England tour of India, Jan 25 - March 11

[Durhamfootman]

300 comes up in the last over of the day

Excellent work from honest Joe who has more than doubled his tally for the entire series. I'm guessing there were no reverse ramp shots today, just concentration, circumspection and hard work. It was just what England needed; exactly what was lacking in the 3rd test and Joe can take enormous credit for his work today on what appears to be a tricky pitch. Credit to Foakes and Robbo for staying with him and giving him some support.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Good day for the pace bowlers, and with Stokes likely to bowl, England are well fixed in that department. But Robinson batting for an hour at the end suggests the pitch might be ok.

Well done to Honest Joe. Welcome back to the fight.

Can't see that India took the new ball. Maybe the uneven bounce was reduced with the older ball towards the end.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Never good to see someone batting below Anderson in the order.

[Durhamfootman]

Seemingly Stokes got a ball that didn't get above ankle height, so there's definitely some uneven bounce to be had. Robinson might be a handful on this pitch

[andy]

New ball is so hard to play on this pitch then it gets easier....that being said it won't get any easier to bat on, so 350 first innings is huge

[Arthur Crabtree]

India didn't take it though. Maybe attack was tired.

[GarlicJam]

Seemingly Stokes got a ball that didn't get above ankle height, so there's definitely some uneven bounce to be had. Robinson might be a handful on this pitch

I went through and watched selected highlights, as I had read many complaints of a terrible pitch.

Stokes' dismissal was to a ball that shot along the ground almost, true, but I saw no other wildly misbehaving deliveries in my watching

[andy]

Seemingly Stokes got a ball that didn't get above ankle height, so there's definitely some uneven bounce to be had. Robinson might be a handful on this pitch

I went through and watched selected highlights, as I had read many complaints of a terrible pitch.

Stokes' dismissal was to a ball that shot along the ground almost, true, but I saw no other wildly misbehaving deliveries in my watching

The opening spell from the seamers brought some horrific bouncing deliveries....pitch settled once ball got older though

[sussexpob]

Seemingly Stokes got a ball that didn't get above ankle height, so there's definitely some uneven bounce to be had. Robinson might be a handful on this pitch

I went through and watched selected highlights, as I had read many complaints of a terrible pitch.

Stokes' dismissal was to a ball that shot along the ground almost, true, but I saw no other wildly misbehaving deliveries in my watching

The opening spell from the seamers brought some horrific bouncing deliveries....pitch settled once ball got older though

It's the pace more than anything. The ball has bounced unevenly, and there is turn, but there is no pace in the pitch.... So everything happens in slow motion, and it's easier to cope.

Maybe by day ,3/4/5 this will be horrible to bat on, but despite some obvious cracks and dryness, I think until we get to the second innings it's a good pitch to make 300-400 on.

Batting last will be very interesting if India dont make a massive score...if it's evenish, the England must be favourites

[alfie]

The pitch was ...interesting.

New ball did a lot. Crawley said he felt there was one with his name on it round the corner - and after some of the wildly varying bounce you could see what he meant. Early moisture a factor of course and not surprised it settled as the day went on.

But although we didn't see a lot of balls misbehaving after lunch , there was still the odd one that kept alarmingly low - or popped up , as one of each happened in a a single Ashwin over. The Stokes dismissal to one that practically rolled along the ground was an outlier but even late in the day Root remained very watchful... The slowness of the pitch may mitigate the danger but you'd expect the chances of copping a "shooter" will increase as the game goes on. I don't think batting will be a picnic by Monday in any case so the first innings scores will be rather important : England will hope that Anderson and Robinson can get a bit of help with the hard new ball because I don't see the spinners running through India just yet . Second innings could be a different story.

[bigfluffylemon]

The commentary team seemed convinced that 350 was going to be very competitive given England get to bowl last.

Somehow I have a feeling India will make it look pretty mediocre

[bigfluffylemon]

353 all out - subsided quickly. Root stuck on 122 not out. Great effort.

Anderson gets an early one, going to be an interesting couple of hours.

[Arthur Crabtree]

The commentary team seemed convinced that 350 was going to be very competitive given England get to bowl last.

Somehow I have a feeling India will make it look pretty mediocre

Well, not much to show for the new ball and a solid partnership for the second wicket. Might be a wicket here though...

Cloud cover apparently.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Not out. Edge didn't carry to the keeper.

[Durhamfootman]

oooooh..... gottim!

with the dismissal of the run machine for 73, England now find themselves with a chance of a first innings lead. Bashir is having a good day. 4-55 off 20 and India find themselves 5 down and still 190 behind. How England could use a lower middle order collapse from India right now