India v England, First Test Thread

[msp83]

First topic message reminder :

India won the toss and are batting.
No surprises with the teams.
India
Gautam Gambhir
Virender Sehwag
Cheteshwar Pujara
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
R Ashwin
Zaheer Khan
Pragyan Ojha
Umesh Yadav.
No Monty for England and Compton is having his debut.
Nick Compton
Alastair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Samit Patel
Matt Prior
Tim Bresnan
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
James Anderson.
The pitch seems dry and should take turn.

[msp83]

Hundred for Pujara. Terrific from the young man.
Now they are going after Swann.

[Luke]

Pujara reaches a magnificent 100, and Yuvraj's teeing off on Swann.

[msp83]

15 run over from Swann, Yuvraj and Pujara bring up the 50 partnership. India 345-4.

[Luke]

Msp, if you were Indian captain, when would you think of declaring, would you bat all day.

[msp83]

I don't think its time to think in terms of declaring. Swann's bowling really really well, and a couple of wickets can change things around rather quickly.

[Luke]

True, Swann has been bowling well apart from the one over, trouble is the seamers still don't look like helping him. Reason I asked was I feel that if these 2 are still in at tea, would be tempted to put England in, -

[msp83]

Dravid on commentary feels Jimmy Anderson is getting the ball to reverse a little bit. The 2nd new ball into its 18th over.

[Luke]

To be fair, Anderson is bowling well, tieing Pujara down, Swann at last getting support, keep this up for 30 minutes could be interesting.

[msp83]

First hour belongs to India. England needed every bit of luck going their way as well, but instead the lucky one today morning was Yuvraj Singh, who has made it count so far. But towards the end of the hour England could maintain a little bit of control, if they manage to keep it up, then there could be some pressure.

[Luke]

True msp, think England need to try keep it tight for next hour, try to dry up the runs, which apparently they're doing, though both Aggers & Dravid are disappointed with the field, Patel then go and gives up a 4. He's not a wicket taking bowler in my opinion.

[msp83]

Yuvraj taking Patel on. Swann's had a pretty long spell already, but they have to keep him on for more if they have to keep the pressure up. Patel not been able to maintain the kind of control he offered yesterday.

[msp83]

Oh hold on, we have the makings of a contest here, Its KP with the ball and its Yuvraj batting. These 2 have a bit of history about them!!.

[msp83]

Ball has done a little bit for KP in that maiden over!. He was England's best bowler in the last test he played remember!.

[msp83]

Swann's back.

[msp83]

That's lunch on day 2. India's session, 410-4. Yuvraj on 72, Cheteshwar Pujara on 133. In the first hour there wwere a couple of close moments for the Indian batsmen, but the 2nd hour they just controled things very nicely.

[Luke]

That's lunch (& me), India's morning by a distance, England gained control by drying up runs for a while, but never really troubled either batsmen much. Swann again England best bowler, though got some good support at times from Anderson, Pietersen's 2 overs were
decent. Pujara & Yuvraj batting well, s both are set, could be along afternoon for England.

[msp83]

Yuvraj holds out and Patel gets the wicket for England.

[msp83]

It wasn't the best of balls that Samit bowled, a rather horrible full toss but Yuvraj just picked out the man in the deep.

[msp83]

150 for Pujara.

[msp83]

Pujara has gone pass his highest test score, is batting on 168 at the moment and Ravichandran Ashwin is with him. India 455-6.

[KP_fan]

Cook's captaincy has been defensively disspapointing and lacking imagination.
He can be given the benefit of doubt......first test as fulltime captain.......very alien conditions.......and a coach who i suspect leave little room for captain to be his own man

[LivinginItaly]

Can anybody watching give me an unbiased opinion on how the pitch is playing today? Should we be able to get a decent first innings total also?

[msp83]

The pitch is offering a bit of turn, but nothing unplayable as such. The bounce is not the most consistent. But the most important thing is that this pitch is cracking up and so there is every chance that the pitch would take more and more turn as the game goes on, and the bounce would become more uneven.
So if England will have to scorebig, then they have to show a great deal of application.

[msp83]

500 up for India.

[msp83]

That's another chance not taken by England, Ashwin gets away with it this time.

[msp83]

502-6 at tea.
Think India Should bat on from here.

[KP_fan]

India will give them about 15-20 overs this evening.

[msp83]

That's Pujara's double hundred!.

[msp83]

Its that Man KP, he gets Ashwin!!.

[msp83]

Zaheer Khan the new man, his ones decent tailend batting has regressed significantly over the last couple of years. He's more about rather mindless slogging these days. India would love that to come off for a bit now.

[Mad for Chelsea]

really good catch by Prior that, bottom edges standing up are just about the toughest of the lot.

[msp83]

Interesting to see how Pujara would approach the situation from now. The lofted shot isn't his usual way of going about things.

[Mad for Chelsea]

and gone. A well-deserved wicket for Anderson as Zaheer flashes at a wide one and Trott takes a good diving catch in the gully.

[msp83]

At last an England seamer gets a wicket. Its Anderson, Zaheer gone. Jonathan Trott the catcher, and this time its a clean catch and a good one for that matter.

[KP_fan]

KP more successfull than England's first choic second spinner

[msp83]

Pujara is taking the available single even of the 2nd ball of the over. The innings seems a bit stuck at the moment either they have to declare or play some attacking shots.

[Mad for Chelsea]

I'm a bit surprised India are still batting TBH, can't help but feel there's little point in Ohja and Pujara plodding along at 2 runs per over for half an hour... Interesting that today the scoring rate has been quite a bit below 3 runs per over.

[msp83]

Not very good cricket from India. Nothing is happening. Is Pujara under instructions to stay out there for some more time?

[Mad for Chelsea]

Dhoni's decided enough is enough, and India have declared on 521/8

a pretty poor session for India really, the innings just didn't go anywhere. Lovely innings by Pujara it has to be said though.

Now, first task for England is to get to the close tonight without losing any. Wouldn't be surprised if India opened with spin.

[guildfordbat]

What was the England fielding like today?

I only started watching just before the end of the second session when Cook dropped Ashwin. I got the impression that Cook's mind was elsewhere.

Not surprised Pietersen picked up a wicket. He bowled very well in Surrey's last home match and played a match winning part with the ball. Difficult to see him bowling much at all with Patel in the side but an option worth considering.

Real challenge now for our openers. Could be the making of Compton IF he gets through it ....

[eirebilly]

Cook's captaincy has been defensively disspapointing and lacking imagination.
He can be given the benefit of doubt......first test as fulltime captain.......very alien conditions.......and a coach who i suspect leave little room for captain to be his own man

See now, i just dont get this. You claim that Cook is not captaining well but at the same time saying that he is not allowed to captain?


I really may be missing something here but i often have great difficulties understanding what it is you want to say (except that KP is a god that is , thats very clear )

[msp83]

England openers have delt with things very well so far. Nothing seriously alarming from the pitch so far, and Cook in particular, has tried to take Ashwin on a little bit. Ashwin and Zaheer have opened the bowling for India. Would like to see Yadav given an early crack against Compton, his extra pace could make some impact.

[msp83]

Another 11 overs remaining, they would be a touch disappointed if Cook and Compton remain together that long.

[alfie]

Managed to see a bit more today than on day one...very impressed with Pujara , top innings. OK the pitch was a road , but you still have to maintain concentration for a long time , and whenever I watched he was playing beautifully - just the one early error which could have ended it before it began (which rather shows what a game of inches this is , even when one team dominates)

Some people getting over-exercised about England's bowling , selection etc : India batted very well on a flat pitch , and one or two of the bowlers were a bit off the boil , especially yesterday. Big scores in India are not rare...
Week or so ago , Australia made 565/5 against SA : does this prove Steyn and Philander can't bowl in Australia ?
First of four matches - let us see how it goes from here...

England have started soundly enough , but obviously have a mountain to climb. Given that the pitch will doubtless dust up over the next day or two , the likeliest result is an Indian win...and if it happens I will say congratulations , while wondering what might have happened had the coin come down the other way.

In the meantime I shall enjoy the battle.

[KP_fan]

Poor Compton....bolwed neck and crop......that turned acutely...you feel for him.

Ojha got one to turn and bounce and ashwin getting some deliveries to turn square........survival not easy......Eng's gotta play strokes

[msp83]

Compton gone, bowled by Ashwin to take his 50th test wicket, that makes him the fastest Indian in terms of test to that mark.
James Anderson in to try and see the day through. 26-1.

[KP_fan]

Cook's captaincy has been defensively disspapointing and lacking imagination.
He can be given the benefit of doubt......first test as fulltime captain.......very alien conditions.......and a coach who i suspect leave little room for captain to be his own man

See now, i just dont get this. You claim that Cook is EITHER not captaining well but at the same time OR saying that he is not allowed to captain?

that is what I am saying...EITHER / OR.......and not at the same time whihc you have inserted......anyway now it shouldn't be hard to undertsand

[msp83]

Ominous signs for England, the ball that got Compton turned, and 2 balls later he had Anderson in trouble with the one that bounced extra.

[msp83]

Anderson can't see the day through, Ojha gets him!.

[msp83]

Good catch from Gambhir, and England are 29-2.

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