*Official Third Test at Headingley* 25-29 August

[Teja.]

Pant has played his best innings in Australia and India (Sydney, Gabba, Ahmedabad) this year when he gets to like 15 (50) to settle in before going all out attack. That I’d argue is more his natural game rather than just smashing everything right from the get go.

Maybe he needs some solidity on the other end in these conditions to play well.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Doubt we're seeing any batting changes judging from Kohli's comments. Still seems convinced it's only a matter of "fixing errors". It's endemic now, dude. Rip the bandaid off.

 

[Bijed]

I've absolutely no idea what will happen in the fourth test. None at all.

Starting to get a bit of an Ashes 2015 feel from this series, where the first test is relatively normal and all the rest involve one team having a shocker

 

[Chrish]

It’s the hope that kills you. Let’s be honest, India were not going to win this.. I would have liked for team to score 400+ and retain some dignity however.

 

[Teja.]

Forget ATG or world class, I just miss the feeling of having a single test class middle order batsman who can score 800 or so runs @ 40~ with a couple of hundreds every year.

 

[Arachnodouche]

I hope the bowlers come in for some flak too. That performance was unacceptable after Lord's and a nine day break between games. Sure, 78 is deflating but there was a job to be done against a suspect batting line-up. That first over from Ishant was as bad as anything I've seen in a while and it set the tempo.

 

[White Ball]

Congrats to England and the England fans on here. We were outplayed here.

For us I am not too worried, we lost this match on day 1 and never recovered but I still am not sure how England’s batting will do under pressure which you are never going to be against 78.
England will clearly have a lift from this though so the series is well set and I believe it could go either way but I still back us to win it.

 

[Spark]

I hope the bowlers come in for some flak too. That performance was unacceptable after Lord's and a nine day break between games. Sure, 78 is deflating but there was a job to be done against a suspect batting line-up. That first over from Ishant was as bad as anything I've seen in a while and it set the tempo.

This is way harsh. The bowlers being flat straight after folding for 78 on Day 1 is principally a function of folding for 78 on Day 1. I'll say it again, it often takes a full day to recover mentally from that and so it proved.

 

[Starfighter]

A right good thrashing that.

 

[Manee]

Forget ATG or world class, I just miss the feeling of having a single test class middle order batsman who can score 800 or so runs @ 40~ with a couple of hundreds every year.

It is the hundreds which are the big issue. That 90 was exactly the same as a 40 or 60 from Pujara in that it was kinda useless. It took grit to get there but to not kick on really impacted the utility. Same for Kohli's knock and even Rohit's knock.

The bowlers and freak batting performances (Sundar*, Thakur, Shami) and one in-form batsman (Rohit) really have covered for what has been a piss poor middle order for a long-time. Something has to change but the worrying thing is that I don't think Agarwal (post new bat-lift), Shaw or SKY are genuine answers. Perhaps Vihari's county 'stint' has taught him some things, as it did for Pujara but what one must remember is that Pujara played a lot more innings in 2018 and a number of OD innings where he did ok.

*Even if you think he's a good batsman, it is a freak occurrence that he even played.

 

[Starfighter]

Having dug up some highlights I must say that decision to give Kohli out on 46 was one of the less good ones I've seen, tstl.

 

[Manee]

Having dug up some highlights I must say that decision to give Kohli out on 46 was one of the less good ones I've seen, tstl.

The caught behind? Yes big gap but I think he even thought he hit it because he started walking. Butler knew it wasn't out though, imo.

 

[Manee]

This is way harsh. The bowlers being flat straight after folding for 78 on Day 1 is principally a function of folding for 78 on Day 1. I'll say it again, it often takes a full day to recover mentally from that and so it proved.

Maybe, maybe not. The Indian pace line-up is a tad overrated though. Numbers are numbers and I know they've always been loved here but I think they've played on a lot of bowler friendly pitches over the past few years. They are obviously very strong but not without weaknesses, such as Siraj being loose, Shami bowling an "unlucky" length in England, Ishant's tendency to go missing for spells at a time (despite his recent strong form) and lose his action and Bumrah often going wicketless for long periods of time, e.g., the NZ series. Jimmy and Robinson seem like much easier bowlers to captain because they provide genuine steadiness and clear plans for taking wickets. India's attack seems to have lots of flair as seen in the Lords Test but vulnerable to a good batsman (e.g., Root) getting on top of them and capitalising on the loose balls or lack of consistency.

 

[Teja.]

This is way harsh. The bowlers being flat straight after folding for 78 on Day 1 is principally a function of folding for 78 on Day 1. I'll say it again, it often takes a full day to recover mentally from that and so it proved.

Yeah, to add to this, it’s very hard to bowl when the opposing batsmen are under zero match pressure. The non-wicket run of play which usually ends up getting the wicket like beating the batsmen, trying to tighten run scoring etc can feel a bit trivial when 70-1 is already a crushing position.

 

[Manee]

Maybe he needs some solidity on the other end in these conditions to play well.

Yes this - very hard for him to know what to do with such a weak tail and spineless middle order.

 

[Arachnodouche]

This is way harsh. The bowlers being flat straight after folding for 78 on Day 1 is principally a function of folding for 78 on Day 1. I'll say it again, it often takes a full day to recover mentally from that and so it proved.

Flat is flat. I can understand if Root hit them around for fun (which he duly did). But they didn't even trouble Burns and Hameed in a session and a half, two guys not exactly in peak confidence, and it was solely down to bad, unfocused bowling.

 

[Gob]

Like the look of Robinson no. His high arm release seems to impart a lot of backspin on the ball and the ball seems to explode of the seam with plenty of extra bounce and zip. Pretty accurate too

 

[Arachnodouche]

Like the look of Robinson no. His high arm release seems to impart a lot of backspin on the ball and the ball seems to explode of the seam with plenty of extra bounce and zip. Pretty accurate too

Has a wicked knuckle ball too.

 

[Flem274*]

Rohit
Rahul
Pujara
Kohli
Rahane
Vihari
Pant
Jadeja
Shami
Bumrah
Siraj

There's just a bit more there to get through imo, even though the same four culprits are retained. I suspect it's a real mental boon for England knowing if they have Indian middle order batsmen in then they're just a couple of strikes from true tailenders.

 

[Burgey]

rohit
rahul
pujara
kohli
sky
jadeja
pant
ashwin
ishant
bumrah
siraj

for next test

Jadeja isn’t a test number six mate