[suhaas307]

Looks like it's pretty much even-stevens, if you ask me.

England would have liked 300+ on the board. India should have restricted them to 150 or at least 200, especially after reducing them to 85/6 in the 2nd session.

India cannot afford to score anything less than 350. Batting on a 4th / 5th day pitch will not be easy, and any target above 150 will be tricky.

[selfdrive]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/...chmark-england

It is said statistics often hide more than they reveal. But one point here; the Indian pace bowling attack has a marginally better strike rate than that of Pakistan in 2018. Brought a tear of joy to me.
It is also the best strike rate by a visiting pace bowling attack in England in 100 years. That did not hit hard. But we have a pace bowling attack doing better than Pakistan. Wow!

[naveenvenkatesh]

I still think India gave about 50-60 runs extra. Agreed that Moin Ali and Curran played really well. They were both playing the ball very late, right under their noses. Also, the pitch eased up a bit during the later half of the day. But there are few interesting things for India to think/correct:

1. Ashwin's mediocre bowling: Didn't understand the tactic of bowling flat, ourswingers when there was something in the pitch. The slower, flighted deliveries were gripping and turning a bit. Why was he bowling like he was in the IPL or 45th over of an ODI? Bowling couch, are you listening?

2. Pandya's average (read bad) bowling. He is the crucial 5th bowler for india. If he is not getting the swing, at least he should keep one end tight and not leak runs at 6-7 runs an over. I guess the previous test match was more of a fluke rather than his skill. Something for the bowling coach to think about

3. Pant's footwork: India gave away 23 byes and 34 extras. Pant was finding moving to his right extremely difficult since his footwork was not correct. he was reaching with his hands rather than moving his body. Agreed that it was difficult with the ball swinging but there were a few he should have stopped. Even 15 less extras would be been handy.

4. Bumrah's no ball Irrespective of the talent, if he is unable to bowl legal deliveries, i don't see how it will help. Remember, he did this in Champions stophy final and last match as well when Adil rashid was out caught but it was a no ball. Another instance of this and i feel he should be dropped just for this. Seems like it has become a habbit. He might be overstepping in the nets as well.This sort of behavior should be unpardonable. Who knows if Root had got a hundred? Some more work for the bowling coach.

[hemanth.anand]

Let's take it a bit easy on the team. I firmly believe that we shouldn't be too critical on any team in a test match till 2 innings are completed. Let us see what Indians do today.
IMO, having been used to mediocre all rounders in our team (who almost certainly make a procession behind the top 4 batsmen to return to the Pavilion), we are very critical about and blame our bowlers when the opposite team all rounders get runs.
I watched the match yesterday and Moeen and Curran played really well with application and intent. of course the pitch was much easier to bat on even with the swing. I don't think Indian captain lost the plot or Indian Bowlers didn't bowl well, but it was good test batting. That's how a test match should be. One or the other person should stand up and Curran has stood up for England this series.
Also the issue of byes is too far fetched I feel. With bowlers coming from over the wicket to left handers, Pant had to stand wide outside off stump to increase visibility and be more comfortable. But each one of Bumrah and Shami bowled a couple of ones way outside the leg stump. For his height, Pant couldn't do anything, Poor guy. The bowlers were wayward but unfortunately the byes go against the keeper
Bumrah has to work on his no balls for sure. it's not that he does it intentionally. I'm sure he'll be equally frustrated, but wicket of a no-ball brings down the morale of the entire team.
Overall I'm happy with 246 All out. If this was told at the toss, anyone would've taken it happily I feel.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Looks like it's pretty much even-stevens, if you ask me.

England would have liked 300+ on the board. India should have restricted them to 150 or at least 200, especially after reducing them to 85/6 in the 2nd session.

India cannot afford to score anything less than 350. Batting on a 4th / 5th day pitch will not be easy, and any target above 150 will be tricky.

Not at all. Experts gave 350 as par on this pitch before match started. It's believed to be the best batting track all series. We would have taken a 250 all out after losing the toss. It is definitely advantage us for yesterday.
As for today we do need a 350 score. Should not be chasing anything more than 150 in last innings. Hoping for another sublime Kohli innings today.

Also, if top 3 manage to see off 15-20 overs batting will become easier like yesterday. Time for Rahul or Dhawan to get at least a 50+.

[selfdrive]

About 25 overs done. For the loss of the openers, we are 160 odd behind.

Ideal opportunity for Kohli, Pujara and Rahane to blunt Anderson, Broad and Curran. Bring them to their third and fourth spells before Pant and Pandya come in.
Pujara has played himself in, should be good to score a big daddy hundred and get his batting average above 50.

I hope we repay Moeen for his deeds against us in our last test match here 4 years ago. I am really anxious to see how that battle will go. For some of our batsmen, the sight of a spinner is a red rag to a bull. We should ideally be in a rock solid position by the time that happens.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by naveenvenkatesh

Ashwin's mediocre bowling: Didn't understand the tactic of bowling flat,

Gavaskar was absolutely livid with Ashwin in the post match show of the last test. Apparently after his 4 wicket haul in the 1st test while giving an interview with Ian Ward, he discussed & showed all his grips/variations & how the ball comes out. I do not know if this was telecast on SonySix, but certainly Gavaskar wasn't pleased & said he could have done this after the 4th or 5th test.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

About 25 overs done. For the loss of the openers, we are 160 odd behind.

Ideal opportunity for Kohli, Pujara and Rahane to blunt Anderson, Broad and Curran. Bring them to their third and fourth spells before Pant and Pandya come in.
Pujara has played himself in, should be good to score a big daddy hundred and get his batting average above 50.

.

Well all that seems lost hope now with only Pujara still holding the fort. I hope we manage to get some lead here.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Let's take it a bit easy on the team. I firmly believe that we shouldn't be too critical on any team in a test match till 2 innings are completed. Let us see what Indians do today.

Ok now....Buggers, Idiots, irresponsible over rated, over paid players !!

It's a team game and we have only 2 trust worthy batsmen and if they don't play, it's all over!
Rahul-technical deficiency against incoming ball
Dhawan-no temperment whatsoever.
Openers were still ok...they tried to hang in.
Rahane- Again, technical deficiency against incoming ball.
Pant-pressure to get off the mark got the better of the young guy.
Pandya- All style no substance...the fielder was placed for him for that shot. He hits directly only on his 5th ball.
Ashwin- He is a thinking cricketer i had thought but what was he thinking there!!
Shami-amazing delivery that he got but he along with Bumrah and Ishanth can't do much and they shouldn't have been there today at all.
Poor Pujara he's on 80 with the team on 200 and he has to turn down a lot of singles now.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Ok now....Buggers, Idiots, irresponsible over rated, over paid players !!

It's a team game and we have only 2 trust worthy batsmen and if they don't play, it's all over!
Rahul-technical deficiency against incoming ball
Dhawan-no temperment whatsoever.
Openers were still ok...they tried to hang in.
Rahane- Again, technical deficiency against incoming ball.
Pant-pressure to get off the mark got the better of the young guy.
Pandya- All style no substance...the fielder was placed for him for that shot. He hits directly only on his 5th ball.
Ashwin- He is a thinking cricketer i had thought but what was he thinking there!!
Shami-amazing delivery that he got but he along with Bumrah and Ishanth can't do much and they shouldn't have been there today at all.
Poor Pujara he's on 80 with the team on 200 and he has to turn down a lot of singles now.

Absolutely correct. Let's hope they complete 250 runs in the innings.

[Chetan_Rao]

Well, that didn't take long from potentially batting England out of the game to batting to stay in themselves.

[NPV]

The element of doubt I had yesterday about the batting came true today, but a major collapse was avoided thanks to runs scored mainly by Pujara and Kohli.

Pujara got his century and now the deficit is just 5 runs, hope we can get just a few runs lead at least for a moral/psychological feeling of being ahead slightly ?

Pujara did miss a few runs trying to shield Ishant from getting the strike, hope he just goes on to get every possible run now.

[hemanth.anand]

What a Gutsy Innings by Pujara 132*. He played wonderfully well after 8 wickets were gone. He was worth all the standing ovation he got. 27 runs may seem small but the lead is psychologically a big boost to the team

[pratyush6]

Felt this tomorrow when English batted, they had a decent score on board and we were trying to catch up. Although this is the easiest of the pitch we've encountered so far, our batting is really hopeless. We just don't learn from our mistakes. At a point, I was simply tearing my hair out with the lack of application shown.

I have been very critical of Pujara in the past few weeks and finally he's turned up. I am glad that he did. I hope this is not a one off and he can probably calm down a bit and do some justice to the faith shown by the team.

On Dhawan, the super talented KL Rahul and vice captain Rahane, I think we are atleast be sure about Dhawan & Rahul - consistent failures. If India goes on to lose this game, these three have to be help accountable for it.

On the match - Despite a brave fight by Pujara, Ishant & Bumrah - English are ahead of the game, considering we would bat 4th and the way Moeen Ali bowled. It would be tough chasing anything over 150, over 200, the match is dead and buried.

I seriously hope our famed batmen take some batting lessons from Ishant Sharma, the fight that he gives despite him being a bowler is heartening for us and should make those flat track bullies feel ashamed.

[kavensri]

Though it may sound like we recovered well to post 273 from 192/8. But why the hell we fell from 140/2 to 192/8 in the first place? I still feel that it was a missed oppurtunity by India to post a bigger total.
I feel that ENG may play well today and we may end up in a situation to save the game and finally lose heavily! Anyway, let us wait what's in store for today!

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Pandya- All style no substance...the fielder was placed for him for that shot. He hits directly only on his 5th ball.
Ashwin- He is a thinking cricketer i had thought but what was he thinking there!!

I always thought that Ashwin is an intelligent player (like Kumble), but in the recent times, he seems to be using 'too much of his intelligence' whether it is batting or bowling! I wish, he could share some of his intelligence to Pandya