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

[sussexpob]

I've been away, what happened to hameed?

[Dr Cricket]

Suspected fractured finger after day 1

[Aidan11]

I guess he wont bat this innings.

[Aidan11]

Can't see the point anyway...it's a lost cause.

[Gingerfinch]

Can't see the point anyway...it's a lost cause.

What about if we can eek out a 150 run lead, and say Root, or Stokes are still in. It may be worth him having a bat. A big if, to be fair.

[Aidan11]

Can't see the point anyway...it's a lost cause.

What about if we can eek out a 150 run lead, and say Root, or Stokes are still in. It may be worth him having a bat. A big if, to be fair.

Stokes has already gone. Our hopes now rest with Gareth Batty.

[Gingerfinch]

Can't see the point anyway...it's a lost cause.

What about if we can eek out a 150 run lead, and say Root, or Stokes are still in. It may be worth him having a bat. A big if, to be fair.

Stokes has already gone. Our hopes now rest with Gareth Batty.

I must have looked too early. I thought he was still in

[Dr Cricket]

good article on the animosity between the two side.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-eng ... 69494.html

[Alviro Patterson]

I think with this squad a host of warm up games would hardly have helped. For a squad of quality the performance in the first test would have boosted their confidence but in fact it's gone rapidly down hill and one really must question the influence of the coach and his staff in this regard. Cook as captain cannot duck a big piece of criticism either. This pitch is not a minefield and the India bowlers are not bowling unplayable deliveries so being 4 down in the manner they've shown is in the head and heart and that's where the coach has influence.

Given England's touring party is large in numbers along with at least an opening and spin bowling berth up for grabs, a couple of warm up matches would have made the difference in identifying personnel. England went to India with virtually no plan, other than rotating the bowlers. Ballance's place was under threat, Duckett did not live up to the hype, Ansari was shoehorned into a non-descript role.

Good preparation is vital for partaking in lengthy tours, England would not have beaten South Africa last year if the only preparation was just a recent tour of the UAE.

[meninblue]

England played two tests in Bangladesh, just before this series started in almost similar heat conditions and wickets. In fact wickets in India have been more batsman friendly.
Yes one or two more warmups would have helped more but i think those two test matches provided enough warmup of 10 days of cricket rather than 2 three day matches equaling 6 days.

Also, the team was more or less similar to the one that toured Bangladesh except for Jimmy and Ballance. The spin options were similar to that squad. Gareth or any other specialist spinner does not turns into a 35 overs per innings bowler to a 12 overs per innings in 4 tests. It comes across as the resource pool was not identified correctly in first place itself.

12 overs are bowled by non specialist bowlers like Hafeez, Braithwaite, Royston Chase, JPD etc, not by specialist spinners in these conditions.

[Alviro Patterson]

England played two tests in Bangladesh, just before this series started in almost similar heat conditions and wickets. In fact wickets in India have been more batsman friendly.
Yes one or two more warmups would have helped more but i think those two test matches provided enough warmup of 10 days of cricket rather than 2 three day matches equaling 6 days.

Also, the team was more or less similar to the one that toured Bangladesh except for Jimmy and Ballance. The spin options were similar to that squad. Gareth or any other specialist spinner does not turns into a 35 overs per innings bowler to a 12 overs per innings in 4 tests. It comes across as the resource pool was not identified correctly in first place itself.

12 overs are bowled by non specialist bowlers like Hafeez, Braithwaite, Royston Chase, JPD etc, not by specialist spinners in these conditions.

The international debutants of Hameed, Duckett and Ansari need more than 2 test matches. In Duckett's case, there is a gulf between dominating Division 2 county bowlers and playing top class bowlers in their own backyard.

The playing squad might be similar, but the team and make up are far from settled. Moeen Ali has been shifted up to 5, Duckett went from opening to batting at 4. One of England's more consistent players in Jonny Bairstow has batted mostly at 7 where he should be right in the middle order, England's selection policy has been wrong from the outset.

[Dr Cricket]

good article from Dobell.

Taken in isolation, Ashwin's wicket-taking deliveries look pretty innocuous. Take the ball that bowled Cook through the gate: it was 46 mph and turned fractionally. It was the sort of ball that, if bowled on the village green, might well have been heaved into the churchyard.

But with Ashwin - and India's other spinners - it's not necessarily the delivery that does the damage. It's the spell.

So in 30 overs of England's second innings, India's three spinners only conceded two boundaries. And in those 30 overs, 80% of their deliveries were dot balls and more than 50% of those from Ashwin and Jadeja would have hit the stumps. By contrast, 26% of Rashid's would have done so. While only 1% of the deliveries sent down by India's spinners went for boundaries, the figure was 4% for England's.

All this means the batsmen have no respite against India. And it means that any turn at all - and Jadeja and Jayant actually gained less turn than in the first innings - becomes dangerous and the delivery that goes straight on can be just as lethal. Every ball counts. Every ball adds to the ordeal. Batting is exhausting.

It's particularly exhausting when the match situation is so unpromising. So Cook, struggling throughout a torturous innings, had been lunging forward in an attempt to nullify the spin but finally left just enough of a gap between pad and bat for Ashwin to squeeze the ball through. A slight miscalculation, a slight misjudgement, a slight error: you cannot afford any of them against bowlers of such accuracy.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-eng ... 69506.html

[rich1uk]

hameed getting a bit of stick on the verdict for not opening the batting

reports were he looked ok in the nets he did while we were still in the field

[andy]

Harsh on Hameed, new into the side, and probably going on advice of coaches and medical staff

[Arthur Crabtree]

Mainly regarding criticism of Bayliss, there is a possibility that some are overestimating the extent of England's realistic capabilities in this series. Many feared the very worst, but actually England have been pretty competitive for long periods. But as often happens, the better team will show their class in a crucial session, and the weaker side just can't make that up. This hasn't been a worst case scenario at all. In fact, there are positives.

Rashid has done better than any reasonable expectation, and if leading the attack is actually a thing, he has done it. Moeen has been ok and the spin hasn't been the embarrassment many feared.

The continuing suspicion that Stokes and Bairstow are only one game from being found out, yet again hasn't materialised.

While he hasn't made his class tell, Root continues to hint at being one of the best batters about.

I get the impression Bairstow has kept reasonably.

Hasseb has impressed.

I know this won't be popular, but a negative is that while we expected the England spinners to be outbowled, the England seamers have been too and haven't done much more than hide the ball and wait for a mistake.

Another negative has been the conduct of some players.