[Shumi_21]

England are 89/0 in 13 overs, with Duckett already 68 off 51. It's insane how much the English openers play & miss, edge and mishit but somehow manage to score runs at a breakneck pace. You think they'll commit harakiri sooner or later, but they just keep taking their chances and scoring quickly in the process. It's quite entertaining even though we are on the receiving end at the moment.

Edit: Crawley misques yet another sweep but this time he is caught by Patidar to give Ashwin wicket #500

[harry10]

From 33/3 to 445 is a commendable effort.

Jurel was a big upgrade over Bharat and his keeping was very good too, especially with spinners. If Pant doesn't keeps again in tests then Jurel can be a very good option as he has a good technique with tight defense against pace and plays good attacking shots too.

To add to Sarfraz debate, I loved the way he played spin. Quick footwork in going forward or back, wristy flicks to rotate strike from outside off stump, rare guy in Indian team who plays sweep and that too quite well. In nutshell, I will say he is right handed Rishabh Pant style player who treats spinners with same disdain. Would be fun to see them play together.

Pitch is too flat. As much I am enjoying the Bazball I wish bowlers had a bit more say.

Kudos to Ash. 500 wickets in less than 100 test matches is a phenomenal feat. Add his 3000+ runs and he becomes one of Indias biggest test match legend. I hope he plays for another 2-3 years and add as many wickets as he can.

[NPV]

England are going at almost 6 an over, unless their party ends quickly tomorrow it could very well be their game, since we’re known to falter in the second innings
If England get to a lead of 100+ they would be favourites to win this game.

[PreludeSH]

One way of playing Bazball would be to take time for our own innings. If they play with high strike rates, the other team needs to play out more time. They dont need much time for their 2 innings.

[AtheK]

Big blow for Team India we are effectively left with four bowlers.

“Ravichandran Ashwin has withdrawn from the Test squad, effective immediately due to a family medical emergency. In these challenging times, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the team fully supports Ashwin."

[harry10]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Big blow for Team India we are effectively left with four bowlers.

Came here to post this only.
Hope everything is fine as this has to be quite serious for him to do so.

And we are left with 3 bowlers as Siraj hasn't done anything of note in this series to suggest he can get some wickets. I hope I am wrong. Wish we had played Axar instead.

[Revvatron]

Originally Posted by harry10

Came here to post this only.
Hope everything is fine as this has to be quite serious for him to do so.

As per Rajiv Shukla's statement his mother has medical emergency. Hope she recovers quickly. Can't see how India is going to survive this, not just ball but with bat he is very useful. Big blow certainly.

[VWAllstar]

They should atleast keep Root away from Bazball. Atrocious shot selection (reverse sweep to Bhumrah?) from him. He is a lot lot better batter than what he is been made to play.

[Shumi_21]

Losing Ash is a huge blow indeed. Will need a big effort from the rest of the bowlers, which they have delivered, collapsing England to 300/7 from 224/2. Feels like the game will be a second innings shootout and England won't be as lucky swiping against the turn.

Edit: England bowled out for 319. Siraj bowled two good Yorkers at the end to end up with 4 wickets

[civic-dk]

I believe not having Ashwin will be a blessing in disguise and push others to scale up. Already England is 305 for 7.

[AtheK]

What a brilliant comeback by our bowlers today, Siraj making a statement to all the doubters. I hope now Indian batsman apply themselves and atleast make 300 in second innings.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

They should atleast keep Root away from Bazball. Atrocious shot selection (reverse sweep to Bhumrah?) from him. He is a lot lot better batter than what he is been made to play.

No body is making him play anything.
Stokes and Foakes still play their natural test game most of the times. Its Root himself who is trying to modify his game and that was a poor shot selection on his part. Inspite of that he is averaging 52 since Bazball started so can't even say he is failing in Bazball Era. Just this tour he has been average.

Splendid effort by the team. Like I thought they took the challenge of losing Ashwin and motivated the self which showed in field placements and fielding efforts. Helped by some brain dead shots if few batters of course. Glad for Siraj. He needed this boost.

We are a batter down in Ashwin so need to Bat really sensibly. With 126 lead need to give England atleast 450 to chase.

[hothatchaway]

I find it difficult to accept how bogged down our current set of batsmen get against spinners, that too an inexperienced one with a part timer (Root) leading the attack. We don't have to go too far back, in the 2000's a Sourav will wait for one delivery before stepping out and depositing a slow left arm into the stands anywhere between midwicket and long on. The rest were also equally adept, using their feet and never allowing a slow bowler to settle. No way they would allow a bowler to hop in a few steps and bowl offspin to them! Even Warney was mauled by VVS and Dravid during that epic knock at Eden. I remember Navjot Sidhu being so quick on this feet, dancing down halfway down the pitch and not letting a spinner settle at all.

I personally think those who do not have the footwork and/or cannot read what the spinner is doing, sweep. Very well, as long as you can get runs. The current crop cannot even sweep. Not even occasionally just to give the bowler something to think about. You would think that owing their stardom to the shortest format of the game, they would be more open to doing something unorthodox.

Great bowling by Siraj, matching Bumrah yorker for yorker. He surely is the biggest trier in the side, alway bowling heart out.

[AtheK]

Seems like Joe Root has found himself a role of specialist spin bowler in India in this bazball model of cricket.

[kavensri]

I guess, this should be it for Patidar. What a waste of opportunity for him. I was never convinced with him when he got selected anyway.