[Shumi_21]

Excellent day for us, the 155 runs partnership between Jaiswal & Gill was so amazing to watch. Moment of the day was Rahul Dravid sheepishly smiling after Yashasvi reverse swept Rehan Ahmed for four twice in the same over. Loved Jaiswal's aggressive intent after he got in. That full cover drive to Hartley to a ball turning from rough was breathtaking. The exclamation mark was Jaiswal carting Anderson for 19 runs in an over to begin his assault. Hope he's just cramped and will be back for more tomorrow. Gill has found his usual fluency too.

Would it be asking too much for Ash to make a Bollywood-ish return on Day 5 and spin England out?

[meerkat]

Originally Posted by 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.

And that too ahead of Sarfaraz ! Based on what comparative performance advantage exactly?! And no advantage in terms of age either!

[Rahkehs]

Originally Posted by meerkat

And that too ahead of Sarfaraz ! Based on what comparative performance advantage exactly?! And no advantage in terms of age either!

Should not be too harsh on Patidar, even Gill is not much os a success in test cricket, averaging just over 30.
Unpopular opinion-
It’s too early to judge Sarfaraz, to me his technique seems poor with almost no footwork and bat coming down at angle. He was not as successful with India A team’s matches as was in Ranji hence will wait for overseas tour to know whether he has what it takes to be a Great Test Batsman!
It took just one Australia tour for everyone to know that Shaw was not the sensational batsman the flat Indian pitches made him look

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by Rahkehs

Should not be too harsh on Patidar, even Gill is not much os a success in test cricket, averaging just over 30.
Unpopular opinion-
It’s too early to judge Sarfaraz, to me his technique seems poor with almost no footwork and bat coming down at angle. He was not as successful with India A team’s matches as was in Ranji hence will wait for overseas tour to know whether he has what it takes to be a Great Test Batsman!
It took just one Australia tour for everyone to know that Shaw was not the sensational batsman the flat Indian pitches made him look

Very critical however we have the best example of poor technique yet a successful test batter that too an opener - Viru! If Sarfaraz is able to keep his form for another 5-8 test matches then he could very well cement his place in the playing XI. The question is if he will get those many games once Kohli & KL are back in the team.

Patidar has good domestic numbers however he does not inspire confidence as an individual. Even he may not get many games once Virat & KL are back.

Finally kudos to the selection team to atleast give opportunities to Patidar, Jurel and Khan. Hope they continue to take into account a player's form and not previous records.

[Shumi_21]

Originally Posted by Rahkehs

Should not be too harsh on Patidar

The manner of his dismissals were very poor. Patidar is good against pace, he hasn't shown his game against spin yet. He might not get another chance with KL returning and Sarfaraz grabbing opportunity with both hands.

Originally Posted by Rahkehs

It's too early to judge Sarfaraz, to me his technique seems poor with almost no footwork and bat coming down at angle

He doesn't dance down the track too often, but he definitely uses the crease much better to create angles for singles, especially against the spinners. Sarfaraz has a known weakness against bouncers but there's no reason why he can't work on it. Every batter in the world has some technical problem, and the good ones find a way to score runs despite those. A good example is Cheteshwar Pujara, who doesn't even play the pull, and would duck bouncers or famously let it hit his body during BGT-2020-21.

Meanwhile Gill was run out for 91, Jaiswal is back and is hammering the bowlers with Sarfaraz for company. But the big news is Ashwin is back.

[AtheK]

Brilliant batting, though Rohit should have given jaiswal one more over to try hit one more six to break wasim akram record, not everyday you hit 12 sixes in a test match. Though with 20-20 mindset cropping in Test as well, that record will be broken sooner rather then later.

England started bowling defensive will they bat defensive or bat with aggression now, that will define the course of this test.

[Shumi_21]

Did anyone else catch Sarfaraz playing a reverse-ramp turned into forward defence shot with the side edge of his bat against Anderson?

[NPV]

A double century in the second inning of a test is always special and Jaiswal played an outstanding game
A flat pitch that isn’t doing much, but England are 39-4 now with Root and Stokes playing.

[hothatchaway]

England are reeling at 50-6 with Stokes just out lbw to Kuldip.

Loving Nick Knight's ever evolving explanation of bazball. Won't be surprised if it turns out to be the mythical loch ness monster by the end of the innings!

[Shumi_21]

Brilliant tactics from Rohit + coaching team. They've had fielders for the sweeps/reverses and the bowlers have also adjusted and tossed the ball up more to get more "dip". The result: 2 English collapses in 2 days.

Bairstow, Root and Stokes all LBW trying to conjure a sweep. England reeling at 50/7. The meltdown from the English media will be amazing.

Ravi Shastri is already saying on commentary that the English luck with the sweep will not work everytime. I'm inclined to agree.

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Loving Nick Knight's ever evolving explanation of bazball. Won't be surprised if it turns out to be the mythical loch ness monster by the end of the innings!

Bazball is almost like a cult at this point. There seems to be a whole set of usual suspects who are always out to defend it no matter what. I literally lost it when Knight remarked yesterday that Root's reverse ramp is not a result of Bazball.

[NPV]

England started their first inning on a belligerent Bazball note but it didn’t get them beyond 319.
To be honest, India has played the Bazball game to perfection, getting big scores in quick time in both innings and deserve a big win here.

England 50/7 now!

[Carmine_pepper]

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

Would it be asking too much for Ash to make a Bollywood-ish return on Day 5 and spin England out?

Seems like you wont get your wish.. no 5th day in this match probably.

This match can put serious doubt about bazball in English minds.

[Emvi]

I'm not a huge critic of Bazball, in fact, I quite like it when played with a bit of common sense. When it comes off, it looks great, and when it doesn't, you are not too far away from receiving flak. However, it would bode well for Stokes and Co. to Bazball on the field and not during press conferences. When you do and lose like the way you have today, you just look so silly. Mr. Duckett, you played wonderfully well in the first innings. You can continue to play the attacking brand of cricket and entertain us, but it would be better for you to learn to duck questions during press conferences. I'm not complaining though.



Oh, Mr. Duckett, you sound like one of those politicians who refuse to concede defeat until the final election verdict is out, even though you very well know what the eventual outcome would be.

And btw, history has been created. This is India's biggest ever test win in terms of runs. :-)

[dailydriver]

Have been hearing a lot of praise about Sarfraz for a while now. Naturally, when he debuted in this match, I was all eyes: he didn't disappoint.

However, more than his runs, one particular run from the non striker's end caught my (& many others') attention. When Jaiswal was running for his two hundredth run, this was the scene on the pitch.

(Pic sourced online)

Gentleman's game indeed!

[harry10]

I missed most of the match as I was playing my own club match. Caught up with highlights.

Jaiswal should thank Duckett and England for his double hundred, again. Sarfraz was again so impressive. Wish he wasn't run out in first innings to get a 100 on debut.

It's a rare occasion in World cricket when a batter makes consecutive double tons and still isn't Player of the match. I hope he gets the Player of the series.

Ashwin coming back was uneventful with England collapsing. Bumrah bowled quite less this game. Maybe he can play next game too in Ranchi and we can seal the series there.

If we go in details or stats it's quite evident that India is doing the so called Bazball better than the actual bazballers. Highest ever runs win, nice achievement.