England tour of India, Jan 25 - March 11

[Arthur Crabtree]

I remember Hartley's dad,Bill, who used to represent GB on the track in the seventies. Married to Donna Hartley (nee Murray), but she's not Tom's mother.

[Gingerfinch]

I remember Hartley's dad,Bill, who used to represent GB on the track in the seventies. Married to Donna Hartley (nee Murray), but she's not Tom's mother.

His great uncle, Jonathan Robert Hartley was a keen fisherman!

[Arthur Crabtree]

Fly fishing I think.

[Gingerfinch]

Fly fishing I think.

Correct!

[Arthur Crabtree]

Obviously, without Hartley's transformation, that would have been a dull defeat. What a story!

Though I'd give Pope POTM. As he was.

[bigfluffylemon]

Finding it hard to get excited about this series. Bazball or no, I can't see any way this England side doesn't get slaughtered here.

More than happy to be proved wrong.

[bigfluffylemon]

We did actually win the first test in 2021 as well. That didn't go so well subsequently.

Are we to expect raging turners for the next four tests?

[alfie]

Hope we don't see crazy bunsens : not sure that would even be a great idea for India incidentally because such pitches can turn a game into a bit of a raffle...

I thought the pitch for this game was actually very good - and was saying that before England even got into astonishing fightback mode. You expect pitches in this part of the world to be either total roads or surfaces that offer more assistance to spinners than other types of bowlers ; and the latter is far preferable as it makes a result possible , but not in two days ! Ideally there would be perhaps a little more scope for seam bowlers to show their skills : but you can't have everything perfect every time - and anyway Bumrah showed that a highly skilled fast bowler can play a significant part on one like this.

Obviously an amazing effort from England to come back from that large deficit and Pope's innings was up there with the great ones. One thing about batting first : even if you concede a substantial lead you get a second chance - and batting last is never going to be a picnic as the bounce becomes trickier by the hour. Did think India got a bit spooked after losing those early wickets and found themselves tied down to such a extent that they'd have needed to bat for ages to reach their target (really only got as close as they did because the introduction of Rehan set fire to the Ashwin/Bharat stand) and that meant the chances of getting the killer ball en route increased out of hand...

But should take nothing away from the England effort in the field. Stokes effecting the crucial run out of Jadeja was a piece of brilliance...Root adapted to an unprecedented workload over the two innings and largely maintained control ; and Hartley showed both character in coming back from his rather ghastly first innings and strong signs of the promise that the (oft derided !) selectors apparently saw in him.

Doesn't mean he's the New Swann : I can think of one or two Australian spinners who have taken a bunch of wickets at their first encounter with Indian pitches , only to disappear rather quickly. But it is going to be interesting to see just how he does perform over the rest of this series. I am sure the Indian analysts will be having a chat about him ahead of the next match.

Unlike most on here , I am not altogether surprised that England have (again) managed to get a win in this very testing arena (though I confess to being ready to accept defeat and hoped just for damage control after the first two days). They still have obvious weaknesses and will need to do a lot right to have any hope of continuing to stay in this series ; but the mentality of the playing group as demonstrated again here means they are unlikely to roll over tamely . India will surely come hard at them next week ; but we surely have grounds to hope for another contest...and that has to be good for Test Cricket in general as well as a nice distraction for you fellows enduring the depths of winter

[Durhamfootman]

Both Jadeja and Rahul ruled out of the second test with injury. Jadeja pulled his hamstring trying to make his ground in the Stokes wonder run out

[meninblue]

Sarfaraz Khan, Sourabh Kumar and Washington Sundar added to squad for 2nd test.

[Durhamfootman]

Fly fishing I think.

Correct!

made good jam too, as I recall

[Durhamfootman]

India's biggest problem might be replacing Jadeja who plays as the genuine all rounder in a balanced side

[bigfluffylemon]

India's biggest problem might be replacing Jadeja who plays as the genuine all rounder in a balanced side

Jadeja is a loss, but India has pretty good bench strength. Sundar is a pretty good all-rounder too.

[andy]

India's biggest problem might be replacing Jadeja who plays as the genuine all rounder in a balanced side

Jadeja is a loss, but India has pretty good bench strength. Sundar is a pretty good all-rounder too.

Yeah i actually think Rahul is harder to replace for this test then Jadeja.....Sundar can come in, kuldeep is there too plenty of options......India's back up middle order players dont have a lot of test experience....im suprised Pujara hasn't been recalled especially with Gill struggling

[alfie]

India's biggest problem might be replacing Jadeja who plays as the genuine all rounder in a balanced side

Jadeja is a loss, but India has pretty good bench strength. Sundar is a pretty good all-rounder too.

I agree they have plenty of options to fill his spot (though must be a question whether they wish to prioritize spin bowling or batting strength : Kuldeep or Sundar ?)

But I'm not sure it is so easy to replace him : he offers so much with ball and in the middle order - not to mention terrific fielding skills. Reckon he's a serious loss however you cut it.