Fifth Test: India v England, 16-20 Dec (Chennai)

[Dr Cricket]

England overrate must be really slow they about 10 overs short where they should be right now.

[Dr Cricket]

TBH you can see the 50/50 soil now, footmarks got some redness to it.

[meninblue]

Good reply.

Still lot of batting left to wipe off the deficit.

[Dr Cricket]

bit confused why did Cook and Rashid fall out.

[Dr Cricket]

pitch might not be like Nagpur after all.
but still hard to see a result here.

[alfie]

India have avoided the follow on

OK , funny , I know : but if it were England still nearly 200 behind , three down , batting second ...everyone would be nervous as , expecting a collapse and a second innings disaster.

(Fair enough given the way this series has gone ; but I think this match is still very much in the balance ...England need to do something with the now due new ball)

[rich1uk]

India have avoided the follow on

OK , funny , I know : but if it were England still nearly 200 behind , three down , batting second ...everyone would be nervous as , expecting a collapse and a second innings disaster.

(Fair enough given the way this series has gone ; but I think this match is still very much in the balance ...England need to do something with the now due new ball)

would help if we actually took the new ball

cant understand why we aren't taking it straight away, theres nothing happening with the old ball and we aren't really keeping the scoring down anyway

[Dr Cricket]

cook dropped a catch again.
dropping a lot of catches lately although this was a tough chance.

[alfie]

I see a few suggestions that Cook has not showed faith in Rashid : not sure that's true. Granted he didn't use him this morning ; but after Kohli fell and a key point in the game was reached he immediately replaced Dawson with Rashid to attack the new (and nervous ) Karun Nair.
Now I don't say Rashid bowled rubbish - but he bowled six overs for 0/30. And unfortunately that is more typical of his performance in these key moments than the overall decent wicket taking record : if he's to make himself a genuine first choice spinner he has to produce the occasional match changing spell when it counts. Otherwise he isn't going to take over from a Moeen (or even a Dawson ?) who offers relief from just pace bowling and a more rounded game.
He still has time . But I think England would want more from him if they're to invest in a wrist spinner other than in Asia.

[Dr Cricket]

TBH England are just being defensive with the new ball, they basically think india will score more runs quicker and the scoring will get out of control.
India scoring way quicker than I actually expected them to do in this pitch.
although it does help with england having 4 bowlers not exactly keeping scoring tight and give loads of easy runs away.
TBH both teams did that in Mumbai as well, still baffled why india didn't take the new ball either and England followed them also.

[alfie]

India have avoided the follow on

OK , funny , I know : but if it were England still nearly 200 behind , three down , batting second ...everyone would be nervous as , expecting a collapse and a second innings disaster.

(Fair enough given the way this series has gone ; but I think this match is still very much in the balance ...England need to do something with the now due new ball)

would help if we actually took the new ball

cant understand why we aren't taking it straight away, theres nothing happening with the old ball and we aren't really keeping the scoring down anyway

Broad was off the field for a bit , I think.

Ball nearly getting the break. Tough chance - when things are going your way they sometimes get taken but not today...

New ball can go two ways : might get a break : might go round the park...

[Dr Cricket]

is india the only team with batsman with dodgy knees.
Rahul, Pujara and I think Vijay got one as well.

[Dr Cricket]

TBH shows how flat and slow the wicket is when no team reviewed yet in the innings.

[alfie]

is india the only team with batsman with dodgy knees.
Rahul, Pujara and I think Vijay got one as well.

Must be from all the running up and down the pitch making centuries...

[rich1uk]

India have avoided the follow on

OK , funny , I know : but if it were England still nearly 200 behind , three down , batting second ...everyone would be nervous as , expecting a collapse and a second innings disaster.

(Fair enough given the way this series has gone ; but I think this match is still very much in the balance ...England need to do something with the now due new ball)

would help if we actually took the new ball

cant understand why we aren't taking it straight away, theres nothing happening with the old ball and we aren't really keeping the scoring down anyway

Broad was off the field for a bit , I think.

Ball nearly getting the break. Tough chance - when things are going your way they sometimes get taken but not today...

New ball can go two ways : might get a break : might go round the park...

the previous 10 overs before the new ball was available had gone for around 4 per over, so not really sure being worried about conceding runs should have been a factor

not really sure i agree with the comment above about how cook has handled rashid either, its not the first time in the series cook has been reluctant to bowl him because of an expensive couple of overs, he has taken more than double the amount of wickets than any other england bowler in the series so had to be used for more than 2 overs in the first 36 overs of the innings. its kinda hard for him to be confident in himself if his captain isn't showing faith in him. we needed to try and get kohli early and cook was bowling dawson when kohli first came to the crease, a great way to let kohli get his eye in.