England Versus India - 1st Test (9 Nov - 13 Nov)

[Dr Cricket]

TBH both got a scary batting line up.
both bat really deep, remember saying in the aus tread quite scary how Starc looks a bit too high at number 8 and the fact india and england play proper batsman in that position is starting to make batsman like Starc look like a weak tail at 8 when in the past Starc would be seen as a above average number 8.

might also explain why Australian selectors are only picking bowlers if they can bat a bit.

[bigfluffylemon]

Well you the one that said india had a poor tail not me.
never said india had a better tail than england did I.

No, you said they're equivalent, and insulted me in the process.

was trying to make the point india batting Ashwin at 6 is no different to Ali or Stokes batting in the top 6 and england playing 6 bowlers.
how one can be seen to have a strong lower order and india not is a bit odd.

Until this year I would have agreed with you. But Ali, Stokes and Bairstow all average over 55 this year. Stokes in the top 6 was a weak link before. I don't think he is any more.

[bigfluffylemon]

TBH both got a scary batting line up.
both bat really deep, remember saying in the aus tread quite scary how Starc looks a bit too high at number 8 and the fact india and england play proper batsman in that position is starting to make batsman like Starc look like a weak tail at 8 when in the past Starc would be seen as a above average number 8.

Fair point.

[Dr Cricket]

from trying to look at it from a neutral perspective, was quite good to see england didn't bat india out of the game.
would have been a boring test if England got 650-700.
with 530, it gives India an opportunity to get close to England and make it interesting on 3rd or 4th innings.

[sussexpob]

I woke up to Trump winning yesterday, and to Ben Stokes going on rampage today......

Costa Rica is happening!

[Dr Cricket]

Nice to see Manjrekar speaking what he thinks agree with him to the fullest england Test team should have done so much better in their results and really Pakistan shouldn't have won 2 test matches in england, although Athers makes a good point on the flat decks but you still expect a team so worried about their batting to struggle against england pace attack in england.

and if the pitches were so flat it does bring an issue with their top 6, especially with most of their runs coming from the lower order and the batting not scoring on very flat decks.

[Dr Cricket]

off topic that one reason why i like Sky winter coverage better than the summer coverage.
having 60-40 split for commentators gives you different insight and opinions that you wouldn't get otherwise, just like Manjrekar comments caught Ather by a surprise and had to think why england results are not that great lately.
if we had 5 or 6 english comms with one indian not sure we would have gotten this answer or question from the commentators.

Channel 9 could learn a lot from other broadcaster.
Sky summer coverage good though but would be nice if they replaced Warne with some other commentator ideally someone from another touring commentator.

[Dr Cricket]

Ali bowling well here.

[Aidan11]

50 for India with no wickets down.


Going to be a high scoring match.

[Aidan11]

Just hope They don't get a huge lead and bowl us out cheaply 2nd time around.

[Dr Cricket]

50 for India with no wickets down.


Going to be a high scoring match.

yeah, not sure if it will break up much either.
Athers made a point when england were batting that the pitch looks quite solid so it might not even break up on day 4 or 5 and with both batting deep tough ask to get 20 wickets on 1 and half days.
thank fully this isn't a 2 test series otherwise I would be fuming if this was a pitch given.

anyway looks at the bright side people can now compare a good indian pitch and an awful Old style indian pitch.

Don't care what people think but no pitch is good if bowlers can't take wicket in the first 2-3 days and the game is so dependent on the toss.
think Yuppie said that last 13 sides winning the toss as won the game in asia, but not sure that a strong correlation for the toss dependent but how much the toss doesn't matter, if anything think asian sides winning the toss was more luck than anything to do with the toss.
really if you had those 13 games as the reverse suspect all 13 would still be won with the asian sides.
whereas if they were played on this rajkot games the result would be different more draws if the asian side batting second and probably more asian wins if they batted first, maybe more wins for the overseas side if they bat first as well.
clear change of the result because of the toss.

[Dr Cricket]

end of day 2 india 63/0.
trail by 474 runs and still need another 274 runs to avoid the follow on.

[backfootpunch]

All those people who bet on india winning 5-0 will be delighted with the state of play

[Aidan11]

It could still happen but it looks unlikely on this pitch.

[Dr Cricket]

massive day for india tomorrow since they are the only team tomorrow that can actually go a long way from losing the game.
if they don't get at least 400 odd very likely they lost the game and would have to bat really well on day 5 to draw the game.

from the game perspective india being all out for 480 and england setting a total around 270 would make it a good game to watch on day 5.