[samaspire]

Somehow get the feeling that India will pull off this one. If it does happen, then it will be today - and it will be Pandya.

Edit (after Pandya got out): Looks like I should not be showing my face around here.

Hope they still pull it off though.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by samaspire

Somehow get the feeling that India will pull off this one. If it does happen, then it will be today - and it will be Pandya.

Pandya ? He's out.

We're talking about a 47 year old record being broken if we expect an Indian win (chase > 174). We've won just 6 tests overseas outside Asian sub-continent and just 3 in England chasing in the 4th innings.

Now how likely is it for that to happen ?

*Looks like Rishabh Pant has been asked to play aggressively. Let's see what happens..oh he's out!

While the edit window for this post was active, we lost 2 wickets!

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by samaspire

Somehow get the feeling that India will pull off this one. If it does happen, then it will be today - and it will be Pandya.

of all the players, you picked him He's proved you wrong unfortunately

[libranof1987]

The way Kohli/Rahane were playing, I thought something was up. Now we know how this will end. Most likely an agonizing 30-run defeat. From a potential 3-1, we'll be trailing 1-3.

Originally Posted by samaspire

Somehow get the feeling that India will pull off this one. If it does happen, then it will be today - and it will be Pandya.

Hey, edit window is still active.

[hemanth.anand]

With Both Captain and Vice Captain gone, it's pretty much the series gone.
Pandya playing all matches across all 3 formats is the most baffling decision of the tour for me. Actually in hindsight, it's these baffling decisions by Kohli and our head nodding Coach, that's cost us the series more than the really bad batting performances. Bowlers did wonderfully well IMO.
5th test..."India will play for pride" is what we get to hear. I don't understand what that is

let's focus on the India Australia series now.

[vibbs]

The best chance for India to win an overseas test series. Sadly we have to wait more!

[libranof1987]

Why don't we have "rising to the occasion" kind of player?

I hope the team learns to keep their arrogance in check. Last match was the exception, the 1st, 2nd and this one aren't.

[NPV]

As expected, this should be over today.

India 8 wickets down now.

[naveenvenkatesh]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

let's focus on the India Australia series now.

Sure, lets go to Australia about 1 week before the tour, play one casual practice match. Start the series with a thumping defeat, pull off one win in the second test and lose the next 2. Sooth our egos by saying how good this team is. Repeat this cycle every 2 years but with different players!

Pandya has had no effect on this match what so ever. Ashwin bowled 37.1 overs in the second innings for 1 wicket. None of the England batsmen looked in any trouble against him. Contrast that with Moin Ali. Just Compare our lower middle order of Pandya, Pant, Ashwin, Ishant? with England's lower middle order of stokes, Curran, Buttler, Rashid. Don't think Pandya is test material. Even Pant need more domestic cricket i feel. Seems too raw. When is Saha coming back?
I think it is time to look beyond Ashwin. He is clearly past his prime, especially outside the continent.


From having England 86/6 in the first innings to losing like this is simply unacceptable.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by naveenvenkatesh

Sure, lets go to Australia about 1 week before the tour, play one casual practice match. Start the series with a thumping defeat, pull off one win in the second test and lose the next 2. Sooth our egos by saying how good this team is. Repeat this cycle every 2 years but with different players!

You forgot to add a jolly trip in between the series (like the European trip)...to the Australian outbacks may be!

And there are couple of other things that needs to be done
1. Harsha Bhogle wrote this...

Harsha Bhogle: Like with the series in South Africa, this will go down as what-could-have-been rather than what actually was. Neither South Africa nor England were as good as they have been in the past. But then, maybe, India isn't as good as we believe it to be.

...and this...

Harsha Bhogle: India have had their moments in every Test match barring Lord's. But moments don't win series and it is back now to introspection

So before the next tour remove him from commentary panel for not standing by the team.

2. Increase the pay package of our Head coach and Promote Pandya as the vice captain.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

And there are couple of other things that needs to be done
1. Harsha Bhogle wrote this...
...and this...
So before the next tour remove him from commentary panel for not standing by the team.
i

It can't be more correct than what Harsha has said. For us, this was the best opportunity to win a series in England. In a long long time we have a pace bowling attack that is up there with the best. The conditions in England were most Indian like it can ever be. And this England side can be defeated as Pakistan showed when they drew the two test match series there. But it is same old story for us.
Get the batting mainstay out and rest of them fall like nine pins.

I mean in the third test despite having no chance to save the test, English tail enders fought it out and took the match into the 5th day. Our team could not even try for that.

[NPV]

In Tests, our batting is our strength on flat tracks and is also our weakness on tracks that help bowlers.

After a very long time we have a good bowling attack that is capable of taking 20 wickets, but our batting and sometimes coupled with fielding lets us down.

Statistics from past history continue to be best indicators of outcomes in overseas matches as was seen and proved yet again today.

[PPS]

I think Virat Kohli is backing the wrong horse i.e Pandya.
In the last 7 Tests that he's played in SA & here in England, he's performed twice with the bat & once with the ball. That doesn't make him an all rounder! For the longest time we had Laxman batting at no.6 position & look what we have now!

What the team should be most disappointed with is that they had England at 86 for 6 on Day 1, and to lose the test from that position on a dry subcontinental type of pitch just shows us how bad & over-rated they are.

Expecting something similar when we tour Australia later in the year which again has an ordinary team & will be made to look like world beaters. Don't be surprised to see Nathon Lyon tormenting us in a test or two.

[pratyush6]

Honestly, never thought India had any chance of getting over 200 barring a Kohli miracle. I just cannot for the love of God believe we keep playing Dhawan. With that kind of a start, there was no way in the world even a Kohli miracle would have had us win.

No doubts that Shaw will get the nod for the last test. Also, Jadeja in place of either Pandya or Ashwin should be on the cards. I wonder if these defeats hurts most members of the team as much it does to us. Lets try to win it, a 3-2 looks far better than 4-1.

[Santoshbhat]

Well the better side won the game and the series. We had our moments but let the opposition get out of tricky situations on too many occasions.

Kohli's captaincy at times was very frustrating. In the second innings when Ashwin got Ben Stokes, Curran came in. Pandya was bowling from the other end. He should have got Bumrah or Ishant in quickly before Curran, who has been a major thorn, settle in. Instead he kept persisting with Pandya and allowed Curran to settle. It was almost as if Kohli wanted Pandya to pick up wickets so that he can justify his selection. As it turned out Curran's innings proved to be the difference.

Ashwin was the biggest disappointment of the match. He had a helpful pitch but could not make an impact. A pitch on which Moeen Ali was almost unplayable! I don't understand why he was bowling those darts. Every time he flighted the ball, he was troubling the batsmen. He wasn't able to hit the right length consistently. Bowled too full and too fast.