***Official*** England in India

[Sanz]

I hear India dropped as many as 10 catches today and have been pretty ordinary in the field throughout the test. Greg must be doing a great job of coaching.

We have been outplayed by England in every department and lucky that a draw is still a possible outcome.

 

[Barney Rubble]

I hear India dropped as many as 10 catches today and have been pretty ordinary in the field throughout the test. Greg must be doing a great job of coaching.

We have been outplayed by England in every department and lucky that a draw is still a possible outcome.

You heard wrong, they dropped 3.

 

[superkingdave]

You heard wrong, they dropped 3.

Bhaji off cook, Sreesanth off Pietersen, Dravid off Cook, Kaif off Collingwood. I think there was one at short leg as well.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Bhaji off cook, Sreesanth off Pietersen, Dravid off Cook, Kaif off Collingwood. I think there was one at short leg as well.

Meh....still not 10.

 

[luckyeddie]

Meh....still not 10.

And to think I used to take the Mickey out of Crystal 'Oops' Gayle and the West Indian slip cordon.

 

[open365]

I'm glad Cook made his hundred,but i got really frustrated after Pietersen got out because no one looked like they wanted to take the attack to the Indian's,i know that it was probably because they weren't planning to bowl today,but i thought they should have aaimed to get in a few overs at them today.

 

[Swervy]

Semi interesting fact 1:
The last 4 tests that have gone to a 4th innings played in India have seen a result.
The average 4th innings score in those 4 tests (vs pak and SL) is 234.(Scores ranging from 214 to 249).

Semi Interesting fact 2:
The average length of time in overs it has taken to dismiss those teams in the 4th innings has been 91.2 overs (ranging from 90 to 92.3 overs).

So if the trend continues, expect to see India scrape a draw ...probably with one wicket in hand.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Semi interesting fact 1:
The last 4 tests that have gone to a 4th innings played in India have seen a result.
The average 4th innings score in those 4 tests (vs pak and SL) is 234.(Scores ranging from 214 to 249).

Semi Interesting fact 2:
The average length of time in overs it has taken to dismiss those teams in the 4th innings has been 91.2 overs (ranging from 90 to 92.3 overs).

So if the trend continues, expect to see India scrape a draw ...probably with one wicket in hand.

If that happens, I may well kill something.

 

[Swervy]

I'm glad Cook made his hundred,but i got really frustrated after Pietersen got out because no one looked like they wanted to take the attack to the Indian's,i know that it was probably because they weren't planning to bowl today,but i thought they should have aaimed to get in a few overs at them today.

I think it was always going to be the issue with light. IF the light had have got bad, India would have just come off straight away.

368 leaves India with a target which if EVERYTHING goes their way, they COULD reach. It would have been trickier for England to tempt India into being a bit more aggressive if they were chasing say 420 off 96 overs, they would have just shut up shop.

It looked to be part of the plan and I would say they set themselves at tea a target of maybe 350-360 lead, which they did, so job done.

I just couldnt understand why Dravid brought Sehwag on for the last over. If a wicket had have fallen in the last over, play would have finished, so no more scoring....I think one of the Indian specialist bowlers would have a) been more economical in the last over, which went for 14 and b) had a higher chance of getting a wicket in the last over, so stopping play,and stopping any more runs.

 

[Langeveldt]

because no-one could possibly even think of dropping Tendulkar, despite only scoring 640 runs in his last 15 tests vs decent opposition (ie not B'desh) at an average of a shade over 29...so Kaif has to go, despite his 91 in the first innings..it make perfect sense Marc!!!!

lol, not to mention the year when Murali scored more runs/had a better average than Tendulkar..

 

[Swervy]

lol, not to mention the year when Murali scored more runs/had a better average than Tendulkar..

I just cant see how or why he is an absolute dead cert for being picked by India...he just isnt performing. Apart from that 3 innings purple patch when he scored about 500 runs without getting dismissed, he basically has done nothing for 4 years of much note. I cannot think of any other player who has ever been afforded a guaranteed place in a test team after so much medicority over such a long period of time. It is this kind of reluctance to face reality which will continue to keep India away from being a consistantly elite team.

I am sure he will now go on to destroy England in the rest of the series

Edit: I just had a look at how Sachin , who incidentally I used to find a complete joy to watch a few years ago, has done recently on statsguru. If you take away any games vs B'desh, since the end of 2002, he has batted 38 times, failed to reach double figures 14 times, failed to reach 30 24 times, and in his last 10 innings, he has failed to reach 30 9 times.

Even with the record breaking trio of innings of 241*,60*,194*, his average vs everyone other than B'desh is only 40...in the remaining 35 innings he averages 25

 

[Swervy]

I was just thinking about this....if say all day was rained off and the game ended as it stands at the moment, I wonder who would be picked as man of the Match, seems to me there are 3 players who probably deserve the award at the moment...Cook, Hoggard and Collingwood..and I cant really think who it would be..of course that is all hypothetical coz tomorrow wont be rained off

 

[Neil Pickup]

MotM will be Cook if its a draw, unless Kaif bats for two sessions and saves it.

If someone wins, it'll be whoever delivers the coup de grace.

 

[wpdavid]

We managed to do that in Multan and still lost the Test...

... I still maintain we started to lose that one on Day 3 when we failed to bat Pakistan out of the game in our 1st innings. Anyway ......

Biggest difference for me is that I've actually been able to switch on Ceefax at 6.20 every morning and not want to use some wholly inappropriate language in front of my 4 year old. Whereas in Pakistan, nearly all of the pre-lunch sessions went to the hosts, so we were always the side playing catchup, this time we've hit the ground running on 4 days out of 4. Here's hoping for a repeat tomorrow, and waking up to the news that Harmison has ripped out the India top order in the first hour.

I wonder if the biggest problem with not declaring, apart from limiting the amount of time available, is that it sends a clear message that we're not really confident about bowling them out for under 366 on a 5th day pitch. Sometimes you just have to sense when the force is with you, and this feels like one of those occasions. And I suspect the Indian side feel that as well, especially after their performance today.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I wonder if the biggest problem with not declaring, apart from limiting the amount of time available, is that it sends a clear message that we're not really confident about bowling them out for under 366 on a 5th day pitch. Sometimes you just have to sense when the force is with you, and this feels like one of those occasions. And I suspect the Indian side feel that as well, especially after their performance today.

As others have mentioned I suspect if we had declared about 20-30 mins from the end the Indians would've gone off for the light as the shadows were lengthening quite considerably by then.

I agree about the Indians tho, some pretty ordinary fielding & really negative body language too. Not a great display of captaincy from Dravid for me either, I'm far from a fan of Ganguly but I suspect he'd have been more proactive. The fields Dravid set were almost totally about containing us, which on a 4th day Indian pitch with two rather good spinners at his disposal can't be right.

 

[Scaly piscine]

MotM will be Cook if its a draw, unless Kaif bats for two sessions and saves it.

If someone wins, it'll be whoever delivers the coup de grace.

Collingwood should be ahead of Cook in my opinion, Collingwood's first innings was massively important, Cook's 100 was ok but was slow and didn't help England anywhere near as much.

 

[wpdavid]

As others have mentioned I suspect if we had declared about 20-30 mins from the end the Indians would've gone off for the light as the shadows were lengthening quite considerably by then.

Oh, I completely agree with that. I meant the problem with not declaring overnight & batting for another 30 minutes or so in the morning - sorry about the ambiguity

 

[marc71178]

Good statting! That says a lot, that one.

Yes it says that one of these days he's going to get a ton in the 4th innings...

 

[marc71178]

Should India avoid defeat tomorrow, I believe they can thank the 8th wicket stand of Kaif and Kumble yesterday.

Which they in turn could thank Geraint for...

 

[marc71178]

I'm glad Cook made his hundred,but i got really frustrated after Pietersen got out because no one looked like they wanted to take the attack to the Indian's,i know that it was probably because they weren't planning to bowl today,but i thought they should have aaimed to get in a few overs at them today.

I think it's partially to do with needing to play their way in on that wicket.

To be fair to Cook, I think you can excuse him on the basis of his age and the last week he's had.