A tale of two left-handers

One opens the batting and has struggled for runs of late; the other, a middle-order batsman, has been in fine nick. Yet, come Thursday, the first is almost certain to find his name listed on the team sheet while the second is likely to miss out. Two left-handers, Andrew Strauss and Yuvraj Singh, both made confidence-boosting half-centuries in this game but their situations make interesting reading.

Strauss arrived on the Test scene in splendid fashion, carving out a century on debut at Lord's in 2004 and rattling off nine more since then, but has struggled to reach three figures for close to a year now. Yuvraj burst into the one-day arena in style, blasting his way into public consciousness during the Champions Trophy in 2000, but has been a part of just 19 Tests in seven years since.

Strauss is part of a batting line-up in form; Yuvraj is part of a group that's prone to inconsistency, often reliant on one or two batsmen. Strauss will mostly play because he's done enough earlier to guarantee another chance; Yuvraj will mostly miss out because he's done little to show he's a finished article at Test level. Strauss's failure made news on the first day while Yuvraj's half-century was totally overshadowed. Strauss's success made another story today, Yuvraj got just 25 minutes in the second dig.

Strauss came to the press conference all staid and composed. "Lord's is a special place to play cricket and I'm keen to go out there and score some runs this week," he said as if to suggest there was no uncertainty. "But what you've done prior to the Test match matters very little when the first ball comes out. So it's about reapplying yourself and sometimes when you've had a very big score [like Sachin has] you can settle back down and think you're on a hundred. That's the danger of being in good form but I'd prefer to be in good form than in bad form."

Yuvraj entered as if he was taking a jolly stroll in the park. "I've been out with injury, it's been a while since I played a Test but I've had some good preparations and I'm looking forward to whatever game I play," he said, almost in a resigned tone. "There was a bit of pressure yesterday so I thought I'll take my time. But I got set and the moment I should have cashed in, I got out.

He was asked if he would like to open, considering India's brittle opening combination and also taking into account that he's done the job in the past, but he dead-batted it with a "I wouldn't like to comment". But would he be frustrated if he missed out? This time he was more forthcoming. "It's tough, I've had many disappointments in the past and I also know that the guys ahead of me have played a lot of Test cricket. They have a lot of experience. So I'll just wait for my chance and whatever game I play in, I'll try to perform."

Strauss left with a smile on his face, Yuvraj left as if he was continuing the stroll in the park.