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

[Arthur Crabtree]

Buttler reserve as well no.

Buttler a big gamble. No sort of fc record. Pretty much given up on fc cricket. No sort of background to come in as a specialist bat.

But then, Ansari shouldn't be touring.

Bye!

[KipperJohn]

Some good debate on here as ever.

However, how much difference would it have made to the game, England's confidence etc if Kohli had not been dropped. Sometimes we forget that key moments in the game can have a massive effect on how players perform, whether with bat or ball.

I'm not saying England would have bowled better, but if you going to get a sniff of getting in amongst them then chances, which are few and far between, have to be taken. India dropped about 5 on the first day of the last Test and we saw the outcome.

[hopeforthebest]

Undoubtably in Asia we require spin options and ideally two spinners but I don't think any of the three playing in this game are good enough. True they took the wickets in the first test but they were bowling with a great cushion of runs to back them up, today starting equal with India and they bowl way below even their own par. Today of the 90 overs bowled only 10 were maidens and 8 of those were bowled by pace.

[Making_Splinters]

Can we safely say we've lost this Test?

[Gingerfinch]

Isn't Batty supposed to be our best spinner? If so,then he really needs to play regardless of how well he holds a bat.

[Gingerfinch]

Can we safely say we've lost this Test?

We haven't even batted yet, splinters!

[yuppie]

Isn't Batty supposed to be our best spinner? If so,then he really needs to play regardless of how well he holds a bat.

With that kind of logic you will never make it as an England selector Ginger.

[Gingerfinch]

Isn't Batty supposed to be our best spinner? If so,then he really needs to play regardless of how well he holds a bat.

With that kind of logic you will never make it as an England selector Ginger.

Gotta keep things simple sometimes, yuppie

[Dr Cricket]

Isn't Batty supposed to be our best spinner? If so,then he really needs to play regardless of how well he holds a bat.

Think they expected more from him so he out of the reckoning.
Athers said on times webchat that cook picks the team for all games so maybe he got issue with the squad he been given feels odd how batty not been considered, ball and Finn being picked for doing nothing likelihood of them playing is 0%
Bit baffling how they didn't include leach or rayner but can pick 2 extra seam option and no clear batting replacement.

Actually thinking about it cook and selectors not been in the same wavelength all Summer, but selectors are more influential in the summer with them picking 12 players and pretty much dictates the team unlike in tours where cook got more say.
Hard to disagree with the statement of English already losing the test, really looks like India already got enough for a good first inning total with the pitch already starting to go.
Even if they collapse tomorrow India still looking strong for a lead or parity in first innings.

[yuppie]

Isn't Batty supposed to be our best spinner? If so,then he really needs to play regardless of how well he holds a bat.

With that kind of logic you will never make it as an England selector Ginger.

Gotta keep things simple sometimes, yuppie

I agree, no need to over complicate these things.

[Dr Cricket]

Cricviz pretty damning so far England are -120 runs for bowling.
So at the moment England given 120 runs above the par score and cricviz got India scoring 514, so they got a par total of 396 on this pitch so far.
India 80% likely to win with England 3 or 4% to win.
Cricviz win percentage predictor awful but thay prediction for par totals and how the game will progress is quite good and accurate so they not sure this is a bat big pitch either.
They do have England scoring 322 and taking the game to the 5 day.

[backfootpunch]

Cricviz pretty damning so far England are -120 runs for bowling.
So at the moment England given 120 runs above the par score and cricviz got India scoring 514, so they got a par total of 396 on this pitch so far.
India 80% likely to win with England 3 or 4% to win.
Cricviz win percentage predictor awful but thay prediction for par totals and how the game will progress is quite good and accurate so they not sure this is a bat big pitch either.
They do have England scoring 322 and taking the game to the 5 day.

On this wicket batting first 400 is the minimum a team should expect unless you are facing a Yasir shah or ravi ashwin.

Nothing for the seamers and very little for the spinners, much like the first test get to 500 and hope scoreboard pressure gets you a lead

One thing england couldn't afford to do was drop kohli on 50, has already cost us 100 runs and barring an Indian collapse all but ended a chance of victory

[Arthur Crabtree]

Can we safely say we've lost this Test?

Probably, but England were better than expected in the first Test, and they may surprise again. If they get off to a good start, there's a lot of batting for India to shift.

[hopeforthebest]

I've not given this test up as our batsmen might pull our chestnuts out of the fire. They should approach batting with some confidence after the forst test when they dealt well with the India bowling and although this is a different pitch it's slow so batsmen have time to play even the turning ball. If England wish to be a top team the batting has to be able to stand up and be counted at times like this, the ease with which Kohli and Pujara handled our bowling should be an example to follow by our class batsmen not a reason to shake in their shoes.

[hopeforthebest]

Report: Broad still limping, Anderson stiff, pretty much to be expected with 3 pace men with recent injury problems. Even Finn is effectively just returned from injury and Woakes is too "injured" to play.