England tour of India, Jan 25 - March 11

[Arthur Crabtree]

Jadeja out hitting a full toss to midwicket. Might be a costly mistake.

[mikesiva]

Lots of batting left though.

Robinson not getting a bowl. England going to regret not calling up a reserve spinner?

Picking Robinson seems to have been the glaring mistake. His pace looks way down.

Bashir with three wickets so far. Keeping England in the game.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Big partnership in the context of the game for the sixth wicket. India well on top now.

[Durhamfootman]

I thought that this would be all over when I got up, so that it's still going on, I take as a bonus

[Durhamfootman]

looking inexorable now, after a brief flurry of excitement and possibility

[mikesiva]

India 192-5

Rohit 55
Gill 52*
Jurel 39*

Bashir 3-79

India win by five wickets.

India taking a winning 3-1 lead in the series.

Congratulations to India!

[Arthur Crabtree]

I think that's Stokes' first series defeat.

[Durhamfootman]

It is

congratulations to India for holding it together when it mattered. England will be disappointed, but they shouldn't be. They have been competitive for large chunks of this series .... and had the ICC changed the laws so that day 3 scores didn't count, England might have won this series

It's been quite a successful series for everyone really. Both sides have unearthed new talent, the matches have been played at less orthodox venues with pitches that have all gone to at least day 4, despite appearances at times, and a couple of very tense close results

[sussexpob]

I think India win by 5 wickets

[Durhamfootman]

nobody likes a clever clogs

[meninblue]

After losing toss i hoped for a draw. Instead we won this.
Out of the 4 wickets , this Ranchi one was more supportive to bowlers than the rest and India had to bat last. England also managed to take a handy lead . So everything was fine until that innings.Moreover the first choice batsmen were injured or unavailable. Yet the think tank felt they could rest star player like Jasprit who was fully fit and also played Rajat Patidar who looked a clueless batsman in whatever few tests he played before this. England have wasted a wonderful opportunity which will be rare while playing India at home.

Very very Pleasant surprise this win is. Much positive result than i anticipated.

[meninblue]

Again a long gap before the final test starts.

Wicket at picturesque Dharamshala ground should be easier to bat as it is ideally epxected to offer less support to spinners than there was at Hyderabad, Vizag and Ranchi. Rajkot is anyways a batsman dream wicket.

Devdutt Padikkal should replace Rajat Patidar. Jasprit Bumrah will also be back.

[andy]

Gonna be freezing cold as well...temps around 5 degrees and rumours of sleet for the first day?!

[bigfluffylemon]

Nice call SP.

I'm not so sanguine. England should have won that. Another 50 runs and they could have. Threw away a strong position.

[Durhamfootman]

The 50 runs might have made a difference, but equally it might not. I don't think England threw it away, I just rather think that India won it. Sometimes that happens. A couple of crucial late partnerships involving Jurel, sandwiching a spin bowling masterclass from India, were good enough to overcome the opportunity that England had created for themselves by the end of day 2.

I felt England failed dismally in the 3rd test, trying to force the pace, but they appear to have tried to bat sensibly here and were just bowled out by very experienced spin bowlers in very helpful conditions. It's hardly surprising that England's very young and very inexperienced spinners couldn't match that, but they did give India something to think about for a while today