England's Summer of Cricket 2021

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That's the important wicket. Deserved for Robinson and England.

Now into that brittle middle order.

To msp On Shardul
you can see the plight of Shardul paced English seamers.....it wasn't just shardul....but also Siraj and now a few on the English side
It's the pitch......and unlike Eng ...Ind does have 2 express pacers...and one world class spinner

Excellent (slightly less than ) hour for India. 45 untroubled runs in twelve overs.

Definitely in the better position now. Still could all go wrong for them ; but you feel if they don't do anything silly they are set for a fairly solid lead by end of day. England looking a bit short of ideas .

Ind has 26 over to make it count heavily until new ball ...don't lose a wicket and try to get 90 odd runs

Need to get Anderson back for a spell before tea. Moeen not getting the lengths right, either too short or too full.

Oddly busy innings from Pujara, currently well ahead of Rohit's SR.

Warne full of praise for Root's tactics today. Don't quite agree...he's not been rubbish , perhaps ; but I think he's missed a trick or two.

Maybe not enough pressure on Pujara when he first came in ? And I'd sooner have seen Moeen again (with Woakes) straight after lunch...though I suppose the cloud cover led him to go to Overton.

Ultimately though they just don't have the firepower for this flat pitch. No Wood for extra pace ; pretty limited spinner - and the two main seamers feeling the wear and tear of four matches in a row.

India only 63 runs on but you get the feeling they are on the cusp of breaking England open ... If Kohli comes in after tea with a lead of 100odd , the game could run away fast...

Joe should've listened to Mo. Nowhere near the bat.

what was Moeen smoking there

Hundred partnership

In good time too. Time to start checking record fourth innings chases at The Oval , I think - because England are going to be facing a pretty solid target when this innings eventually ends.

Moeen convinces Root to review this ...another wasted review .

All going wrong for the home team...

I know India are "collapsible " : but they aren't going to fold up today.

Pal Joey wrote:Joe should've listened to Mo. Nowhere near the bat.

I thought Moeen looked like saying or implying He is surely out

And a top century for Rohit , reached with a lovely big six ! Match winning hand , this.

Mind over matter.....given the  adversity of the match situation, in context with series...a tremendous 100  

Looked like getting a 100 a few times .....but got past the line today....needs to get a Daddy 100 like he did twice in India in the Eng series
He's looking ominous now...toying with the bowling in the test match context of toying

KP_fan wrote:

Pal Joey wrote:Joe should've listened to Mo. Nowhere near the bat.

I thought Moeen looked like saying or implying He is surely out

I thought he didn't look confident but Joe overrode him.

Just had another look... yes, Moeen was all hands up in the air. We should both go to Specsavers....

That is the checkbox checked, for Rohit Sharma! First overseas hundred for Rohit!

Top innings from Rohit, but times like these expose how poor Root's captaincy is.

Could catch the action only on cricinfo so far. Just came back home to see Rohit lifting Moeen over the fence to reach his hundred. Time for him to start all over again...

Pujara shutting shop before tea. Don't think he should get into a proactive blocking mode. Of course its time to be more careful as the break is approaching, but getting into a negative mindset, surely is not the way to go about for Pujara in particular. He needs to change his approach a bit, and that's what his successes and failures in the series indicates. He should stick to what has brought him success.

Excellent session from these two batsmen. Effectively 100/1 at tea.

Still think England can chase up to 250 on this, but they'll need a powerful effort in the evening session, at least five wickets. That second new ball may decide the test.

11 overs to 2nd New Ball
Ind is on trajectory to be up by a 140
Then there will be some wickets falling
Then the batters out there need to ensure that ball is atleast 30 overs old again before Pant gets to bat
Then Pant needs to be told he owes the team a 100 ball inning
That would put game beyond any reach for Eng

Tea.  England bowlers will be glad to get off for a few minutes.

Perfect session for India. 91 runs at quite a decent rate , looking totally in command. Very hard to see a way for England to get back into this match from here unless India commit mass suicide...pitch is now a complete road ; main bowlers are well into their day's quota and the backup ones aren't quite good enough. Can see India running up a huge total ...they have all the time in the world.

The one thing they can take comfort from is that this pitch may not get much better for the bowlers so a large fourth innings is possible.

But I don't think I'd be betting much on this England line-up chasing down 400 or whatever India choose to set them. OK may not be that many but it is surely going to be a lot more than 250.

king_carlos wrote:Rohit might have a weak away record but in this form I'd expect him to have a match defining innings across a 5 match series. If he can get in on this flat pitch then he could do some damage quite quickly I fear.

I felt worried early. Yes, there were the drops but when Rohit starts playing like he has more time than anyone else it feels ominous. An excellent innings when his team needed it. I must admit I really love watching Rohit bat but I wish I'd watched it less against England in 2021.

That surely was a fine session for India. Both the set batters will have to carry on. be proactive with the old ball, but try to be there to deal with the new ball. If they could see off a decent bit of the new ball, then that would be spectacular.
But as KPF mentioned, the new ball is likely to get some wickets. India would do well to limit it to a couple, and would really hope this ball doesn't claim any more.

Wouldn't be quite so quick to write England off - we know India collapsed from 267/2 to 364ao in the second test. If England get on a roll in this session with the new ball they can put India on the ropes.

But Overton's restarting the game again!

Have to get at least five wickets in this session. Let's see.

KP_fan wrote:To msp On Shardul
you can see the plight of Shardul paced English seamers.....it wasn't just shardul....but also Siraj and now a few on the English side
It's the pitch......and unlike Eng ...Ind does have 2 express pacers...and one world class spinner

KPF, agree the pitch did have something to do with Shardul's performance. But the runs he gave away, were also the result of some pretty inconsistent lines and lengths. At his pace, he can't afford to do that. Also, if Shardul is that limited a bowler, why not Ashwin, who would surely be a better bowler even in the firstinnings, and potentially lethal in the 2nd innings?
Anyways India made their choice, and thanks to Shardul in parts, they are still alive in the contest. Hopefully, he'll be able to do a better job with the ball 2nd time round, and before that, when called upon to bat in quite some time hopefully, he'll have some more batting entertainment to offer as well.

England entrusting Overton with the enforcer job. He's the least quick among their seamers. Robinson would have been a better bet.
But regardless of who is bowling, the short ball is a good option against Rohit, not because he's a poor player of it, quite the contrary rather, but he doesn't apply his brain when playing it.

Pujara, early on his career, used to be a compulsive stroke-maker against the short ball. After getting out a couple of times, he completely took it out of his stroke book. But afterwards, he has had trouble getting out of the way of the short ball every now and then.
Lets see how both Rohit and Pujara will play this face...

Overton already managing a top-edge of Rohit, who thankfully didn't try to hit it too hard.

That's the half-century for Cheteshwar Pujara. His 2nd of the series....

Would rather see Root bowl than Overton trying to bang it in at sub-85mph.

Guess they had to try the short ball tactic sooner or later. Not many options left !

They haven't really been all that poor today , except for a few loose overs from Overton and Robinson. Just nothing in the pitch for them , bats have been very good , and the little bits of fortune (not quite lbw ; not quite an edge) haven't come.
Moeen also showing his limitations : not that he was going to run through them on this ; but they were able to comfortably milk him without risk for about four per over.

All comes back to the day one gamble . Send them in at this ground with the attack they have and you have to either bowl them out for 78 or else make a monster score yourself - otherwise you are always likely to face this sort of problem in the third innings.

Done now anyway. Just have to hope the new ball gets results and they can limit the damage. But I don't think Michael Vaughan is too far off in declaring England to be "doomed"

If England wanted to bowl short, they should have had Robinson doing it, Woakes could have taken the new ball with Anderson.

The England skipper listening to Duty.

Oh dear, been out all day and just catching up. England will be losing this one some time on Monday then

This is my worry with Overton. He's a very fine swing bowler but despite his height he isn't a bowler to bang it in back of a length and dry things up. Because of his height he gets used for that by England though.

In the first innings the control the seam quartet provided was invaluable but this innings is showing them to be one paced. This is where Archer is such a loss, he can bowl line and length but also capable of hurrying the batsman with the effort ball. Stokes would have been a valuable asset right now too.

KP_fan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Overton bowling a load of rubbish. Get him out of the attack.

Not his fault...he is bowling at his level...80ish mph medium pace on a pitch that has absolutely flattened
Eng's missing an express pacer ...and ain't bowling Moeen enuf

Root bears a worried look...and when he is worried, he starts bowling himself

Root's point of worries spilling over is reached

Pujara beginning to let Moeen and Root bowl to him. He's not looking troubled, but prior to the new ball, a few more runs would keep India in good stead.

The problem with putting all fielders for one shot is a one dimensional tactic that works either on pitches that are responsive
OR against tailenders
In a situation like this it opens up HUGE gaps to score

Can't also understand the need for Overtong to chase the ball off hsi own bowling all the way and then he pulls up something and pulls out
Frustration I guess

India really ought to win from here, although the draw, almost impossible last night, might even come into the consideration (but unlikely given England's batting).

Partnership up to 150. New ball 1 over away. Hope they will stay together for a while yet.

New ball gets a good start

'Ere we go, then!

Breakthrough out of nowhere. Vital England summon up momentum.

a window open for Eng...they would hope to drive their car thru it

worst time for Kohli to be in......against Anderson with new ball
Hope he can play positively and hold off falling of wicket for atleast 10-12 overs

Now : after that thoughtful Indian donation , is there any chance of England grabbing a couple of quick wickets and edging back into the contest ?

You'd have to think it's now or never...

The new ball didn't take too long to strike. And after a spectacular innings, Rohit gets out in familiar ways!

Anderson would love to bowl to 2 of his bunnies here. How would Pujara go from here? Will he completely switch-on the Eat-up Ball Mode?

msp83 wrote:The new ball didn't take too long to strike. And after a spectacular innings, Rohit gets out in familiar ways!

Yeah it was a poor choice. But you'd be a hard man to be too critical of him after the innings he's played. If they mess it up from here that's on the other batsmen.

Now then : what's this ? England burning their last review or a blind umpire ?

Blimey ! It's out !

Crazy game , this

KP_fan wrote:11 overs to 2nd New Ball
Ind is on trajectory to be up by a 140
Then there will be some wickets falling
Then the batters out there need to ensure that ball is atleast 30 overs old again before Pant gets to bat
Then Pant needs to be told he owes the team a 100 ball inning
That would put game beyond any reach for Eng

Game going perfectly to my bloody script so far....hope the script continues all the way
Rahane should be in next and need to play off 30 overs with Kohli

Pujara won't be eating up any more balls, Robinson brings England right back into the contest. India on full-blown collapse mode at the moment. Ajinkya Rahane, wondering about where his next run would come from, and Rishabh Pant, giving him competition, followed by Jadeja and Shardul.
All down to the skipper. So after a promise of a revival, India back to type...

England rocking now, both set batsmen removed in one over.

Jadeja bizarrely up at 5 again, showing no confidence in Rahane and Pant.

Can England blow the bloody doors off and keep India below 200?

Now then, game on. The umpiring this series hasn't been the best.