[vibbs]

Wonder if the match will last 2 days!

8 down now.

[KPR]

Ashwin has the long stride to combat spin from pitch. He seems to be the best batsman in playing 11 (or 22) to play against spin. Why not promote him to Rahane's position in 2nd innings?

[comfortablynumb]

Don't worry folks, it's Ishant Sharma's 100th test. He will support Ashwin, both of them will help India cross 250, and then England will collapse to an innings defeat.

[Eddy]

Wow, who would have thought?

If one of the English batters like Stokes hits out and they reach 200, God help us.

[swissknife]

Root uproots the Indian batting with his 5 for 8! Unless India gets England all out for 100 ish max, it would be an extreme uphill task for India to win this match.

[sahil624]

Axar is having a ball at the new stadium, bags a wicket first ball in the 2nd innings and is on a hattrick and almost got it. Saved by a DRS.
Edit: Gets Bairstow on the next delivery
He is having a ball in this match.

[am1m]

Can anyone who is watching the match (and not just following the ball-by-ball commentary online like me) tell us what the heck is going on?!

I'm all for a decent ball vs. bat contest and I'm also all for home sides preparing pitches that suit their strengths; everyone does it and I agree that visiting teams shouldn't complain when they get turners in India, but this is crazy!

Is it the pitch? Is it the pink ball? Surely all 22 players can't have forgotten how to play spin. Can't see how questions around this pitch won't 'start turning' up after this match gets done (which looks to be pretty soon!) Would be a pity considering what a fantastic new stadium this is.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Make it 8, what a pathetic batting display.

England is trying to match up now and are 5 for 2!

Originally Posted by Eddy

Wow, who would have thought?

If one of the English batters like Stokes hits out and they reach 200, God help us.

Theoretically England is very much in the game. If they get to 200+ it's game on and very difficult for India to chase down.

[sahil624]

Originally Posted by am1m

Can anyone who is watching the match (and not just following the ball-by-ball commentary online like me) tell us what the heck is going on?!

Watching those two England wickets go down, I can surely tell you that it was the guile of Axar Patel which resulted in the wickets. One went straight and another one was arm ball which came into Bairstow, who was playing for spin.
Also, none of the wickets yesterday seemed like the ball turned square, however, the pitch is very dusty.

[KPR]

I'm sensing a target of close to 170-190 for India as Stokes and Root are game changers here.

P.S- As I'm typing this Stokes has fallen. So revising it to 140-160 for India as Root is still hanging. Can India win?

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by KPR

I'm sensing a target of close to 170-190 for India as Stokes and Root are game changers here.

P.S- As I'm typing this Stokes has fallen. So revising it to 140-160 for India as Root is still hanging. Can India win?

Time to revise again?
Root gone too.

Do you guys enjoy this type or test matches? I dont. There does not seem to be a contest. Has the ability of playing spin gone down so drastically? We are 1.5 days into a test match and already 25 wickets have fallen.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by KPR

P.S- As I'm typing this Stokes has fallen. So revising it to 140-160 for India as Root is still hanging. Can India win?

Anything above 100-125 will be tricky, and in that scenario I would bet on an England win (not withstanding the Brisbane heroics).

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Time to revise again?
Root gone too.

Do you guys enjoy this type or test matches? I dont. There does not seem to be a contest. Has the ability of playing spin gone down so drastically? We are 1.5 days into a test match and already 25 wickets have fallen.

It's the batsmen fault, no application, unlike last match where pitch was difficult, here its the batsmen who are just not applying themselves. Both the teams have been pathetic, even if you look at indian team, they could not handle Joe root.

[padmrajravi]

We are going to face a lot of international backlash for this pitch. It did not happen in the second test because we scored decently in both innings. Even Ashwin's 400th wicket may get over shadowed because lot of critics will say you can get 1000 wickets if you make pitches like these.

I blame our batting lineup for this more than the pitch. England giving wickets to proper bowlers like Ashwin and Axar is fine. But Indians giving wickets to part timers like Root just shows the lack of skills to play spin. The team of fab five never gave a chance to opposition spinners. In the quest to succeed in overseas fast bowling pitches, Indian batsmen seems to have forgotten how to play at their own yard. We badly needed a decent score in the first innings to keep the pitch critics away.

[Ananthang]

I think something to do with the ball, reading spin and sighting. Both teams are not bad players of spin. If 20 players fail it is the ball or pitch. We have some NZ test matches finished in 2 days due to pitch. It was not the case 10 years ago, we had competitive pitches. Nowadays either it is a road or a dust bowl.

Yes I also did not enjoy this test match. It is so boring and this match is worthless.

They need to find solution to make competitive pitches like in Aus, SA. We have good pacers and spinners in both teams, so don’t know why want to play sub standard match