2nd Test: India v England at Visakhapatnam on Nov 17-21,

[KipperJohn]

Anderson probably a trifle fortunate to get 3 wickets- the last two were poor shots to balls which were not threatening and could have been left.

England will really have to bat well and hope India's catching hasn't Improved from the last Test.

[hopeforthebest]

It could have been worse for England but those two wickets for Anderson dragged it back. I think today showed the true ability of our three slow bowlers which was not a pretty sight and how expensive Stokes can be as a bowler when he's not being gifted cheap wickets. I wouldn't be surprised to see a reversion to a four man pace attack unless there's real improvement from the slow bowling trio in the remainder of this game.

[Arthur Crabtree]

The spinners took nearly all the wickets in the first game. And this is the first innings, and the first day of this one.

[shankycricket]

The spinners took nearly all the wickets in the first game. And this is the first innings, and the first day of this one.

For an Englishman, you really do seem to hate seam bowling!

[sussexpob]

Without wanting to sound like Bhaveshgor, I do have to agree that its pretty bizarre that people in the media are saying this pitch has done nothing, and that its slow and dead. I thought Vijay's wicket bounced a little higher than he was expecting, I thought Ranane got out to a ball that swung to levels you wouldnt expect in India, Stokes got swing in the middle overs, and Ali and Rashid found big amounts of turn for a day one pitch. Anderson was the only person to get his line and length right, and he was the only one to create problems.

The horrifying truth for England is, this pitch has already shown signs of up and down bounce, its a little bit two paced, the ball has swung both old and new, and its predicted to spin big from tomorrow afternoon is previous games on this surface are anything to go by. England are going to have to bat well to get up to India's current score, let alone whatever they end with.... or India are going to have to play bad cricket and not take chances.

[sussexpob]

In fact, rather than moan about pitches, the England attack really needs to look at the way they bowled. Stokes wasted the movement in the air by bowling 75% of his balls into the middle of the pitch, the England spinners blinked before the Indian batsman, as it took Pujara one shot down the wicket at 40-2 odd where he used his feet, and both spinners sucked their length shorter.

These spinners really bowled poorly. They didnt create pressure andthey threw in buffet balls all over the place.

If you are going to go for runs, then at least do it being aggressive. Trying and failing to bowl defensively is what every batsman wants to face. England dont see capable with this spinner attack of keeping teams below 3 or even 4 an over, so sod the run rate and take really aggressive and attacking lines.

At the moment they seem stuck in a compromise of defending to compensate their lack of ability in keeping the runs down. You are asking quality players to get out to bad or nonsense balls, which isnt going to happen

[Arthur Crabtree]

The spinners took nearly all the wickets in the first game. And this is the first innings, and the first day of this one.

For an Englishman, you really do seem to hate seam bowling!

I'd never go into a Test without quick bowlers.

[shankycricket]

The spinners took nearly all the wickets in the first game. And this is the first innings, and the first day of this one.

For an Englishman, you really do seem to hate seam bowling!

I'd never go into a Test without quick bowlers.

You seem desperate to always overplay the importance of spinners no matter how poor they are and downplay the seamers in Asia, no matter how good they are! It made sense when you had Swann and Monty but with this lot? Come On!

[Dr Cricket]

Agree Sussex if you lose the toss this is the wicket you wanna lose the toss since got enough help for the bowlers.
Actually thinking about it similar deck to the Mumbai or Kolkata wicket England famously won after losing the toss.

Got swing, variable bounce, turn is it really India fault England can't bowl.
Heard some funny things in my life but teams scoring 500 and then it suddenly turning to a minefiled isn't.
Pretty impossible for the pitch to change that quickly, the most likely cause to England struggling with the bat or India threatening more is that India just played better nothing to do with the toss.
Even if they did do the away toss think in county cricket, India would still prepare similar decks since they will back the bowlers to take wickets in these same conditions or at best restrict the scoring so on day 2 with the new ball they take wicket.

How England bowled well in rajkot very surprising indeed with far less help for the bowlers.

[sussexpob]

You seem desperate to always overplay the importance of spinners no matter how poor they are and downplay the seamers in Asia, no matter how good they are! It made sense when you had Swann and Monty but with this lot? Come On!

I said the same before the series started.....

[shankycricket]

Agree Sussex if you lose the toss this is the wicket you wanna lose the toss since got enough help for the bowlers.
Actually thinking about it similar deck to the Mumbai or Kolkata wicket England famously won after losing the toss.

Got swing, variable bounce, turn is it really India fault England can't bowl.
Heard some funny things in my life but teams scoring 500 and then it suddenly turning to a minefiled isn't.
Pretty impossible for the pitch to change that quickly, the most likely cause to England struggling with the bat or India threatening more is that India just played better nothing to do with the toss.
Even if they did do the away toss think in county cricket, India would still prepare similar decks since they will back the bowlers to take wickets in these same conditions or at best restrict the scoring so on day 2 with the new ball they take wicket.

How England bowled well in rajkot very surprising indeed with far less help for the bowlers.

I haven't read the posts so far but are you really saying the toss hasn't been a big factor in this Test?

[sussexpob]

I haven't read the posts so far but are you really saying the toss hasn't been a big factor in this Test?

No, Bhaveshgor was.

Batting will probably get worse, but the point I was making is that its not easy pitch now imo, just England bowled badly.

[hopeforthebest]

The spinners took nearly all the wickets in the first game. And this is the first innings, and the first day of this one.

That's why their performance today has been so disappointing. On a slow low pitch they should have been far more economical than they managed. Good spin bowlers when they aren't taking wickets do at least restrict the run rate. England must be unique in world cricket when they put on a pace bowler in order to slow the batsmen's rate of scoring.

[Dr Cricket]

Well that why I wanted India to lose the toss, finally kills the toss argument.
Yes the toss was important on this game shanky, but not enough that you basically losthe game on the first day very easily as well.
England could have easily made the toss adavantage back if they played better especially with India losing early wickets.

[Dr Cricket]

TBH doesnt even surprise me that broad didn't really want to bowl in the end why would you flog your self bowling pace when all the captain want is control, any decent spinner can provide that.