*Official* 1st Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, 05 - 09 Feb 2021

[OverratedSanity]

Shockingly, India's #intent not helping a great deal.

 

[trundler]

Jimmy Anderson bringing a great enthusiasm to his role as a specialist fielder in these conditions with that catch.

 

[nzfan]

Gill looked real good, missed out on a big hundy here. Looks like pitch is great to great to bat on once the new ball is done.

 

[h_hurricane]

Bat aggressively first, get bowled out quickly enough to bait England into enforcing the follow on

Bat properly the 2nd time around and grind them

Doubt England will enforce the follow on even if it is 36 a/o tho. Maybe WTC points will bait them.

Exactly what is happening now.

 

[cnerd123]

Oh god Pujara is batting with intent. Hitting 4s and running quick singles. It's because Kohli is batting at the other end IMO

Once my batting partner got annoyed at me blocking out my first 5 balls and asked me to look for runs. I got bowled the next ball trying to work a spinner across the line. I bet Kohli is that ****.

 

[Daemon]

Oh god Pujara is batting with intent. Hitting 4s and running quick singles. It's because Kohli is batting at the other end IMO

Once my batting partner got annoyed at me blocking out my first 5 balls and asked me to look for runs. I got bowled the next ball trying to work a spinner across the line. I bet Kohli is that ****.

Probably because it was a T20

 

[nzfan]

I feel like England have come with clear plans both with bat and ball. India after the Aussie series likely expected England to fall over. Like the fact England seem to have plans for each batter so far. Unless they get Pujara they'll feel like they're not dominating.

 

[Woodster]

Jimmy Anderson bringing a great enthusiasm to his role as a specialist fielder in these conditions with that catch.

Probably develop into the best fielder in the world in his 40’s!

 

[cnerd123]

Probably because it was a T20

It was a 35-over game and we had lost 3 wickets for **** all iirc. Weren't chasing a large score either.

 

[LJMJ]

Gill always looks like a dream before getting out. And the dismissals are usually 'soft'.

Shame India couldn't bat first on this flat wicket. Scoreboard pressure is a very real thing. This series better not turn out to be the one in England 2018. Root won every toss and that was essentially the series.

 

[LJMJ]

Where is this Pujara coming from? He usually premeditates to not do anything the first 100 balls.

 

[honestbharani]

I feel like England have come with clear plans both with bat and ball. India after the Aussie series likely expected England to fall over. Like the plans England seem to have plans for each batter so far. Unless they get Pujara they'll feel like they're not dominating.

To be fair, if you can count on one thing from England, it is that they will be prepared for any away tour with the gazillion roles they have around the team. I just think it was a combination of an extremely important toss that we lost, again (**** knows we win only like 20% of tosses in our games, I think) and our main 3 bowlers feeling their way back into test cricket after injuries and our openers having one of those days (at least Gill, Rohit's dismissal was a good ball).

EDIT: Mean to say I basically expect England to come in fully prepped for any away series and I will be disappointed if the Indian management did not think that way too. Ashwin, in one of his YouTube interviews of the coaching staff, actually made that point and the coach agreed with him, think it was B Arun.

 

[trundler]

Scoreboard pressure is a massive factor. The openers came out feeling the heat.

 

[nzfan]

Gill always looks like a dream before getting out. And the dismissals are usually 'soft'.

Shame India couldn't bat first on this flat wicket. Scoreboard pressure is a very real thing. This series better not turn out to be the one in England 2018. Root won every toss and that was essentially the series.

Gill still probably in Aussie mode where the ball bounces a bit more and also the ball comes on to the bat lot quicker. Takes more than few training sessions on a practice deck to figure out the timing for drives. Over the course of the series I can see he's going to get some very big ones.

 

[cnerd123]

Gill always looks like a dream before getting out. And the dismissals are usually 'soft'.

Shame India couldn't bat first on this flat wicket. Scoreboard pressure is a very real thing. This series better not turn out to be the one in England 2018. Root won every toss and that was essentially the series.

India at home on flat pitches usually still win even if bowling first. It's just that England batted really well this game. Root is in incredible form and Sibley/Stokes played really good innings around him.

If we have more pitches like this in the series, and assuming England keep batting this well, then yea we could have a win toss win series scenario.

Gill is going to be the next generation's Rohit if he keeps throwing away good starts.

 

[h_hurricane]

Smack the offie into oblivion now.

 

[nzfan]

You can almost bet your wallet Kohli will get a big one here if he lasts till lunch. He's been in India for quite sometime now and will have been practicing on those decks meticulously. Besides the time off means he'll be very fresh mentally.

 

[Starfighter]

I open up Cricinfo to see Pujara striking at 70. WTF is this?

 

[OverratedSanity]

I open up Cricinfo to see Pujara striking at 70. WTF is this?

He does it from time to time at home.

 

[h_hurricane]

There is a huge difference between Pujara's SR home and away. (50 vs 39). This is how he generally bats at home. Mostly free flowing.