India vs England, 2nd Test at Edgbaston; Day four :
India vs England : 2nd Test Match at Edgbaston
Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy
Day four :
"The run machine"
Well said Virat; who has always praised Shubman and played the role of his mentor, now comes up with such heart touching good wishes.
Gill completes 430 runs in a single test match. Highest by an Indian and second highest ever after Graham Gooch.
It has been a fabulous day of test cricket
with both teams trying to make use of the day. India cruised to a winning total but there was no declaration at sight. The debate and discussions continued what should be the score or the time for declaration.
The factors which might be weighing in the mind of Captain and Coach was the England batters capable of higher scoring rate with Bazz ball strategy. If that was the case then why slow down after Pant was dismissed. It was quite an unnatural the way Jadeja started his day. Even Gill who was middling the ball so well and had important partnerships with Rahul and later with Pant.
Ben Stokes tried all his means with attacking field placing but couldn't break the over cautious partnership between them. The lead mounted from 400 but there were no signs of aggression. It was then becoming more clear on declaration which was linked with the timing and a big total.
With respect to the game which started with Rahul and Karun trying to cement his place in the team on a positive note. Rahul's elegance and Karun's cautious approach with the seaming deliveries marked a good beginning on day four. Carse was bowling in tandem with the overcast conditions when a sharp delivery ended Karun's innings with his score at 26 runs India 95 for 2. Shubman joined Rahul, both played with ease with ball getting soft. The innings of Rahul ended deceived by a sharp incoming delivery from Tongue. A well played 55 runs and India suddenly were reduced to 126 for 3 after 29.1 overs.
Then came the most entertaining phase of today's play. Risabh Pant announced his intentions immediately hitting all around and raising the tempo of the game to new heights. It was an innings which nobody in the ground can forget. He was belting every bowler even with the ball, his bat flying to square leg to baffle the fielders, bowlers without any clue. No strategy of Ben Stokes could stop him till he lost his grip on the bat to be caught in the deep. The score stood at 237 for 4 in 48 overs with a lead of 417 runs, at his individual score of 65 runs of 48 balls.
After his departure and till tea time the score never moved at that pace when Pant was in the crease. Two major milestones were achieved by Gill before tea, his another Century and becoming the highest aggregate for India in a single test match. The score at tea was 303 for 4 in 67 overs with a lead of 484 runs.
Post tea play started with both the batters changing gears and in the bargain, Jadeja completed his 50 and Gill his 150..again a milestone. Later to a miscued hit Gill was caught out at his score of 161 runs of 162 balls with score reading 412 for 5 in 81 overs and lead of 592 runs.
With no declaration in sight play continued with India losing another wicket, poor Nitish had to hit and get out in the deep. Still play continued only to be declared at 427 for 6 in 83 overs with a lead of 608 runs. When Nitish was out the score was 412 for 6 in 81.1overs and declaration comes after 83 overs, the logic is not understood.
The question now in everyone's mind after reducing England to 72 for 3 in 16 overs, another 10 overs for India and 2 wickets of England would have been the most sought after achievement for the day. Once the ball gets softer the batting becomes easy.
The wicket is playing flat but for the new ball and both in opening or closing sessions as experienced in this test match, the Indian bowlers had done remarkably well. Akash Deep in particular bowled two extraordinary deliveries, with no clues to the batters shattering the stumps of Duckett & Root. Siraj got rid of Crawley.
The sessions and the day belonged to India...only if few more overs and couple of more wickets with the excellent seam bowling, would have made India sitting tight on the match irrespective of rain prediction in the early hours tomorrow. The delay in declaration should not cost India the big winning chance they have crafted.
A fascinating 5th days play is waiting for the Indian pacers and spinners to record their first win in the series.
Yes, the delaying of the declaration became the only talking point amongst Indian fans everywhere. England bats deep and even when early wickets fall, they have the class to dig in with big partnerships, as we witnessed in their 1st innings. With the bowling firepower we have, or rather the lack of it, despite the performance so far by Akashdeep and Siraj - let's hope we don't come to rue the extra 10 odd overs we didn't bowl on Day 4 evening - say if England are still batting after tea with 2 or 3 wickets in hand, with a late partnership!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely correct Pushan.
DeleteIndia's match to win from here - 7 wickets to take on D5 - they will need to bat really doggedly to save the match from here - but with only 2 wkt taking bowlers - we can only hope England and Bazball don't do the impossible by batting out the whole day, with a little help from the weather Gods!
DeleteRight you are
DeleteAt the end of Day 4, India are in the driver’s seat and a win looks possible unless the English middle order and tailenders successfully defend their citadel for three sessions on the final day or the rain Gods come to their rescue.
ReplyDeleteDeclaration came late as you correctly mentioned and this will be debated by the critics in the event of a draw. Both captain and the coach took an extremely defensive approach for delaying the declaration and this put unnecessary pressure on the bowlers who did a remarkable job in removing three English batsmen till close of play.
After Pant’s fireworks, Jadeja and Gill could not keep the momentum going and runs came at a snail’s pace. Jadeja scored his 2nd run after 10 balls. However later both accelerated the pace and India took an invincible lead.
All eye’s are on the final day’s play.
Yes late declaration but the worry definitely was Bazz ball and our bowlers not having the desired bite.
DeleteThe declaration came late for sure. It is the conservative approach of GG who is now pulling all the strings unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteThe body language of the Indian team while fielding was very poor. Only Siraj was showing signs of aggression and was pacified by Shubman after every ball. This let the Brit’s play peacefully and score all the runs they scored. Seems cricket has become a “very” gentleman’s’ game again. We sorely mi the aggression of Kohli in the field which could have infuriated the opponent and could cause their downfall. ( GG is again responsible for their retirement - Rohit and Kohli ). Also Sreyas should have been in the team ( playing 11 ) going 1 down. Hardik also is missed ( may be for his fitness issue).
The aggression brought in by Ganguly in the team is getting smothered by the team boss - and will be responsible for our downfall I fear. GG is not allowing a strong captain . Since Gill is scoring havoc, his captaincy is not questioned. But it’s obvious from whatever we saw , that GG is the de facto captain, which is not good for the team. GG have done anything credible as a coach yet. But because of his political allegiance he is made the boss and he is settling scores.
Straight from the heart....very well articulated and true picture as we can perceive now.
DeleteSo far so good for India. India should win from hereon (although the declaration came quite late) unless the rain God plays a spoil sport.
ReplyDeleteYes
Delete