventual arrears to 3-1 — although after India had replied to 477 all out with 60 for none, this final match had all the makings of a stalemate already.
"It's my Test debut — there was no question I was always going to be up for it," Dawson said.
"You make one Test debut, and I was extremely excited — and from a team point of view, we said we wanted to finish this tour on a high."
The Swindon-born 26-year-old admits a Test career was far from his mind as recently as last month, when he was playing for Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL)âu00c2u0080u00c2u0088between England one-day international assignments.
Asked if he had even entertained the prospect of playing Tests at the start of the winter, Dawson said: "Not at all.
"I went out to Bangladesh for the BPL, and Test cricket didn't even cross my mind.
"So to be sat here now, having made my Test debut in India, is very special."
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