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

[alfie]

Hundred for Pujara

Well played. Important innings for his team ; and quite an attractive knock too.

[sussexpob]

Crazy that only two months ago Indian fans were calling for Pujara to be dropped

[hopeforthebest]

Fine century for Pujara pretty well faultless.

[yuppie]

In Matches like this it is handy having 6 bowlers, but you have to worry during the series the effect the work load will have on Ali and Stokes.

With barely any rest between the tests, asking Ali and Stokes to continually contribute with bat and ball will lead to some major burn out/injury.

So far in this innings Stokes has been used sparingly, but with 9 wickets still to get he is going to get a lot more overs.

Only 7 sessions left in the match, England need to find 19 wickets. India need to get at least 400 more runs and take 10 wickets. I get the feeling Indias goal at the moment is to just keep England in the field, and get them tired for the series.

[Gingerfinch]

India are batting themselves into a position, where they're the only team likely to win.

[hopeforthebest]

Moeen is always slow to change to bowling at right hand batmen around the wicket, not so Ashwin the number one bowler in the world.

[alfie]

In Matches like this it is handy having 6 bowlers, but you have to worry during the series the effect the work load will have on Ali and Stokes.

With barely any rest between the tests, asking Ali and Stokes to continually contribute with bat and ball will lead to some major burn out/injury.

So far in this innings Stokes has been used sparingly, but with 9 wickets still to get he is going to get a lot more overs.

Only 7 sessions left in the match, England need to find 19 wickets. India need to get at least 400 more runs and take 10 wickets. I get the feeling Indias goal at the moment is to just keep England in the field, and get them tired for the series.

You may be right , yuppie. Wouldn't be a stupid plan...but these sub-continental matches can change suddenly : not ready to call this a drawn out stalemate yet. Think India will look to take advantage of tired bowlers in the last hour or so today - if they can get up near England with time to spare they may still fancy their chances.

[sussexpob]

Even on base case scenarios that are unlikely, India's 1st innings is going to the 4th day, and the lead is going to be only 150-200. Best case scenario for India is to bat through tomorrow, but 100-150 lead on the board and leave them a couple of sessions to seeif they can win.

The draw is a mega favourite here though. India arent going to risk upping the rate until they are comfortably covering their only defeat, and realisitically to force a result they need to be going over 700, which even in these conditions is an ask, and at this run rate is taking them comfortably into day 5.

[sussexpob]

Id guess from India's perspective they might want to bat out the next two sessions, get the deficit down to 120-150, hope not to lose wickets, then really attack late tomorrow, see if they can hit a tired attack round and change the momentum of the match

[sussexpob]

Stroll up to the buffet..... Vijay gets bored of the 90s and makes it to his hundred in quick style

[yuppie]

In Matches like this it is handy having 6 bowlers, but you have to worry during the series the effect the work load will have on Ali and Stokes.

With barely any rest between the tests, asking Ali and Stokes to continually contribute with bat and ball will lead to some major burn out/injury.

So far in this innings Stokes has been used sparingly, but with 9 wickets still to get he is going to get a lot more overs.

Only 7 sessions left in the match, England need to find 19 wickets. India need to get at least 400 more runs and take 10 wickets. I get the feeling Indias goal at the moment is to just keep England in the field, and get them tired for the series.

You may be right , yuppie. Wouldn't be a stupid plan...but these sub-continental matches can change suddenly : not ready to call this a drawn out stalemate yet. Think India will look to take advantage of tired bowlers in the last hour or so today - if they can get up near England with time to spare they may still fancy their chances.

India are presently in such a strong position. The pitch would suddenly need to change to really give England a chance. I can not see India loosing from here, and they might well give themselves a chance for 2 sessions at a tired England team on a 5th day pitch. Perhaps India trying to push the scoring on might create some chances for England. Get 3 wickets in this final session and then India will need to be cautious.

Im guessing at some stage the pitch will start to play up. Batting last to save the test wont be fun, for either team.

[alfie]

Id guess from India's perspective they might want to bat out the next two sessions, get the deficit down to 120-150, hope not to lose wickets, then really attack late tomorrow, see if they can hit a tired attack round and change the momentum of the match

These two seem to be playing it as it comes at the moment...I imagine they will push on the sorting without looking to take unnecessary risks , and see where it gets them.
Think India's best chance is probably to get England back in with a few sessions to go and hope their nerves against spin do for them...

[Dr Cricket]

Crazy that only two months ago Indian fans were calling for Pujara to be dropped

indian fans can be so fickle.
they hated vijay in 2014.
hated ashwin in 2012 and again in 2014.

[hopeforthebest]

Kohli won't make a big score in this game........ he won't get into bat.

[alfie]

Id guess from India's perspective they might want to bat out the next two sessions, get the deficit down to 120-150, hope not to lose wickets, then really attack late tomorrow, see if they can hit a tired attack round and change the momentum of the match

These two seem to be playing it as it comes at the moment...I imagine they will push on the scoring without looking to take unnecessary risks , and see where it gets them.
Think India's best chance is probably to get England back in with a few sessions to go and hope their nerves against spin do for them...hundred for Vijay