*Official* 2nd Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, 13 - 17 Feb 2021

[Robbie]

They ask him to keep and bat at 7?
He should absolutely be the man in possession with the gloves. Buttler or Bairstow can play as specialist batsman if they're good enough

Buttler's not in the same bracket as Bairstow. Buttler's made several crucial contributions to England wins in the last 12 months. Bairstow's scored a couple of 30s after a prolonged run of averaging in the 20s. I don't know how Bairstow even got picked for the tour over Malan or Jennings tbh.

 

[hazsa19]

How disappointing. Feels like all the hard work of the first test undone in an an hour of cricket before lunch this morning.

Not a huge fan of the pitch myself, but we need to be better if this is what we get 3rd test. Apparently Mo and Bess had bowled 35 full tosses between them in the first 3 innings of the series. Horrendous.

 

[honestbharani]

Most posters have just said it was a good toss to win. Suggesting it decided the game was just Michael Vaughan, and that doesn't count anyway.

I assume you just don't read social's and Burgey's posts? Good choice.

 

[honestbharani]

It’s called “reality”

When the ball is taking chunks out of the pitch within an hour and Kohli gets bowled by a ball that spun a foot, you’re pushing it uphill

The pitch is dry and only getting drier

It started out bad and will only get worse

Hardly rocket science

You do realize the pitch has layers right? The top surface coming off does not mean it is gonna be uneven or slow and it has not been either for 2 full days play now. Just because it is providing more turn for the spinners does not mean it is not a fair pitch.

 

[honestbharani]

But where do you draw the line? Are wide cracks on the pitch that assist bowlers and also injure the batsmen at times OK? A green pitch on which a team can get bowled out in a session(if they are unlucky) and on which even ordinary bowlers would look like Malcolm Marshall OK? Why do we only have a problem with rank turners? I would take rank turners over the pitch in the first test where there was nothing for the bowlers for the first two days. England would have won the first match regardless because they were simply better. But both the teams have a level-playing field when the pitch is offering turn from Day 1.

Also, every batsmen that has applied himself and tried to counter the spin with foot movement has been able to score runs on this pitch. Foakes looked totally comfortable when he was batting, so did Sharma, Pant, Rahane and even Pujara who was try to play differently because of the surface. Kohli got out to a peach, but don't we have these deliveries with massive swing or seam movement that get the batsmen out in away conditions? Or one of those that hit the crack move in any direction viciously.

And this is pretty far away from a "rank turner" FWIW. A true bounce and pacy pitch that turns is actually the opposite of the type of pitches the anglosphere call "rank turner" over the years.

 

[honestbharani]

You guys defending against the toss being a factor need to shut the **** up. You complain about the toss being a factor when you are getting your ass handed to you - not when you are handing ass. Trying to preserve the legitimacy of your win, by dispelling the myth of the toss, just makes you come across as big douches.

Who are you talking to? We are just stating the toss is as big a factor in India as it is everywhere else in the world. No more, no less.

 

[honestbharani]

That’s a fair point, but the difference is that gives the captain a decision to make

No, it does not. Crapinfo ran a piece not long ago that illustrated that batting first was a bigger advantage than winning the toss and so many teams have been choosing to bat first after winning tosses since then. If they get beaten post that, it is because the other team were better and as it often happens right now in world cricket, home teams are very very hard to beat. So it becomes almost impossible when they get to do their preferred discipline up front too. I am a big advocate here of letting away teams choose whether to bat or bowl first every test.

None of that means this drivel about the toss being more important in India than other places in the world has any percentage of fact in it. It does not.

 

[honestbharani]

May be touring teams should learn to play spin better. No one complains when Kiwi trundlers pick up bag of wickets in their back yard or Aussie bowlers bounce touring batsmen on their bouncy wickets.

This is called “test” cricket for a reason. Suck it up and get on with whatever is thrown at you.

And the fact that other pitches where actual players got hurt are apparently ok, but a pitch which is true in all respects is not ok..

 

[honestbharani]

Kohli's a big baby who complains about pitches like every other cricket player a

Nah, it has been one refreshing aspect of his captaincy. What you said is completely untrue.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Buttler's not in the same bracket as Bairstow. Buttler's made several crucial contributions to England wins in the last 12 months. Bairstow's scored a couple of 30s after a prolonged run of averaging in the 20s. I don't know how Bairstow even got picked for the tour over Malan or Jennings tbh.

Yeah that's a good point. I personally am against Bairstow being back in the side, but realistically I think England will want him around the squad in the short-term. They definitely have alot of faith in him to deliver in tests, even though I think they've given him amble opportunities to prove himself

 

[honestbharani]

there's definitely a Test quality player there.

I asked this earlier, but is he suspect against pace/swing or something? He looks absolutely natural against the spinners and is brilliant behind the wickets and I say this as one of the biggest Buttler supporters here, Foakes should never be dropped for either Bairstow or him, unless he is really bad at playing pace and/or swing.

 

[honestbharani]

Any chance of rain?

Dont lie. You just want clouds, dont you?

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I assume you just don't read social's and Burgey's posts? Good choice.

At the time I made my post the emphasis was on English posters. Burgey just does what he does and people still fall for it. I got the impression that Social just thinks it's a terrible wicket rather than a win toss, win match wicket, but I did skip over quite a bit of it.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Foakes has definitely been treated shabbily tbh - there's no getting away from that. Really not sure on the rationale as to why he hasn't played more test cricket

 

[honestbharani]

Burgey just does what he does and people still fall for it.

There are many ways to justify idiotic posts, but why always take the most common one?

And social did talk about the toss. I dont think I ever said it was "English" posters who complained about the toss. I think I actually mentioned it was just couple of the salty Aussies who were stinking the thread up with that discussion. I assume theegyptian is an England fan and 91JMay as well though and they have been discussing the toss, but that has been more discussion than the drivel we have had from Burgey and social.

 

[Pratters]

Yeah, the pitch has not changed dramatically and the turn and bounce and pace has been the same all two days. Moeen not being consistent and England batsmen letting the puffs of dust spook them and Ash's quality as a bowler has been the difference so far.

Just like how Anderson and Root's quality was the difference between the sides last week.

I dont agree. Massive puffs of dust on the second day. India has had the better luck by winning the toss but that is not the only reason England got bundled out. They batted poorly.

 

[silentstriker]

Pitch is good. It’s not amazing - anytime you know on day 1 that the match has a decent chance of not going beyond the third day is not an amazing pitch. It is, however, far better than a pitch where it seems like you can play three consecutive tests and still not achieve a result.

And this spinning = bad and green tops = good argument from certain sections of the Anglo sphere is so old and tired that I don’t even engage anymore. Over a decade ago, for this same exact discussion, I had made a “how to judge a cricket pitch” flow sheet and it still applies today. Let them whinge, it won’t change. Just smile, nod, and move on.

meanwhile , bcci should reward the ground staff for not preparing flat wickets.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

There are many ways to justify idiotic posts, but why always take the most common one?

And social did talk about the toss. I dont think I ever said it was "English" posters who complained about the toss. I think I actually mentioned it was just the salty Aussies who were stinking the thread up with that discussion. I assume theegyptian is an England fan and 91JMay as well though and they have been discussing the toss, but that has been more discussion than the drivel we have had from Burgey and social.

I'm not justifying anything. He knows more than enough about cricket to know when he's posting tripe to wind people up. I don't personally respond to it but some people either like it, or enjoy the trash talking, or take him seriously. No problem to me either way.

 

[honestbharani]

I dont agree. Massive puffs of dust on the second day. India has had the better luck by winning the toss but that is not the only reason England got bundled out. They batted poorly.

The very first over of Leach produced same amounts of dust on day 1. I dunno if you watched the game yesterday, but it was clear there were massive puffs of dust every time the spinners landed the ball properly.

 

[honestbharani]

He knows more than enough about cricket to know when he's posting tripe to wind people up

Mate, just because it was "bait" does not mean it was not stupid. And I have been here enough to know that he usually likes to disguise his poor opinions under that hood.