India v England | 3rd Test | Mohali | Nov 26-30, 2016 | Day 2

[Saurav]

Ash,Jaddu and Jayant have to do it with both bat and ball

 

[Ab Fan]

Ashwin scores in this series :

70, 32, 58, 7, 57*

These are good stats for a bowling All-Rounder.3 valuable fifties in 5 innings and people question his batting skills. He would get into most of good teams as batsmen at no.7 position.

 

[Sin Nombre]

Rahane's issues this series is all about somehow not being able to pick up Rashid's googly. He is not a great against spin but makes the most of good batting conditions normally.

Vijay is as big an issue as Rahane to me at the moment. His mind does not seem to be in it for whatever reason.

Really soft dismissals all around - Pujara holing on a long hop, Kohli edging a nothing ball and also getting Nair run out.

270/4 would have been par; need at least another 100 runs from the lower middle order tomorrow.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Relax man! He will come good. You simply can't drop a test player of his calibre with one bad series.

Rahane for whom?

His highest score came in last series only

Guys, I am not saying Rahane is crap and he must be dropped for good.

Right now this is a crucial series which needs every bit of our efforts to win.

In a 5 batting lineup, we cannot carry this huge a liability.

Also Rahane has NEVER come good in good spinning conditions. Has only scored in easier spin conditions and unfortunately he is not doing that now.

Just get someone else in and let Rahane take a rest.

Dunno why you say relax bro.....don't you understand the gravity of the situation? Some great performances by our tail has kept us in this series. If Ash was off colour, we would be 1-1 now and on track to lose this test and you would be calling for Rahane's head.

 

[Ankit007]

Will be if he continues like this.

We can't carry him in a 5 batting lineup.

The only thing saving him is our lower order's performance. If they didn't click, we would have lost a test atleast and by now, he may have been dropped or close to being dropped.

Anyways, he is close to being dropped imho. Kohli knows what is means to select 5 bowlers (he talks about the responsibility of 5 batsmen) and if Rahane continues this way, it may not be long before he is asked to take rest and get back his form.

Not a bad idea imho.

Not so soon bro. If Kohli would have been dropped after England series then we won't be seeing this Kohli now... We should stick to our best players

 

[Ankit007]

Guys, I am not saying Rahane is crap and he must be dropped for good.

Right now this is a crucial series which needs every bit of our efforts to win.

In a 5 batting lineup, we cannot carry this huge a liability.

Also Rahane has NEVER come good in good spinning conditions. Has only scored in easier spin conditions and unfortunately he is not doing that now.

Just get someone else in and let Rahane take a rest.

Dunno why you say relax bro.....don't you understand the gravity of the situation? Some great performances by our tail has kept us in this series. If Ash was off colour, we would be 1-1 now and on track to lose this test and you would be calling for Rahane's head.

Rahane was highest run getter in SA series which was rank turner...

 

[Sin Nombre]

4 failures in a row for Vijay, should we drop him as well sif?

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Not so soon bro. If Kohli would have been dropped after England series then we won't be seeing this Kohli now... We should stick to our best players

Rahane is not our best player when its spinning. A small break will do him a world of good where he can work on his spin game.

Rahane was highest run getter in SA series which was rank turner...

Bro...that's misleading as hell.

He averaged like 10-15 when the series was alive and all the hard work was done by Vijay and Pujara and then once the series was dead and on an easier pitch, he scored 2 100s (the first 100 was quality with pacers getting life Rahane is a gun in those conditions) to make it look like he is the highest scorer.

If he had scored 0 and 0 in that test, we would have still won the series 2-1. If Pujara and Vijay hadn't scored, we would have lost the series.

Do a breakup of Rahane's Asian numbers. Full of runs in easier conditions. Goes missing almost 90% of the times when you have to score the tough runs (opposite to his game outside Asia).

I love Rahane myself. Don't get me wrong.

But this guy is just not scoring the important runs in Asia. Very rarely he does it. Kohli had the Asian impact runs issue too (not as worse as Rahane) but he improved big time.

 

[JaDed]

Well predicted [MENTION=1842]James[/MENTION],

Brain freeze from our middle order and almost non-exitent top order is really annoying.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Yeah I noticed that too.

Good prediction by James.

But in my opinion, the game opened up due to Pujura's shot and Kohli running out Nair both of which hadn't much to do with the pitch.

Same way Cook and Root threw their wickets away.

With that being said, this is no flat track.

This is a weird pitch. Sometimes it hard to score. Sometimes its easy to score. The problem is that both sides aren't not digging in and playing out the tough period to assert dominance.

Its been a game of who would be less crappier in batting.

Solid bowling by both sides though.

 

[Mamoon]

Both teams have missed the opportunity of batting each other out of the game. It looks like a 400 pitch but there have been too many soft and self-inflicted dismissals. Root, Cook, Vijay, Pujara, Nair etc.

India are ahead by a nose I think. If they can limp to 350, it will be very difficult for England to salvage something from this match.

Another collapse tomorrow morning, i.e. India getting out for around 300 will make things very interesting.

 

[Hasan123]

Yeah I noticed that too.

Good prediction by James.

But in my opinion, the game opened up due to Pujura's shot and Kohli running out Nair both of which hadn't much to do with the pitch.

Same way Cook and Root threw their wickets away.

With that being said, this is no flat track.

This is a weird pitch. Sometimes it hard to score. Sometimes its easy to score. The problem is that both sides aren't not digging in and playing out the tough period to assert dominance.

Its been a game of who would be less crappier in batting.

Solid bowling by both sides though.

Its a good pitch. On a rank turner the series would be over but on these type of pitches England has a chance.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Its a good pitch. On a rank turner the series would be over but on these type of pitches England has a chance.

Yep. Weird good. Haha.

 

[street cricketer]

Among the innings played by Ashwin, this has to be right at the top. Clutch innings this. It's funny but he's been playing so many clutch innings for India in the last few years that you almost expect him to get India out of trouble when he comes to the crease. Been a thorn in the flesh of England as a batsman. Loving the battle of the all rounders between Ashwin and Stokes.

However his work is far from finished. He, as a bowler, will know that he will need more runs in the lead to put pressure on England as a spinner. Also it will get very difficult in the final innings, so India will have to somehow get close to that 100 run lead. It's difficult as only Jayant is there and England can very easily run through the side tomorrow. However a 50-100 run lead will be a bit of a psychological advantage for India.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Thinking about it....maybe good batting by both sides would have made the pitch look flat.

Bairstow screw up was costly.

Could have bundled out England for 200 if that was taken. Damn.

 

[Hasan123]

Yep. Weird good. Haha.

Makes for good cricket haha

 

[Enforcer]

Really annoyed with our batting. We had great opportunity to batted england out of the match, and we just spilled it. I am already getting negative vibes about this match. I don't think we could chase anything more than 150 in the 4th innings.

 

[Mamoon]

That is why Rahane gets underrated by most people and don't get the same coverage as the Big Four (Kohli, Root, Williamson, Smith).

He has too many soft dismissals and doesn't seem like the type of player who produces standout performances; It seems like he thrives on being the support cast.

At this stage of his career, I am questioning his impact.

At times he comes across as a very superior version of Shafiq. Will play a brilliant innings every now and then, but you never bank on him like you can on Kohli these days.

Even Pujara comes across as more reliable, although he is a far more limited batsman.

 

[street cricketer]

Not to be a prat about this, but it was always obvious that India would have a mini-collapse at some point. They are far too reliant on Kohli and Pujara, and Ashwin to a lesser extent - and that too on a pitch that is offering much more for the bowlers than in the opening 2 Tests.

There is no way this was ever a 450 pitch - hence the content of my posts yesterday. 350 would have been an excellent 1st innings score; 283 as it turned out to be has itself been rather competitive, and England did reasonably well in getting there - in spite of the ludicrous, unknowledgeable and unprofessional demands of English ex-pros who never won in India like Vaughan and Agnew who expected a score of 380/4 at stumps on the first day.

This will be a one innings shoutout of a match, not the innings defeat that was being predicted last night.

I disagree here. The pitch, apart from a snorter dismissal of Hameed, has barely misbehaved. There is no real spin and the bounce is fairly consistent. The ball has been moving around mainly due to reverse swing but it still isn't that difficult. Both teams have just shown very poor application tbh. It is definitely a 400 run wicket in the first innings. But both captains have been very good with field placings putting a lid on the scoring rate and most wickets have been due to just poor application with them throwing their wickets away rather than the pitch playing a factor.

 

[jnaveen1980]

That is why Rahane gets underrated by most people and don't get the same coverage as the Big Four (Kohli, Root, Williamson, Smith).

He has too many soft dismissals and doesn't seem like the type of player who produces standout performances; It seems like he thrives on being the support cast.

At this stage of his career, I am questioning his impact.

At times he comes across as a very superior version of Shafiq. Will play a brilliant innings every now and then, but you never bank on him like you can on Kohli these days.

Even Pujara comes across as more reliable, although he is a far more limited batsman.

Not a soft dismissal. He has been having issues against spinners even on unhelpful surfaces for spinners. He doesn't read the length as well as he should. It is a weakness. He has to address that. Given how well Mumbaikars have been good against spin this guy is an odd ball having come from Mumbai.

 

[King Kong]

Really annoyed with our batting. We had great opportunity to batted england out of the match, and we just spilled it. I am already getting negative vibes about this match. I don't think we could chase anything more than 150 in the 4th innings.

We will chase anything less than 260 with not much difficulty. Believe in

 

[leg-side-flick]

That is why Rahane gets underrated by most people and don't get the same coverage as the Big Four (Kohli, Root, Williamson, Smith).

He has too many soft dismissals and doesn't seem like the type of player who produces standout performances; It seems like he thrives on being the support cast.

At this stage of his career, I am questioning his impact.

At times he comes across as a very superior version of Shafiq. Will play a brilliant innings every now and then, but you never bank on him like you can on Kohli these days.

Even Pujara comes across as more reliable, although he is a far more limited batsman.

Another Dravid in making.....

 

[leg-side-flick]

We will chase anything less than 260 with not much difficulty. Believe in

Nope we won't

 

[Enforcer]

We will chase anything less than 260 with not much difficulty. Believe in

one man can't win you matches every time. We failed to chase 176 against srilanka in the Galle test, despite having Kohli. Our only hope in this Test is Ashwin. God forbid, but if he failed tomorrow with bat and with ball, then we have no chance.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

A lead of 75 runs would be quite handy, need Jayant too to contribute a 30 tomorrow.

Game in balance now.

 

[King Kong]

one man can't win you matches every time. We failed to chase 176 against srilanka in the Galle test, despite having Kohli. Our only hope in this Test is Ashwin. God forbid, but if he failed tomorrow with bat and with ball, then we have no chance.

Kohli in tests has transformed from good to great in a matter of a series. You can't compare him in this form to what he was last year. He is even outshining Pujara, who himself is a great in India. Pujara, Vijay are there to support him always, Rahane is due for a big one. With Pathriv opening, our lower middle order looks strong all of a sudden with in the inclusion of Karun Nair, who is said to be the best player of spin in the country. And our tail with Yadav at no.9 is even better than England's in these conditions. When you take all these into account, England has to setup a target of more than 280 to win this game.

 

[Slog]

Ashwin. Always does the rescue job

 

[Sadevdesai]

All the praise on Ashwin .... becoming a True All Rounder. These two at the crease now, can really mess it up for England now. Jadeja has 2 Triple Centuries in Ranji matches and Ashwin has centuries against his name too. So, watch out England .... these two have dug-in and a lead of 50/70 runs can make a mess for your side !!!

 

[Buffet]

Ashwin. Always does the rescue job

It's irritating to watch though. I was hoping for Eng to wrap up Indians quickly and push for win to keep series interesting. Not it's 50-50.

 

[Donal Cozzie]

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sport/fan-mortgages-mom-s-ornaments-to-watch-kohli-live/329488.html

Absolute bloody nutter