I can't believe Gambhir is back opening for them after 4 years, they must have similar problems to England in finding an opener!
Rohit, Rahul and Dhawan are all injured. Their batting has, however, been very much like ours - only India in 2016 have a better record than us for the number of runs scored for their last 5 wickets in an innings. Having said that Ashwin will bat at 6 in this match whereas he has been at 7 or even 8 so their tail isn't hopefully that long here.
Difficult to understand why Rashy's only bowled two overs today. It's not as if he was expensive - Stokes, after all, got four and went for 28 doing so.
No wonder test cricket is dieing on its backside. As a spectacle this is just an utter bore. And Ina virtually empty stadium. Enjoyed the first day when England were building up a score but this is so obviously a draw there is very little point.
Oh, they can! Rashid will get the rest of the series now :P
Nothing wrong with that - and he should have bowled a lot more. Our plan seems to be to chuck him the ball when everyone else has had a bowl. And yet he is the one bowler who does consistently beat the bat. Give him the hard ball, yes have a sweeper both sides but don't dilute what he offers.
319-4 at close. To be fair we never lost control and were rewarded with those two late wickets.
The best test matches to watch are when the team batting first scores around 350, then the team batting second scores a similar score that usually guarantees a result. Unfortunately when wickets favour the batsmen as much as they do in India this sort of match is common. Indian supporters are quite happy to watch their favourite batsmen like Tendulker bat for three days and score a zillion runs and they seem to enjoy this type of game. Personally i find it rather boring when the only realistic outcome is a draw
If (and it is a fairly big "if") those cracks do open and it starts to become a spinners' paradise then the complexion of the game could totally change.
So India 450 all out, us 130 all out, India 218-9. India win by one wicket.
The best test matches to watch are when the team batting first scores around 350, then the team batting second scores a similar score that usually guarantees a result. Unfortunately when wickets favour the batsmen as much as they do in India this sort of match is common. Indian supporters are quite happy to watch their favourite batsmen like Tendulker bat for three days and score a zillion runs and they seem to enjoy this type of game. Personally i find it rather boring when the only realistic outcome is a draw
I'm not sure Indian supporters like high scoring slow draws either, going by the attendance numbers
2nd wickets for both Ansari and Rashid - the latter succeeding in mesmerising the world's greatest batsman to the extent that he steps on to his stumps!
It is unbelievable to think that the kid has never played a one day or T20 match at county level when all young players start with the shorter form of the game.
I think we have found our opener, very solid technique and more importantly a temprament to match Cooks.
Total agreement but we do need to see him against the real quick bowlers aiming it at his ribs. He has the potential to be there for the next dozen years at least.
100/0 late on the fourth day just doesn't feel right. We should be 7 down by now and worrying about saving the game. This alternate universe England is unnerving.
Comments
Difficult to understand why Rashy's only bowled two overs today. It's not as if he was expensive - Stokes, after all, got four and went for 28 doing so.
319-4 at close. To be fair we never lost control and were rewarded with those two late wickets.
Unfortunately when wickets favour the batsmen as much as they do in India this sort of match is common.
Indian supporters are quite happy to watch their favourite batsmen like Tendulker bat for three days and score a zillion runs and they seem to enjoy this type of game.
Personally i find it rather boring when the only realistic outcome is a draw
So India 450 all out, us 130 all out, India 218-9. India win by one wicket.
Only joking. I hope.
2nd wickets for both Ansari and Rashid - the latter succeeding in mesmerising the world's greatest batsman to the extent that he steps on to his stumps!
Game not quite over yet.