3rd Test: India v England at Mohali on Nov 26-30

[Aidan11]

Pawn your granny's jewellery.

[Dr Cricket]

Good article from Berry here.

But even if one of the sport’s longest-standing traditions were changed and the visiting captain given the choice of what to do first, the pitch in Mohali would be no different from what it is now – dry, minimally grassed, and even barer at each end on a spinner’s length. Akin to the one where South Africa lost this time last year and India’s spinners took 19 wickets. Whatever the result of the toss, India back themselves to defeat anyone in their conditions,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2016 ... tle-india/

[Gingerfinch]

Will the toss be important, Bhavesh?

[Dr Cricket]

Will the toss be important, Bhavesh?

Won't be important for india.
considering they want pitches that makes no difference to them if they bat or bowl first.
from what I am hearing or seeing from the pitch Kohli wouldn't care what happens in the toss since in vaughan pitch reports he expects the cracks to open up on day 1 and the pitch to turn early.

[Dr Cricket]

Will the toss be important, Bhavesh?

From what I been reading or hearing is that the toss is very important for England but not so much for India.
General idea is that india don't mind bowling on that deck on day 1 and England need to bat first and get a total with them not being too confident on the spinners doing damage on day 1 or restricting India either.
Saying that both teams would obviously bat first though.
If anything this is a pitch that Somerset would produce since they don't care if they bowl first or bat first and they know leach will outbowl the opposition spinners.
Surprised more teams didn't do it in county championship especially Warwickshire.

[Arthur Crabtree]

In a two horse race it's not possible for the toss to only help one side.

Though I'm happy for the chat on the toss in the last game to count for this game too.

[Dr Cricket]

In a two horse race it's not possible for the toss to only help one side.

Though I'm happy for the chat on the toss in the last game to count for this game too.

TBH quite possible if only one side can make use of the help or if one side is so much better that the toss is basically pointless to them.
for example if bangladesh/Zimbabwe win a toss in england on a green deck with overcast skies chances are Bangladesh/Zimbabwe won't be making use of the conditions, likewise England didn't use advantage wisely in 2014 against lords they basically wasted the new ball and allowed india to post a very good total.

At the moment if the ball helps the bowlers on day 1 not sure india really cares what they do on day 1, whereas england being the underdog clearly need to bat first so they have a better chances of winning games.

[Dr Cricket]

Vaughan should do more articles like this.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2016 ... rat-kohli/
he often doesn't show why he was a good captain in the media.
pretty good article this especially the way he would get kohli out.

Plan A

When he first comes to the crease you have to bowl a fifth-stump line, full of length, bringing him forward. You have to move your mid-off really wide. He scored one per cent of his runs through mid-off in Visakhapatnam. He likes to go through extra-cover, square of the wicket and flick it on the onside. I personally would open up the whole of mid-off. Really pack that off side. You have an extra-cover, a catcher 15 yards from the bat on point, a cover-point, a backward point or gully. You have two slips. I don’t think you need anymore.

You have mid-on, a straight midwicket and fine leg goes wide to around 20 yards behind square. By having a straight midwicket I am closing off the leg-side and saying ‘ok those fourth, fifth-stump balls you need to drive down the ground, if you mistime it you will be caught at short point or cover region’.

Plan B

If that does not work go to the aggressive mode. Bowl over the wicket and round the wicket to change the angle but go short all the time. Have a square field, short leg, three men out on the hook and third man down on the boundary and bowl short continuously for three or four overs. It is hard work and will take it out of the bowlers so you might have to save a seamer or two for when he comes in. Ideally, you want Jimmy Anderson bowling the first ball at Kohli when he comes to the wicket. We saved Andrew Flintoff for Adam Gilchrist, I think Anderson needs to be saved for Kohli.

Plan C

Hide the ball. OK he is in, has got to 40 so we are going to hide the ball wide of off stump and try and make sure we are bowling at the other batsman. Give Virat one run or bowl the ball very wide of off stump so his only way to score is stretching to hit it on the off side, but we will pack that field. Discipline is required and high skill levels.

When the other batsman is on strike squeeze him with dot balls and then, when it gets to the sixth ball of the over, give him a single. Send mid-on and mid-off deeper, give him the single just to keep Kohli off strike for three or four overs. Batsmen of his quality, when they haven’t faced any balls for three or four overs, easily become frustrated because they want to be on strike all the time and could then play a big shot and mess it up.

[Dr Cricket]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-eng ... 68191.html
Cricinfo suggesting the pitch will turn very early in the game.

[alfie]

In a two horse race it's not possible for the toss to only help one side.

Though I'm happy for the chat on the toss in the last game to count for this game too.

As Basil Fawlty might have said : "Don't mention the Toss !"

[bigfluffylemon]

In a two horse race it's not possible for the toss to only help one side.

Though I'm happy for the chat on the toss in the last game to count for this game too.

As Basil Fawlty might have said : "Don't mention the Toss !"

Will the toss be important? Did I miss something?

[bigfluffylemon]

We could see Buttler, Batty & Finn all playing in the third test.

Kill me.

Would you like the axe? Or the slow painful death of watching England lose?

Anyway, seems far more likely Woakes will play rather than Finn. Thankfully.

[Dr Cricket]

broad misses the game and Duckett confirmed to be replaced by Buttler.

[Dr Cricket]

This article makes no sense Hussain goes on about the toss and then say this.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricke ... 4-row.html

But it is worth remembering that England’s last six Test victories in India, including twice on the last tour in 2012 in Mumbai and Kolkata, have come after they have lost the toss.

So Alastair Cook has to convince himself that it is not the be all and end all and try to get across to his team that it is not a case of ‘win the toss, win the game’ tomorrow.

then why do you always bang on about the toss then Nasser.

You can’t, as captain, hide behind it and use it as an excuse. You have to say to your team, ‘Let’s win it the hard way.’ Equally, he must appreciate that winning the toss is no guarantee of beating India in their own conditions.

So if the toss is no guarantee of winning then why do you always bang on about win the toss win the game then Nasser.

[rich1uk]

i found this quote in the cricinfo preview article to be quite funny considering england's team management issues

Moeen Ali is to be promoted to No. 4 in the batting order and Jonny Bairstow to No. 5. Buttler will bat at No. 7. That means Moeen will have batted at every position in the top nine for England in Test cricket except at No. 3, which is where he bats for Worcestershire.