*Official* 3rd Test at the Sardar Patel Sports Complex, Ahmedabad, 24 - 28 Feb 2021

[Heboric]

This series is the last series I expected to see a 2 day test match

 

[Pothas]

I think India had their watershed moment back in 1996 when we were bowled out for 100 and 66 at Durban, where South Africa scored 250 in both innings, on a track that was the seaming version of the Chennai track we got last game, and then for 81 at Barbados chasing 120 on a wicket, which was a bit like this one. I feel a lot of the improvement, A team structure, academy, foreign coaches at the age group level all started happening from then, and a lot of that credit should go to Dalmiya's administration.

Didn't Chris Jordan bowl them out a few years ago?

 

[Lillian Thomson]

What am I supposed to do for the next three days now?

A friend of mine was unduly excited by the prospect of an overseas Test starting at 9am at the weekend.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Actually to be completely honest this feels like a lost opportunity for England. Had they not rotated Moeen out of the team, and had they batted half decently winning the toss on such a turning pitch. I’m sure they will gloss over that.

 

[Burner]

nah

Haha, are you really saying you can't get to 200 or 250 on this pitch given how insipid England were in the first innings and still got to 112?

 

[karan_fromthestands]

If you're seriously saying this innings chasing 49 shows the pitch is okay you need to find something else to do, maybe start a blog on gardening.

Surely don't agree with Ashshshshshshshshwinashwath.

But both the batsmen scoring those 49 with such ease suggests that India played with a defensive mindset in the first innings.They would have scored at least 250 in the first innings and squashed all this pitch talk had they applied themselves.

 

[cnerd123]

Hmm so the 4th Test is here again. Wonder if it will be on the very same pitch. I’m sure England can’t wait

Won't be on the same pitch

Do hope the next game's surface is a bit easier to bat on.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Didn't Chris Jordan bowl them out a few years ago?

Wait didn't both sides graciously decide to end that series after the collapse to Ishant at lords?

 

[karan_fromthestands]

Hmm so the 4th Test is here again. Wonder if it will be on the very same pitch. I’m sure England can’t wait

We need a flat AF pitch for the last game. Let the batsmen have an upper hand for one game.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Surely don't agree with Ashshshshshshshshwinashwath.

But both the batsmen scoring those 49 with such ease suggests that India played with a defensive mindset in the first innings.They would have scored at least 250 in the first innings and squashed all this pitch talk had they applied themselves.

Trash. 49 with no pressure means nothing in terms of anything else that happened.

 

[sunilz]

Lords wicket this Summer ?

 

[Pothas]

Wait didn't both sides graciously decide to end that series after the collapse to Ishant at lords?

So much bad cricket played in that series.

 

[Spark]

Surely don't agree with Ashshshshshshshshwinashwath.

But both the batsmen scoring those 49 with such ease suggests that India played with a defensive mindset in the first innings.They would have scored at least 250 in the first innings and squashed all this pitch talk had they applied themselves.

I mean as with the Australian innings after 36ao, once a side is mentally out of the game, the lack of competitiveness kind of outweighs all other considerations and the cricket no longer becomes representative of the pitch conditions and batting will look waaaay easier for the side chasing the small total than it really is (Joe Burns got a fifty ffs). Similar here; England were clearly checked out psychologically after getting shot out and the result was foregone. That doesn't negate what happened beforehand, in which thirty wickets fell for roughly three hundred runs in five sessions of play. That's enough to come to a pretty firm conclusion as to what batting on that was like.

 

[karan_fromthestands]

For the profane language usage, it is you who needs a ban and a penalty for slandering.

Try to post a little objectively, we all are biased, but we can try. This pitch was a tough one to bat on and no one can deny that.

 

[OverratedSanity]

So much bad cricket played in that series.

Might be one of the ATG bad captaincy series from both sides. Cook had Plunkett bowl an entire spell of bouncers from round the wicket on one of the greenest decks this century on day 1 iirc.

 

[Burner]

I love matches on pitches like this tbh. There's nothing quite like it. Matches ending in 2-3 days is a major bummer though. Both teams should have another innings each to solve this. Clearly there's more than enough time.

 

[Arachnodouche]

This is a 200-250 wicket for sure. India messed it up royally in the first innings. I mean there's plenty of turn out there, but these kind of pitches need a positive approach like Rohit has showed in both the innings.

Yeah, I mean, the same crowd was complaining about the Chepauk wicket until Ashwin went and hit a hundred on it second dig. India was batting fairly serenely till close last night too but then got out to a series of terrible shots today. If batsmen keep getting out to straight balls time after time and the only excuse you can serve up is the unpredictable nature of the wicket (and only lateral variations in spin at that, virtually no grubbers, nothing that reared up out of nowhere) then you might as well strip them of their Test badges and have them play on featherbeds with just the ideal amount of seam, swing, and turn to suit your tastes.

 

[honestbharani]

Pains me to say this but apart from Rohit, Sandy Smith might be the only current batsman worth a damn on these sort of wickets. The pitch might be unpredictable, as everyone's pointing out, but I genuinely feel modern batsmen are hopeless at reading balls out the hand or off the pitch, and generally premeditate their shots with hard hands. Hardly any good at skipping down the wicket either. Smith checks all those boxes and then some.

There are different ways to skin the cat, really. I felt Virat looked the most in control among those who batted in this game, but Rohit and Crawley are both guys who can get a lot of runs quickly even if they miss a few balls. Smith can bat in either tempo and do it really well but can also present a lot of chances doing so. KW technically looks the best bet of the Fab 4 but for some reason, has not performed as well away from home. Root has the best performances in recent times and when he gets going he looks impossible to get out but as we saw, in these conditions, even he struggles often. Virat looks good but has not made a big score in these conditions. But I feel all of them have their own ways to get runs in these conditions. Rohit is definitely most dangerous as he can get them very quickly but I wont write off any of the fab 4 in such conditions either.

 

[Spark]

Yeah, I mean, the same crowd was complaining about the Chepauk wicket until Ashwin went and hit a hundred on it second dig. India was batting fairly serenely till close last night too but then got out to a series of terrible shots today. If batsmen keep getting out to straight balls time after time and the only excuse you can serve up is the unpredictable nature of the wicket (and only lateral variations in spin at that, virtually no grubbers, nothing that reared up out of nowhere) then you might as well strip them of their Test badges and have them play on featherbeds with just the ideal amount of seam, swing, and turn to suit your tastes.

Fwiw I thought the Chennai wicket was fine and reasonable.

 

[honestbharani]

Lol @ Ash saying " I wont be surprised if I surprise myself again in the future". Proper big brain 5D chess logic only @Gnske will understand, I am sure.