England tour of India

[Durhamfootman]

This series is the first chance I've had of watching Rishabh. I've really liked what I've seen up to now

[The Professor]

Where do we sit on giving the tourists the choice to toos or bowl a la the County Champ?

Might see more of a parity in pitches.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Was the toss so key here? England should have bowled India out on day one, and gave up too many wickets to the new ball in their innings. Obviously they have to bat last, which makes coming back in the game even harder, but the disadvantage of losing the toss was less key than the first game when the pitch started off good to bat on, and then deteriorated badly.

[meninblue]

Vaughan tweet:

It’s entertaining cricket as things are happening all the time but let’s be honest this Pitch is a shocker .. Not making any excuses as India have been better but this isn’t a Test Match 5 day prepared Pitch

It didn’t do anywhere near as much for 2 sessions ... Spun but not like what it’s doing now ... India would have drawn the first Test if they had batted anything like in the 1st innings ... This isn’t a good Test match pitch ...

Warne :
Come on maaaaaate ! The last few days of the 1st test, the wicket started exploding & no one said a word about the pitch when India had no chance. At least this test it’s been the same for both teams from ball one. Eng bowled poorly & Rohit, Pant and Jinx showed how to bat.

toss was more important to win in the 1st test than this one, as it did nothing the 1st 2 days. Then exploded. This one has been a turner from ball one. Eng should’ve bowled India out for 220. No different between spinning or seaming & Rohit showed how to play on this surface


This pitch factor is cribbing. When India lost in Australia we blamed our players performances and expected to play btter. Now England wins test 1, no complains about anything. Suddenly a loss seems a sttrong possiblity and excuses are out.

Nobody said the pitches were dust bowl when Swann and Monty won in 2011 I guess. Indian fans were applauding the Swann and Monty show, the KP and Cook knocks. Here we are seeing some England cricketers blame the wicket once on losing side.

[Dr Cricket]

Was the toss so key here? England should have bowled India out on day one, and gave up too many wickets to the new ball in their innings. Obviously they have to bat last, which makes coming back in the game even harder, but the disadvantage of losing the toss was less key than the first game when the pitch started off good to bat on, and then deteriorated badly.

That the whole point.
The toss isn’t important on a deck like this and one reason why Ashwin absolutely hates decks like the first test.

Not gonna lie can see so many England morons on Twitter.

Vaughan having a stinker literally contradicted his own tweet from last year.

[Dr Cricket]

You seen Vaughn tweet from 2 yrs ago complaining Indian pitches too flat on first 3 days so boring need big turn from day 1 face palm.
Really don’t understand the hate ecb have to spin.
Insane they ban Somerset pitches when their are the benchmark India curators want to create.

Sub c pitches are some of the hardest decks to create man.
I would admit this decks a bit extreme but would prefer to first test any day.

[Dr Cricket]

India need to get the 2012-13 decks man the India vs England 2012 series is the benchmark.
India lost 2 test batting first as well and test lasting 4-5 days.
Then a§gain seem to remember English idiots complaining around 15 and 16 and shastri and kohli starting being cowards again.
Good to see ashwin not having any of the *modded* served in the first test.

Best part of the current generation they not cowards like the gavaskar generation absolutely disgraceful they played in so many 0-0 5 match series or 6 match series at home.
Absolutely cowards each and everyone of them for not doing anything about it.

[Dr Cricket]

Hopefully we get another spinning deck in Ahmedabad bowl first and India show everyone how *modded* the English spinners are.

[meninblue]

Was the toss so key here? England should have bowled India out on day one, and gave up too many wickets to the new ball in their innings. Obviously they have to bat last, which makes coming back in the game even harder, but the disadvantage of losing the toss was less key than the first game when the pitch started off good to bat on, and then deteriorated badly.

If we consider entire history of Ranji Trophy, the toss has a lot of say. Ranji match is just 4 days apart from Semis and Finals which are 5 days. The toss importance may be more or slightly less depending on some grounds like at Dharamshala in winter or otherwise but most of the times winning the toss teams have opt to bat first in India. They only experiment batting second when they can afford to test themselves in some matches during Ranji Trophy, but that too is played when winter season is in India. I don't think any captain will dare to win toss and opt to bowl in Indian conditions in most of matches apart from very few instances.

[Dr Cricket]

Who don’t look at what people decide to do of course many people bat first.
The main point is what is the win percentage of batting 1st and bowling 1st.


In fact you should always bat first in every toss you win anywhere in the world apart from the 1 percent chance you bowl first.
But you want bowlers in the game early so you don’t feel depressed watching 700 in 2.5 days.

Plus no one wants to bat last.
If the ball does something on day 1 even if you lose the toss you can still avoid batting last by being the better team ie like what India do at home or Asia mostly.

[Dr Cricket]

Ashwin is a g though.
All the English morons should be watching his Press conference.
So proud this India is not cowards like the 60 and 70s.

[Dr Cricket]

when is a shot, not a shot? I don't believe England would have bothered reviewing that if they thought the batsman had offered a shot there. Is tucking your bat behind your leg and padding up playing a shot? Apparently it is...... not sure myself

agreed - Rohit was lucky there

Tbh root was dumb protocol say umpired cant change the shot decision.
So he should have asked the umpire was he playing a shot and then review.

Either way bad umpiring decision.
Seen player ask a few times on 50-50 decision. Think pujara did a few fake shots lbw ones and fielding teams asked umpire before their reviewed.

[sussexpob]

So he should have asked the umpire was he playing a shot and then review

You arent allowed, Doc. Paul Wilson just got in trouble for telling Tim Paine he thought Rahane hadnt played a shot in the last series, its in the rules the umpire cannot give any details to the players before they review.

The decision did seem wrong to me, but then there is no guidance on what constitutes a proper attempt to play the ball. Considering the burden of proof is with the fielding team in this regards, can we prove conclusively that Sharma is not playing at the ball and got the shot wrong? Its unlikely, but I guess he would argue has completed a full stroke and stride into the ball to play it.

[sussexpob]

As for complaints on the pitch, I think people need to give it a rest. When India turn up to games like Lords in 2018 and have to deal with balls seaming 4 yards off the pitch, the same people would laugh and say India's cant play on green wickets. Last few times India have been to England the pitches have routinely offered help to seam bowlers, often excessively so at times.

Pitches that make it a total lottery and remove all skill from the game are problematic. Turns out the guy with the best ever average in this country has scored nearly 200 runs on this deck, so quality seems to tell.

[Durhamfootman]

all the talk about the pitch just sounds like sour grapes to me. What is the point of having home advantage if you can't take advantage of it? Who is to say that if England had won the toss and batted first that they wouldn't be in this position? I doubt Aggers would have been complaining about it then. Just get on with it. India are outplaying England in every dept in this match and deserve to be where they are.