*Official* 4th Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, 4 - 8 Mar 2021

[honestbharani]

Everyone just calm the **** down.

Siraj is obviously an over-excitable character. This is surely an instance where I wish Rahane was the captain and not Virat. What works for Virat may not work for the kid.

You can see he was hardly bothered by whatever Stokes told him in the first place, but Virat made a big song and dance of it (I am sure Stokes is equally to blame though) and then next over, he starts mouthing off at Stokes but I really dunno if that will help him, as he seems to be a more excitable kind of character.

But if it helps him bowl well, then so be it. Coz that last over was almost as good as Ishant to Ponting.

 

[honestbharani]

Bumrah
Shami
Ishant
Umesh
Siraj
Bhuvi?
Shardul?

Is this the top seven Indian pace bowling attack right now?

Probably should take them all for a five Test match series right?

If we still have covid rules, then yes, surely. And maybe Nattu and Chahar as net bowlers too.

 

[silentstriker]

Holy crap - 90 minutes gone already!

 

[Daemon]

Holy crap - 90 minutes gone already!

Yeah it's been great. Will be billing all this time to an unsuspecting client.

 

[Shri]

ffs no ash yet

 

[OverratedSanity]

Panauti letting stokes get set in comfortably before bringing ash on.

 

[morgieb]

Does this Bairstow knock keep him in the side for the next 3 years?

 

[OverratedSanity]

Nice little passage of play for England.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Got to be the most ridiculous team selection ever by England. They picked this team based on the pitch of last week and it was never going to be as bad again given the criticism it got. Anyway, with a start like this we might reach 150 for a change.

 

[Shri]

whinging about the pitch was so february

march means whinging while on the pitch

 

[honestbharani]

Does this Bairstow knock keep him in the side for the next 3 years?

Has played well, tbf. Stokes looks good but also looks like a ticking time bomb out there. Hard to make out who will win this little contest, which is awesome. It was good to see Ash smile when Bairstow pulled out though. Someone needs to calm things out there, has to be Rahane or Ash, I feel.

BTW, anyone catch the uncharacteristically combative tone from Rahane in the presser before the game?

 

[Woodster]

Nice from Stokes.....but really from Kohli?! One shot over the top and mid off is placed back on the boundary??!!

 

[Woodster]

Bairstow the beneficiary of some poor short and wide bowling from both Ishant and Axar.

 

[silentstriker]

Excellent partnership

 

[honestbharani]

Also, it feels like Virat is bowling the seamers this much to make some kind of point. They are both bowling well but get the feeling a few more overs of Ashwin early on against Stokes would have worked better, instead of what we got with Siraj, even though there was that over from Siraj to Stokes straight after the sledging incident, which was awesome to watch.

 

[honestbharani]

Nice from Stokes.....but really from Kohli?! One shot over the top and mid off is placed back on the boundary??!!

Their thinking is that once you cut off the escape shots, they are forced to defend and they will get out that way. Worked pretty well in 2016 tbf in some of the flattest Indian wickets I have ever seen (both against NZ and against Eng).

 

[Spark]

Has played well, tbf. Stokes looks good but also looks like a ticking time bomb out there. Hard to make out who will win this little contest, which is awesome. It was good to see Ash smile when Bairstow pulled out though. Someone needs to calm things out there, has to be Rahane or Ash, I feel.

BTW, anyone catch the uncharacteristically combative tone from Rahane in the presser before the game?

Get the feeling that the Indian team is losing its patience with the English media in particular, which is understandable.

 

[Woodster]

Their thinking is that once you cut off the escape shots, they are forced to defend and they will get out that way. Worked pretty well in 2016 tbf in some of the flattest Indian wickets I have ever seen (both against NZ and against Eng).

Yes, fair enough, I can see that as a strategy. I’d just give Stokes the chance to do that a couple more times before closing the option off, especially with the history between him and Ashwin and the risks involved.

 

[honestbharani]

Get the feeling that the Indian team is losing its patience with the English media in particular, which is understandable.

All this talk of the sledging getting Stokes to his best, I feel it will get Virat to his best too, though, which England may not appreciate.

 

[honestbharani]

Not out clearly before replays I think