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India v England | 1st Test | Rajkot | Nov 9-13, 2016 | Day 3

England have an embarrassment of riches as far as lower order and batting (& bowling) depth is concerned.
 
Rahul is as good as the 2 combined however is his keeping good enough. I think he is a decent keeper. If he can bat at 6 for India then Ashwin at 7 is fine in the long run

An opening batsman cannot be a wicketkeeper in test cricket.
 
The scorecard doesn't reveal the true pressure India is in.

These 2 needs to be careful.

Ride out the storm and we will make hay.

Indeed. Pitch has started to play a few tricks and the bowlers are bowling superbly. If we see this period out safely without taking risks, we'll be in a good position. Runrate shouldn't be on their minds right now with us almost 350 behind.

Get to 400 odd playing normal safe cricket and then accelerate. Even if we only get a small 20-30 run lead or maybe even not that, it'll put huge pressure on England. I can see England collapsing if we get close to 537 and they have to bat on the 4th/5th day.
 
New batsmen will not survive such a spell,they two have to play it out.
 
If you play for 2 days...you would have 3.5 run rate and a 150 run lead with 1 day to go.

Can't think so far ahead now but this test is alive and ALL 3 results are possible.
 
Saha might have been horrible this match but the guy is a fighter would take him over Dhawan/Gauti/Dhoni/Sharma in test cricket.
 
Luck is going to run out for Vijay esp,needs to be careful seems to have become Sehwag of 2011 lazy fielding and batting.
 
India will score 600 and england will bat last 10 overs 2maw and they will probably get into trouble
 
The problem isn't his batting position. He could easily bat at 6. The problem is that his keeping is probably not good enough

He is too good to bat at 6. Even if he was a credible keeper, I wouldn't want to burden him with wicket keeping. He is a potentially 50+ averaging bat and you don't want such players to have the extra burden of keeping in the heat and humidity of subcontinent.
 
You think the pitch will break much?

I had my doubts but its turning more now.

Is this a permanent thing or it will be like that odd few period of turn is yet to be seen.

India really behind by a big margin in match context. These 2 are our best players of spin.
 
This is a crucial phase of the match. Batting is obviously not easy so if this partnership is broken there could be a collapse. Plus Rahane has a bizarrely poor record in the 1st Test of a series.
 
India need to up their RR a bit, if they can get level with England ASAP and the pitch starts to crack up, you just never know.
 
Good thing is Pujara has been good in last series and now has picked up as well,needed him in good form for home season.
 
Congrats Che... at last :yk

Vj yaara thoda tez khelo ... 90 off 250 balls :inti block block block n a big hit some where doesn't suit for our current situation :misbah
 
Good batting so far by India.

Kohli and Rahane can always bring up the run rate late this innings

Match is
70% Draw
25% India
5% England
 
India 260-1 (88)
Murali Vijay not out 103 (262)
Cheteshwar Pujara not out 114 (194)
 
English commentators placing too much importance on wicket of Virat, yes he is an important player but Rahane seems to be Indians main man in test atm. His overseas record will back that up.
 
Will India look to maybe Bat beyond englands total and try and force a collapse in the 3rd inns of the game.. if they keep batting as they are they should be level on scores come the end of day 4.
 
Will India look to maybe Bat beyond englands total and try and force a collapse in the 3rd inns of the game.. if they keep batting as they are they should be level on scores come the end of day 4.

Yes and then have a 100 overs for the remaining part of the match if the pitch crumbles so be it if not a draw.Good enough for an Indian fan considering the phatta that Rajkot dished out in making the English team revive their confidence.
 
Kohli not looking bad.

Has motorway king Kohli neutered England attack with a pitch of his choice, or is it a lack of James Anderson? [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]
 
India 291-2 (97.2)
Murali Vijay not out 117 (279)
Virat Kohli not out 7 (27)
 
Really slow, attritional cricket going on. Not great to watch.

What are you talking about?

This is a fair pitch with perfect balance between bat and ball. Makes for exciting cricket.

Do you want easier tracks where Indian batsmen score runs and bowlers take wickets too easily?
 
Another reason why Ian Chappell never believed in the concept of a night watchman. :facepalm
 
Its ok man.

Not a big loss.

Just looks good on scoreboard only.

Our lower order Ashwin and Jaddu still intact.

Shami and Umesh can slog.

Kohli, Rahane and Saha still to come.
 
Still not our day ,lets see how tomorrow pans out better than getting rolled over to Moen though.
 
Still not our day ,lets see how tomorrow pans out better than getting rolled over to Moen though.

It was our day through and through.

Imagine losing 2 wickets at start and ending at 318-4,....you would be over the moon.

Its just that those 2 wickets (one of Mishy) took a bit of sheen. That's all.

If Vijay was there, we could say Eng were ripped apart today.
 
What are you talking about?

This is a fair pitch with perfect balance between bat and ball. Makes for exciting cricket.

Do you want easier tracks where Indian batsmen score runs and bowlers take wickets too easily?

Who's talking about the pitch? After Pujara got out England bowled negative lines and India rightly didn't take the bait. It's good cricket from both sides but didn't make for great viewing. In the first two sessions both teams were more positive.
 
India still need atleast 150 more to be safe position. Day 4 should be interesting , a big 100 by Kohli/Rahne would give India slight edge. If they fall early then England would sense a win.
 
Need to get close to 500. One of Kohli/Rahane has to get a ton tomorrow and then England could be under pressure in the second innings. Still some way to go before India start to feel safe. England were at a similar score at stumps on day 1 but we need someone to do a Stokes.
 
Who's talking about the pitch? After Pujara got out England bowled negative lines and India rightly didn't take the bait. It's good cricket from both sides but didn't make for great viewing. In the first two sessions both teams were more positive.

I was saying now that both sides have piled on runs, this can be called a "good" pitch. Can't have those pitches where only WE pile on the runs. :bm
 
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I was saying now that both sides have piled on runs, this can be called a "good" pitch. Can't have those pitches where only WE pile on the runs. :bm

Ashwin actually bowled quiet well in the 1st innings just had a look at his figures :))) It was fun criticizing him though
 
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I was saying now that both sides have piled on runs, this can be called a "good" pitch. Can't have those pitches where only WE pile on the runs. :bm

There was a lot more turn in the pitch today. India batted really well to counter the disciplined bowling today. However, if England had batted today they would probably have got bowled out for under 300 and everybody would have said that the pitch is not fair and how everything depends on the toss.
 
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There was a lot more turn in the pitch today. India batted really well to counter the disciplined bowling today. However, if England had batted today they would probably have got bowled out for under 300 and everybody would have said that the pitch is not fair and how everything depends on the toss.

A fair pitch is one which turns only from day 3 so that the team winning the toss can pile on the runs for 2 days and use a turner/scoreboard pressure to win.

An unfair pitch is a good/heavy turner is one that turns from day 1 and allows both teams to bat on a similar pitch but with a certain amount of disadvantage for the team batting last.

---

As for this game, there was turn but it was slow turn. If you play carefully you can score. Vijay and Pujara batted amazingly well and anyone who calls this innings an FTB knock just doesn't understand cricket. But in the toughness quotient it wasn't super hard. it was more about dealing with immense pressure and keeping away the odd dangerous balls.

Dunno whether this pitch will ever turn dangerously but if we bat out tomorrow, we can cause a world of problems to Pommies who have to deal with pressure.

Let's see.
 
Who's talking about the pitch? After Pujara got out England bowled negative lines and India rightly didn't take the bait. It's good cricket from both sides but didn't make for great viewing. In the first two sessions both teams were more positive.

No they didn't..
 
Dunno if you trolling or not....hehe

But nah didn't do well really.

Wasn't consistent enough.

It's a pretty flat wicket and he bowled quiet a bit and kept the economy below 4 which was a decent effort, but Jadeja had the better day
 
No they didn't..

Seamers bowled wide outside off stump. Moeen bowled round the wicket with six on the leg side. Those are negative lines. You won't get a wicket unless batsman takes a risk. Nothing wrong in it though. It was what the match situation demanded with the new batsman Kohli in.
 
It's a pretty flat wicket and he bowled quiet a bit and kept the economy below 4 which was a decent effort, but Jadeja had the better day

A good performance would be economy of 3 or less....or atleast 3.25.

If he bowled well and England still smashed him, its ok.

But he wasn't accurate enough and gave away too many singles. Didn't tighten the screws during Moeen, Root partnership which hurt us in the end.

He has bowled much better in flatter Aussie pattas (talking from accuracy point of view only) where he used to go at 2 - 2.5 rpo (at start) when pacers used to leak at 5-6 rpo. Eventually team's bad bowling catches up with all and set batsmen smash everyone.
 
Seamers bowled wide outside off stump. Moeen bowled round the wicket with six on the leg side. Those are negative lines. You won't get a wicket unless batsman takes a risk. Nothing wrong in it though. It was what the match situation demanded with the new batsman Kohli in.

Seamers didn't bowl negatively. Virat Kohli was consistently dismissed outside the off stump (5th stump line) in England and they were basically repeating the plan (Broad and Stokes) waiting for Kohli to dab at one. Kohli left them well though apart from one full delivery he drove through the off side with a bit of a gap between the pad and the bat.
 
A good performance would be economy of 3 or less....or atleast 3.25.

If he bowled well and England still smashed him, its ok.

But he wasn't accurate enough and gave away too many singles. Didn't tighten the screws during Moeen, Root partnership which hurt us in the end.

He has bowled much better in flatter Aussie pattas (talking from accuracy point of view only) where he used to go at 2 - 2.5 rpo (at start) when pacers used to leak at 5-6 rpo. Eventually team's bad bowling catches up with all and set batsmen smash everyone.

By his standards it wasn't great but if you don't look at him as this invincible force then it was okay, not good but not really bad either. It's a big series, probably felt the pressure; will do better in the 2nd innings
 
Seamers didn't bowl negatively. Virat Kohli was consistently dismissed outside the off stump (5th stump line) in England and they were basically repeating the plan (Broad and Stokes) waiting for Kohli to dab at one. Kohli left them well though apart from one full delivery he drove through the off side with a bit of a gap between the pad and the bat.

5th stump line is not negative but they bowled well wide of that mostly. Well, as I said nothing wrong in the strategy. Kohli could well have chased a wide one and got out but doesn't make for great viewing if it goes on for too long.
 
By his standards it wasn't great but if you don't look at him as this invincible force then it was okay, not good but not really bad either. It's a big series, probably felt the pressure; will do better in the 2nd innings

Yeah...hope so.

Can't get humiliated by the pommies 4th time on a trott. Haha.
 
Only 3 Indian wickets the entire day.

Mishra is night watchman. No big loss.

India still have kohli, Rahane, Ashwin and Saha. Can easily add another 200 runs.

Pathetic pitch. Runs scored on this pitch should be marked with an asterisk.
 
England bowled (and fielded) well for most of the day, particularly Woakes and Rashid. 4 wickets was the minimum deserved return for a solid team effort.

India also batted very well. Seems like the best Indian team in a while. A bit of mental strength is evident this time from them, which it often has not been in the past.

England are still in the slightly better position. If they can quickly nip out Kohli (we are his bogey team) and Ashwin (he is one of our bogey players!) tomorrow morning then they will fancy a victory.

Otherwise we are looking at a draw - or, a small chance of a cheeky Indian victory.

Good game.
 
Would've been wonderful if Vijay had been there. But can't really blame him though, been at the crease for nearly 6 hours plus the session the day before, can be energy sapping.

India is still not safe though. Ideally they would want to get as close to the total as they can, would be nice if they can bat the whole day tomorrow. Then again, there is a big question whether the pitch will deteriorate tomorrow and how faster. It's important for India to bat long tomorrow as they will be batting last.

Hopefully one of Kohli and Rahane get a century and Ash, Jaddu and Saha make good contributions. Even the flattest of pattas Abu Dhabi broke down a bit on the last day last year. So you wouldn't want to be in a position where you have to bat out 2 sessions on a rapidly deteriorating pitch.
 
Only 3 Indian wickets the entire day.

Mishra is night watchman. No big loss.

India still have kohli, Rahane, Ashwin and Saha. Can easily add another 200 runs.

Pathetic pitch. Runs scored on this pitch should be marked with an asterisk.

So India still with a chance to win this game?
 
The pitch was supposedly cracked up exactly in the places where spinners land it 2 days before the test. Guess they filled in some cement on the match eve.
 
India would ideally look to bat almost the whole day tomorrow. Get close to 70-80 runs lead. and then have a crack for a few overs late in the day. There might be some turn on the offer tomorrow.
 
If India are really aggressive and want to win the game, they should bat till tea tomorrow. This would give them around 60 overs to get as close to England as possible.

It then gives them 30 overs to take wickets in day 4 and ideally they should look to get England out for under 200. This would make a fascinating final day instead of the game petering out to a bore draw.
 
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