India v England, First Test, Rajkot, 9th-13th November

[knocky1]

140 more runs needed to get 300 lead. Declare half an hour after lunch tomorrow when this is reached and give India 50 odd overs to bat through.

Decide batting will continue to be easy on Day 5 and bat through to tire India out for the Second Test.

Collapse in half an hour and let India win with a total below 200.

Hopefully it will be the first.

Nearly got it. Declaration. 309 from 49 overs.

 

[Titanic]

One gone

Gambhir steers/fends a shortish bouncing ball to Root at 2nd slip.

G Gambhir c Root b Woakes 0 (8m 6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

0-1 (2 overs)

 

[Beach Hut]

49/2

 

[knocky1]

Three down. Seven to get in 26.3 overs.

 

[Mackenzie]

Another one goes.....us v time.

71/4

 

[Beach Hut]

118/5

 

[knocky1]

20/20 crowd have helped us by cheering the big shots.

 

[Hiney]

132/6

Game On

 

[knocky1]

She wants picking up from yoga at 11. She'll have to wait.

 

[Official Old Man]

All the 'Poppy' talk about the England football team, will the cricketers walk off at 10:59?
And yes, I know the time difference.

 

[Official Old Man]

All the 'Poppy' talk about the England football team, will the cricketers walk off at 10:59?
And yes, I know the time difference.

Thinking about it, as I will be silent at 11:00, will BBC Radio stop commentary at 11:00

 

[BensGrandad]

Did we declare too late to force a victory? I am not sure but it is Cooks nature to be defensive and ensure not giving them any chance of winning.

 

[dazzer6666]

Did we declare too late to force a victory? I am not sure but it is Cooks nature to be defensive and ensure not giving them any chance of winning.

With hindsight you might conclude that, but had to make sure the game was safe. Excellent test, England did well. Bodes well for a food series.

 

[BensGrandad]

With hindsight you might conclude that, but had to make sure the game was safe. Excellent test, England did well. Bodes well for a food series.

Sure that was a mistype and you meant good series or perhaps plenty of curry.

 

[dazzer6666]

Sure that was a mistype and you meant good series or perhaps plenty of curry.

Both

 

[Eeyore]

With hindsight you might conclude that, but had to make sure the game was safe. Excellent test, England did well. Bodes well for a food series.

There is a korma air about the England team. We could vin da series. The team must be patient. There is no curry here. We are on the rice though.

 

[dazzer6666]

[emoji38]ol:

There is a korma air about the England team. We could vin da series. The team must be patient. There is no curry here. We are on the rice though.

Agreed. No need to do anything Madrastic.

 

[Eeyore]

Agreed. No need to do anything Madrastic.

How would you rate the performance ? Somewhere between a pasanda merit ?

Okay, I'll stop now. I need to tikka break.

 

[BensGrandad]

Perhaps if Cook and Root could have kicked on together who knows what may have happened.

 

[ManOfSussex]

Hameed and Rashid shine as England upset the formbook

Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot (final day of five): England drew with India

Mike Atherton, Chief Cricket Correspondent

It was the kind of situation that was expected: five men around the bat, three spinners turning the screw and batsmen pushing, prodding nervously and hanging on for dear life — only it was England, not India, who were doing the hunting. Welcome to Rajkot, where, over five days, the cricketing formbook was turned upside down.

Humbled in Dhaka, written off as no-hopers, ridiculed in some quarters and seen as little more than fodder for India’s spinners, Alastair Cook’s team nearly pulled off one of the great heists against the world’s No 1-ranked side, with India six wickets down and teetering when time was called. A draw in the book but, in the context of the past few weeks of uncertainty, one that felt like a resounding victory.

As the clock ticked down, and the pitch finally revealed its devil after baking for five days under the burning sun, only Virat Kohli stood between England and a shock victory. Kohli, the great modern-day dasher, a creation of a Twenty20 and IPL world, had to rein in his natural inclinations for a little more than two hours as the occasional ball spat alarmingly from cracks that, finally, began to disintegrate.

In so doing, he showed his skill and fighting instincts, keeping his head as others lost theirs, and shepherding his team to safety. He made 49 not out — one of the most valuable innings that he has played — negotiating a tricky line between defence and attack, punishing the bad balls and showing exceptional defensive technique to the good. He was thankful, especially, to Ravichandran Ashwin, who stuck around for almost an hour and who was more effective in this game with bat than ball.

One by one, India’s batsmen came and went, either through misjudgments — Cheteshwar Pujara failed to review a leg-before decision that pitched a long way outside leg stump — or poor shots — Ajinkya Rahane tried to force Moeen Ali against the sharp turn — or a touch of misplaced arrogance — Wriddhiman Saha came out and batted like a man in a hurry — so that when Saha departed, sixth man out, there was still half an hour, or a minimum of six overs, to be bowled.

It was not enough, although a flurry of boundaries from Ravindra Jadeja’s bat at the end failed to mask the nervousness of the situation for much of the final session. What it showed was that, under pressure, India’s batsmen are as vulnerable as any to spin, and that England’s spinners can cause problems when conditions and the match situation are in their favour.

Rashid was again England’s most potent weapon, bowling with snap and fizz and confidence, and he completed his best match in England colours. The second-innings wickets of Murali Vijay, caught at short leg, Pujara, trapped by a leg break, and Saha, who forced a return catch, added to his four wickets in the first innings. Given the uncertainty over selection before the game, Rashid’s performance and that of Haseeb Hameed have brought clarity instead of confusion.

There are those who will say that the declaration — setting India a target of 310 in a minimum of 49 overs — was unduly cautious, and England would have dearly wanted more time at the end or the four overs that they lost through a slow over rate on the third day. But when Cook declared after his own dismissal, after another brilliant exhibition against spin, it did not feel like that. It felt well judged.

Hameed walked out with Cook on the final morning and despite Vijay’s suggestion that India had their noses in front, there was only one team pushing for victory. The morning’s cricket showed that press-conference bluster for what it was. Kohli set defensive fields and England consolidated their position, before promoting Ben Stokes to No 4, surely the only time Ben Duckett has been demoted when quick runs are the order of the day.

Cook and Hameed rolled on, posting 180 — England’s highest opening partnership in India. Hameed’s innings was astonishing for its skill and maturity, the precision of his footwork, the softness of his hands, the sureness of his defence and his game awareness.

He was on course to become England’s youngest ever century-maker, beating a record set by Denis Compton before the Second World War, when he flat-batted a fierce return catch to the first ball he faced from Amit Mishra, an hour and half into the morning. The night before, he had dined in the team hotel with his brother and sisters and celebrated giving them a homecoming to remember. It was not quite the perfect ending, but what a start he has made.

Cook is a wonderful role model for Hameed, as the Lancastrian contemplates a future in England colours. A decade ago, Cook made a century on debut in Nagpur and, since then, has never deviated from the path of fulfilling his talent. There will be many challenges ahead, but as long as Hameed stays true to the path that Cook has followed, he will be fine.

Between Nagpur in 2006 and Rajkot yesterday, 30 Test hundreds have now come Cook’s way, more than anyone in England, with only ten men in history having scored more. Few have mastered spinning conditions as well as Cook, this being his fifth hundred on Indian soil, and his ninth in Asia — more than any foreign player.

He had begun this winter’s Test engagements nervously, struggling in extreme conditions in Bangladesh and looking strangely hesitant in the first innings here, but now the rhythm returned as he picked off the spinners to leg and cut with such precision that no matter how many fielders Kohli placed behind point, there were not enough. One shot, over extra cover as Ashwin bowled over the wicket into the rough and Cook stepped two yards outside leg stump, showed an astonishing level of skill and adventure. He and his team look up for a scrap.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/s...shine-as-england-upset-the-formbook-5k2vxnrzd