The third Test was wrapped up inside two days as the pitch aided spinners, resulting in a low-scoring affair
And that is that. One of the more bizarre days of cricket in modern memory and it didn’t reach the sixth hour. Work that out. Thanks for your company on the rollercoaster ride. And we’ll be back next week for the fourth and final Test with India leading the series 2-1. Bye!
Axar Patel is the player of the match for his 11/70. We don’t get to hear from him on the broadcast as Channel 4 cut back to the studio.
Virat Kohli speaks. Begins saying it was a “good pitch” to bat on in the first innings but there was a lack of application from the line-ups of both teams. “It was bizarre that out of the 30 wickets, 21 were off straight balls. I feel that’s a lapse of concentration or indecision, playing for the turn but getting beaten on the inside. I honestly feel that batsmen need to trust their defence more.” He lavishes praise on Axar, saying he is impossible to sweep. As for Ashwin: “I said from now on I am calling to call him ‘Ledge’. In Test Match cricket he is surely a modern-day legend and we’re lucky to have him.”
Rohit Sharma wins the game-changer award. I’m not quite sure what that is, but it isn’t the player of the match. Thomas Hopkins wrote me a note about the Indian opener. “In all the noise that’s going to follow, I hope that Rohit’s epic performance in both of the last two Tests isn’t overlooked. Take his runs out in both first innings and England’s totals don’t look (quite) as feeble.” Spot on.
Joe Root speaks. “70/2” is where they lost the game, he says. “Had we got 250 on that wicket it would have been a really good score.” He says that this won’t “define them as a team” and they will “use the hurt” of what has happened to fuel them for the final Test. He’s asked a question about straight deliveries getting them out: “I’ll be brutally honest, the ball.” He explains that the plastic cover made it feel like the ball would speed up off the pitch - an interesting talking point there, I’m sure. “But we’ll come back stronger for this. We have some fine batters who are capable of making big scores. It is just building pressure over a long period of time, making it count.” On his five-for? “It sums up the wicket if I’m doing that,” he jokes. Root finishes by congratulating Ashwin and Ishant for 100 Tests.
To the presentation. We’ll hear from Root and Kohli shortly.
“Let’s see how defensive Root and his teammates are at this defeat,” writes Ruth Purdue. “This matters, it shows if they will front up and accept it or look for excuses (pitch, DRS etc). They picked one real spinner for this game.”
Root is usually pretty good with this. We’ll hear him talk shortly.
Lowest match aggregate. Thanks to Tom Paternoster-Howe for this chart - that slots into tenth spot on the all-time list with 387 runs.
The match report. If you can handle it.
Related: India rout England by 10 wickets inside two days of third Test
“I’m feeling a little sorry for Channel 4,” says David Melhuish.“They put their faith in the long form of the games after a long recess. And now all the revenue and interest goes into the ether. There might be some discussions in boardrooms after this series. Hope they stand firm.”
Good point. Especially after those two five-day thrillers in Australia.
Ashwin is speaking about his 400th wicket. He’s a gem, talking about belief that he maintained through various injuries. “When I landed in Australia, Virat thought I was bowling really well. And during lockdown, I worked hard on my fitness to prepare for the next few years. From there, things have gone really well for me.” Has he ever bowled better? “One thing is for sure, I’ve always looked to improve. So, I would not be surprised if I surpass this in the future.”
“I’m feeling pretty flat right now,” says Andrew Strauss. As he says, there was so much energy in the first half of that day - remember when England took seven wickets in 20 overs to start? It felt a million miles away when India rattled those runs off. Alastair Cook adds that the margin doesn’t sit well with him, but I’m not so sure - they did bowl England out for 112 and 81 on day one and two.
How to explain that? England, all out 81 inside 31 overs. Barely an hour later, India smack 49 runs in 7.4 overs to finish the job. I’ll stick around to bring you the presentation and on-ground reaction.
7.4 overs: India 49-0 (Rohit 25, Gill 15). Target 49. Rohit is looking to finish this immediately! Back to back boundaries to start Root’s over, sweeping then slapping through cover. Super stuff. AND HE FINISHES IT WITH A SIX! Dancing and lofting over midwicket, that’s an exclamation mark! India win inside two days. Staggering stuff.
7th over: India 35-0 (Rohit 11, Gill 15). Target 49. Leach’s nickname, at least according to Foakes on stump mic, is “Nut” and I’m all for it.
6th over: India 35-0 (Rohit 11, Gill 15). Target 49. After the unsuccessful review, Gill retains the strike out to deep midwicket.
“This match reminds me of the Ireland/England test from a couple of years ago,” says Martin Gilbert. “Pitch blamed, but a lot of poor shots and in the end a couple of embarrassing collapses and one half-decent innings wins the thing. Differences? England (or India, if it goes that way) will get a chance to redeem themselves in a week or so. Ireland, on the other hand, haven’t played a test match in the almost 2 years since, and don’t even have any scheduled this year.”
HAS ROOT TRAPPED GILL LBW? He has not. The DRS the original decision to be correct with the ball going over the top. He was also beyond the three-metre zone - that Pujara approach again.
5th over: India 32-0 (Rohit 10, Gill 13). Target 49. Rohit’s turn to go hard and straight, over Leach for four more. They’re looking to finish this in style and why not? What a bonkers day this has been.
4th over: India 28-0 (Rohit 6, Gill 13). Target 49. Root to Rohit, appealing for leg before but it’s pitching outside leg stump. Graeme Swann on TV is advancing the view that the pitch isn’t as bad as it is being argued, adding that this won’t be popular with his former teammates. “You want batsmen to keep making the same mistakes and England have.” Biiig turn for Root later in the over but from around the wicket and down the legside, Foakes has no chance to glove it - four byes. Shifting to over the wicket to finish the set, Gill dances and makes sweet contact, straight back over the England captain’s head for SIX! India are already halfway there.
“After scoring 578 in the first innings in the first test,” writes Phil Crockford, “England have scored 669 in their next five innings, and scored fewer in each subsequent inning. I’m assuming they will be bowled out for 61 and 38 in the fourth test.”
I’ll go the other way: they’ll make 500, win by an innings and put Australia through to the World Test Championship Final. Right?
3rd over: India 17-0 (Rohit 6, Gill 7). Target 49. Leach gives Gill a short one to begin on his pads so the young man helps himself to a boundary, tucked through midwicket. He’s back on the money later in the over, finding the outside edge with one that spins hard and kisses the edge, but there’s no second slip so they get two more.
The players are back on the field. Jack Leach to begin the final session (hour?) of this Test Match, in at Shubman Gill. PLAY!
Hello there, Smylers.“I’ve a vague recollection of Jimmy Anderson mentioning on the Tailenders podcast that he can bowl a bit of spin. Worth a try in the final innings?”
Ben Stokes, too! Seamers love bowling spin. Let them at it. Indeed, Damien Fleming’s final spell in Test cricket - at Mumbai in 2001 - was sending down some off-breaks. Dare to dream.
One more record in this Test? “So far 9 ducks,” reports Stephen Brown. “The record in a match is 11. Wonder if that can be broken before India knock off the half century they need.”
Always nice to find meaning even when the result is near-certain.
Okay, more on the pitch via Gary Naylor. “Had England used their feet (as Clarke and Ponting would have done) or watched the ball all the way on to the bat (as Thorpe and Cook would have done), I’d be more condemning of the pitch. Sitting ducks - blocking or swiping - were never going to last.”
@collinsadam Can we just start again tomorrow and fit in an extra test match? Easily get it done inside 3 days. #INDvsENG
Context from Alan Morris. “I think one of the big things people forget when they look back on old batting technique against spin is how it was almost impossible to be given out lbw on the front foot even if they hid the bat completely behind the pad giving two layers of defence. With current interpretations the best spinner often just fire it at the stumps looking for a bit of spin or natural variation as beating the batsman on either edge can lead to a wicket.”
Good point. Not everyone back then had hands like Neil Harvey.
“Hello from Delhi Adam!” Amitabh Mukherjee is understandably excited. “Even as an indian supporter, I did not expect 81 all out! More like 150(par) or a bit more. But at 66/6 and the Axars devilish guile and accuracy it was ultra satisfying (given the 7 Indian wickets I sat through earlier in the day) This test has gotta be the epitome of immediate gratification test. Once every 2-3 years is fine.”
Lap it up, I say. Those are sessions to savour as a fan.
“Hi Adam.” Hi, Robin Hazlehurst. “Meanwhile New Zealand beat Australia this morning in a six-a-thon Twenty20, where more runs were scored in 40 overs than will be in this match in total. Obviously the conditions are entirely different, but one over from that match would change the complexion of this match entirely. That fine balance of a decent contest between bat and ball seems elusive.”
With Marcus Stoinis nearly saving the day. If you are interested in learning more about the Australian all-rounder, Geoff Lemon and I spoke to him last month about grief - not your normal interview.
An alternative take on the conditions? Why not. “Afternoon, Adam.” Hello, Seer Sunshine. “I must say it’s been a bit shocking to watch both teams crumble like soggy biscuits. But I don’t think there’s any fault of the pitch here. An odd ball turning has made batsman on both sides toss their wickets away to straight balls. It’s just appalling batting technique. This pitch isn’t turning square, and I might just blow a blood vessel if someone calls this unplayable.”
As I say, this will be a debate that rages for weeks - if not years.
Alright, now let’s get through some of those emails. A lot (really, a lot) are about the pitch. I’ll try and capture the thrust of those through this note from Richard Williams. “What is the point of all this really? Is it really entertaining in any way? It’s a bloody pisstake is what it is and if this is what the cricketing Powers That Be have in mind when they are considering shortening Test cricket and making it more ‘accessible’ to others then count me out. What was a nicely set up test series has been completely ruined. I can’t even say I’d be enjoying it if this was England on top.”
My view isn’t as strident as this, but I’m sure this is where the conversation will be headed over the next couple of days.
2nd over: India 11-0 (Rohit 6, Gill 1). Target 49. Root around the wicket and Rohit turns him around the corner. Gill’s turn and he’s off the mark to midwicket - no concerns for India. Back to Rohit and that’s four runs, down the legside beating the batsman and Foakes; a half-volley out of the footmarks. The wicketkeeper had no chance there, signalled leg byes. Alright, for real this time, that’s dinner.
1st over: India 5-0 (Rohit 5, Gill 0). Target 49. Leave, leave, beaten outside the off-stump. It looks good but the weapon is the straight one - when will we see it? Now a misfield at backward point, Anderson the culprit - usually so safe - Rohit is off the mark with a couple. And a full toss to finish, clipped all the way to the rope by Rohit, cut off by Archer who makes an absurd diving stop. And because they raced through that over, they’ll get another in before dinner. Anderson? Broad? Archer? Nup. Joe Root it will be.
Jack Leach to bowl it. Here we go.
I thought India would be asked to face an over before the long break, but not to be. “I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that England can defend this,” declares Andrew Strauss on telly. Umm. Meanwhile, I’ll come to your scathing emails through the interval.
Blimey. 30.4 overs is all it took, England banking their lowest score of all time against India in a Test Match. The spinners were superb, Axar (5/32) and Ashwin (4/48) never giving the visitors a chance to breathe, let alone settle. In the end, Sundar (1/1) was given the chance to finish the job, and did so within four deliveries.
Anderson doesn’t think he’s hit his attempted reverse sweep but they are out of reviews and out of time. India require 49 to win.
30th over: England 80-9 (Broad 0, Anderson 0) Cook and Strauss on Channel 4 have one thing on their minds: the pitch. Can Jimmy get through a couple of deliveries from Ashwin? Ooooh, the first spins sharply away from the left-hander’s straight blade, beating both the bat and the gloves of Pant, taken by the diving Rahane. Yikes.
Some brilliant stats work from Tom Bowtell. “Axar is breathing down the neck of Charles Marriott to claim the best Test bowling average of anyone with more than 10 wickets.” So close!
Sucked in perfectly and Ashwin loves it. Wider and flighted, Leach can’t help himself and the edge lands safely with Rahane at slip.
29th over: England 80-8 (Leach 9, Broad 0) The internet tells me that Axar’s is now the best match analysis in a day-night Test, overtaking the 10/62 Pat Cummins took against Sri Lanka at Brisbane in January 2019. Broad won’t give him a 12th here though, despite loading up for a big sweep to finish the over. No contact, no concern.
The third umpire takes his time after the criticism last night, and fair enough too. As it was through the Root review earlier, this is well handled by the man upstairs allowing him to conclude, on this occasion, that there is no inside edge. From there, it’s a formality: Axar has his fifth wicket.
IS FOAKES AXAR’S FIFTH? It looks very out. He reviews anyway.
28th over: England 79-7 (Foakes 8, Leach 8) Extraordinary to think that Ashwin has reached 400 before Lyon, who was 30-odd ahead of his rival after the Sydney Test last year when he hit 390.
“Hello again Adam.” Hi, Andrew Cosgrove. “I don’t know about your optimism about this lasting until stumps, they’ll be lucky to last as long as the cocktail break right now.”
27th over: England 77-7 (Foakes 7, Leach 7) Axar strives for a fifth. If he can get it, that’ll make three five-fors in four innings to start his Test career - there can’t be many bowlers who have achieved that. There are a couple of singles - Leach to midwicket after coming down the track, then Foakes in the same direction - before the tweaker gets one to really rip back at the left-hander to finish.
“I still remain bewildered why they don’t bat out of the crease,” adds Adrian Goldman. “If the ball doesn’t pitch, the pitch doesn’t enter the equation. Yes, the wicketkeeper is standing up - but these guys have good enough eyes that they should be able to hit or pad anything that’s close to the line of the stumps. Bowled sufficiently wide, just make a dive for the crease. If you look at Root’s non-dismissal for LBW, he was nowhere hear the pitch of the ball. Comparing English batsman to the Indians, the Indians make much firmer and longer steps forward - this difference could be obviated by the English being further forward to begin with.”
26th over: England 76-7 (Foakes 6, Leach 6) Ashwin over the wicket to Foakes with men around the bat, who are very excited when a ball pops up on the legside but doesn’t go to hand. He’s defending soundly enough by the end of the over. At times like these, batsmen have the right to be a little bit selfish - get yourself a red inker, Ben.
“Lots of talk about the test lasting for two days or may be three,” writes Kumar Pushparaj. “Can we shift the discussion to modern players technique of playing spin? I have grew up watching the cricketers of 90s and I hold that they were far better at playing spin than the current lot.”
25th over: England 75-7 (Foakes 6, Leach 6) Jack Leach, that’ll do! He jumps down at his opposing number Axar and launches him over long on for SIX! The lead is 42. I’ll do my best to come to your emails soon but it’s hard graft with wickets falling and spinners in tandem!
24th over: England 68-7 (Foakes 5, Leach 0) The Indian champion is the second fastest bowler to 400 scalps, behind only Murali. He’s reached the mark in just 77 Tests at an average of 25 and there have been a staggering 29 bags of five along the way - just one behind Jimmy Anderson in half the matches played. He’s every chance of picking up his 30th by the time this England nightmare is over.
Oh yes, that’s very out. Archer tried to shovel a full one to the legside but didn’t make contact, which meant the ball was only going one place: middle stump. Ashwin has 400 Test wickets!
HAS ASHWIN GOT HIS 400th? Archer looks plum. He reviews.
23rd over: England 68-6 (Foakes 5, Archer 0) Axar doesn’t miss his spot but he constantly mixes up the speed and degree of spin he puts on each delivery - it’s a true joy to watch a tweaker applying this much pressure. Foakes gets through it.
Bowled by the straight one! Pope is beaten by the drift, quite comprehensively. And that moves Ashwin to 399 Test wickets.
21st over: England 61-5 (Pope 8, Foakes 2) Axar continues, a man with the accuracy of Jadeja but with an extra six inches of height - what a combination. Three catching men in close on the off-side with the left-armer angling in at Foakes and he takes a single to cover after making solid contact, getting through easily. The Surrey stumper looks more at ease than most against this probing attack.
“Hi Adam.” Allo, Peter Salmon. “I’m guessing that when historians are writing about this game they will assume that the day/night thing was a factor. In fact, the only passage where the batsman were on top was under lights yesterday. I’m just want this on the public record so I don’t have to spend the next 20 years of my life pointing out everyone’s error.”
Just a quiet shift for Simon, was it? Well handled. I know we talked a lot yesterday about Test cricket being played in fast forward, but 12 wickets in 40.3 overs so far today? The way this is going, India will have this wrapped up before stumps tonight. Keep me company!
20th over: England 60-5 (Pope 8, Foakes 1) And so, with the match, um, delicately poised, I’m going to hand over to Adam Collins. All emails to him here, please. Bye!
19th over: England 56-5 (Pope 5, Foakes 0) There’s absolutely no way this is going to a third day. “I don’t know why people are saying this is a good Test match,” rages Ian Naylor. “It’s really Test match 100 - ridiculously truncating the game by producing an unplayable pitch is no different than shortening the game by reducing the overs.”
The straight one again, and Root instantly spins and trudges from the field after getting one he didn’t consider worth reviewing. That’s the day’s 12th wicket and it’s not yet halfway through, it’s Axar’s 10th wicket of the match, and he’s just been too good on this pitch. England’s lead is 23.
18th over: England 54-4 (Root 17, Pope 4) Pope gets off the mark with a top-edged reverse sweep for four. We finally see ball tracking of the Stokes lbw, and it would have jut clipped leg stump, been umpire’s call, and therefore not worth reviewing.
18th times in 32 innings in Asia Stokes has been dismissed by an off-spinner. The bloke can't play off-spin, can he?#INDvENGhttps://t.co/g6Wd01p2el
17th over: England 50-3 (Root 17, Stokes 25) Due to an administrative error I didn’t post the 17th-over update before Stokes was dismissed at the start of the 18th, and now it all seems terribly out of date so let’s just forget it ever happened, yes? Anyway, the players are taking drinks.
@Simon_Burnton ESPN tells me that the lowest aggregate score in a result test match is 235. Yes, really. SA v Aus, 1932. SA 36 & 45, Aus 153 for an innings and 72 runs victory. Goodness knows what they were playing on!
This one definitely didn’t hit the bat at any point, and England don’t bother reviewing (though I thought it might have been heading down the leg side). It did look like Stokes made a last-ditch attempt to send it upstairs, but a second too late.
16th over: England 48-3 (Root 17, Stokes 24) This is already England’s 13th-biggest partnership of the series, and their second-biggest of the match. “As this match is likely to be over in two days but they’ve made plans and sold tickets for five, couldn’t they just start all over again tomorrow and see if they can last three days this time?” wonders Robin Hazlehurst. “Or just keep playing until the five days are up regardless of how many innings they each have? Maybe Bairstow will actually score a run in the 12th innings.”
15th over: England 46-3 (Root 16, Stokes 23) A loud lbw appeal against Root, but the umpire shakes his head. And then another one two balls later, and this time he is out! And then he isn’t!
A nightmare review for the third umpire, with the ball hitting bat and pad at near enough the same time and a succession of camera angles showing bewildering varieties of similar things - in one it’s clear it was bat first, in the next it’s obvious the pad made first contact. Eventually he decides that UltraEdge shows first contact with willow, and the captain is saved.
India are celebrating, but after a chat the batsmen decide to send it upstairs!
14th over: England 44-3 (Root 14, Stokes 23) Successive Stokes boundaries, one through midwicket followed by a superlative reverse sweep, against Ashwin. The last ball of the over, though, spins wildly and whistles past the bat.
13th over: England 34-3 (Root 14, Stokes 13) Two singles, and England lead by a run! Just give the ball to Root and they should be able to defend this.
12th over: England 32-3 (Root 13, Stokes 12) Ashwin bowls, and Stokes heaves one through midwicket for four, a handsome shot. Then the heaves the next into the air off the top edge, but it drops over Axar at midwicket and lands safe!
11th over: England 26-3 (Root 13, Stokes 6) “Batting is so tough out there,” writes Tom Bowtell, “I wonder if it is worth England declaring behind and sticking India back in?”
10th over: England 24-3 (Root 12, Stokes 5) A wild swing from Stokes, who is lucky to get nothing on it, and then an edge to second slip but the ball bounces well before the fielder.
9th over: England 22-3 (Root 12, Stokes 3) Sibley’s shot selection there was pretty appalling. There is a pleasing sense of complete wildness about all of this, and the drama is really very compelling, but it’s also quite disheartening.
A very slight edge, a fine catch from Pant, and England still trail by 14 as they lose their third wicket!
Sibley goes down on one knee to lift the ball through midwicket, doesn’t get the ball anywhere near midwicket, and India think there’s an edge! The batsman reviews instantly ...
8th over: England 19-2 (Root 12, Sibley 7) Ashwin gets one to rear up into Root, and it comes off, well, something - glove, probably - and drops just short of short leg.
7th over: England 17-2 (Root 10, Sibley 7) I think this is the longest period of vaguely sensible cricket we’ve had today. Sure, it’s not saying much, but small steps and all that. England trail by 16.
6th over: England 16-2 (Root 9, Sibley 7) “I could be wrong but am pretty sure Bairstow was dropped because he kept leaving a big gap between bat and pad and was getting bowled through the gate,” writes Will Lane. “Following today’s dismissal it looks as though he hasn’t addressed that flaw in his game, which makes the decision to bring him in at the expense of Burns (as then Crawley would have been at no.3) seem a bit harsh.” Before this match though Bairstow’s record in Asia, and in India in particular, was a fair amount better than his record overall (career average 34.45, but in India 40.11). Today he really put the dismal into dismissal, though, and his recent record in India both home and away has been abysmal.
5th over: England 13-2 (Root 7, Sibley 6) “I’m loving this new two-day format in cricket,” writes Tim Woods. “The perfect amount for those who find one-dayers too short, but no longer have time for Test matches.”
4th over: England 10-2 (Root 5, Sibley 5) Dropped! What a catch that wasn’t really very close to being, as Sibley sends the ball wide of Pujara at leg slip, who dives and gets fingertips to it. Then another edge, this time the ball dropping well short of slip.
The ball would have cleared the stumps by a few inches, and India lose a review!
Looked a decent shout again, but the umpire was the very definition of unmoved...
3rd over: England 6-2 (Root 4, Sibley 2) Axar is bowling beautifully, landing every ball on the same spot, and from there nobody really knows what’s going to happen. “Plenty of evidence here for the ‘life is a just a simulation’ theorists,” writes Daniel Shepherd. “Are we actually watching a computer game from the future and some 13 year old in 2046 has it in cheat mode?”
Jonny Bairstow’s last 7 Test innings vs India:
0
6
0
0
18
0
0#INDvsENG
2nd over: England 5-2 (Root 4, Sibley 1) Ah, three minutes of relative sanity. I’m still sifting through all the emails from happy Englishmen I got at the end of the India innings, all of which I fear are already some way out of date. A point of information on Root’s ranking among all five-fers in Test history - he’s actually joint eighth, full list here.
Spinners taking a wicket off the first ball of the innings in Tests:
Last 100 years, before this series - Zero
This #INDvsENG series - Two, Ashwin & Axar
Seven ducks by England's top 3 batsmen in this series. Only once before have England had 7 or more ducks by top 3 in a series - 8, in the 1903-04 Ashes.
1st over: England 1-2 (Root 1, Sibley 0) Root’s first ball turns sharply and narrowly misses the edge, his second goes straight but he gets some bat on it. Bairstow, refreshed after a period back home with his feet up, has come back into the team with his experience and his track record of success against spin and got two ducks, the second of them as ugly as any two-ball duck you ever will see.
England's top three have 8 ducks between them this winter.
What on earth is going on here? The wildest opening three deliveries of any innings I’ve ever seen, Bairstow misses a straight one and England are two down!
The ball was going over the stumps! That is pure luck, and Bairstow’s shot pure filth.
Axar’s got him here, for what will be a hat-trick, and England will be two down after two balls when this is confirmed in a few moments!
Crawley is bowled, first ball of the innings!
The players are back out, ready for England’s second innings. “Hi Simon,” writes Simon Lea. “Time to get a new T-Shirt printed....
W00000000000W0W0000004010W00010000101W”. Aren’t those the lyrics to a Kate Bush song?
Joe Root has the joint fifth cheapest five-fer in the entire history of Test cricket (full list here, thanks to Stephen Brown), this is anyone’s match/series, and the players take lunch/tea/whatever 20 minutes early needing to dust themselves down, cool themselves off, and work out how to score runs against these opponents on this wicket.
Cheapest five-wkt haul in Tests (Spinners)
5/8 Joe Root v Ind Ahmedabad 2020/21 *
5/9 Tim May v WI Adelaide 1992/93
6/9 Michael Clarke v Ind Mumbai WS 2004/05#INDvENG
Rooooooooooot!
5 wickets for 8 runs #OneRosepic.twitter.com/rjKoBbR50a
Joe Root has a five-fer! 6.2 overs, eight runs, five wickets, and he leaves the field waving the ball in the air!
This looks out, but again they might as well roll the DRS dice...
53rd over: India 144-9 (Bumrah 1, Ishant 9) A long delay between overs, and then Bumrah edges Leach’s first delivery high above Stokes, who flings out a hand, deflects it upwards, spins and dives backwards to complete the catch. It drops out of reach, which is a shame because that would have been an all-time great bit of fielding, one for the highlights reels and compilation DVDs, if such things still exist.
He did get some bat on it. Quite a lot of bat, really.
The umpire says yes, the batsman really might as well review it and didn’t hesitate. Did he get some bat on it?
52nd over: India 144-9 (Bumrah 1, Ishant 9) A single off the handle for Bumrah, the ball looping just beyond Pope at short leg, and Root has to wait for his five-fer. India lead by 32 runs.
51st over: India 143-9 (Bumrah 0, Ishant 9) Six runs! Ishant cracks the ball over long-off for a maximum, and then miscues a slog-sweep for a couple more.
Ishant Sharma's first six in international cricket. In his 100th Test. From his 2677th ball (2465th in Tests.)
Joe Root has just taken his best Test bowling figures from 4-87 to 4-5 in the space of 4.1 overs
#INDvENG
50th over: India 135-9 (Bumrah 0, Ishant 1) Ishant inside-edges his way to a single and India lead by 23. India started the day at 99-3 and in complete control; 80 minutes, six wickets and 36 runs later they’re in complete disarray.
Another one for Root! Ashwin goes big and sends the ball looping to Crawley in the deep!
49th over: India 134-8 (Ashwin 17, Ishant 0) England are bringing in the fielders when Ishant Sharma’s on strike, and moving them out again when Ashwin is. It seems a strange time to relax the pressure on any of the batters, but what do I know? A couple of leg-byes, and a mistimed edge along the ground for one.
48th over: India 131-8 (Ashwin 16, Ishant 0) Root’s runless run ends with his 22nd ball, which Ashwin sweeps with impeccable timing for four.
47th over: India 126-8 (Ashwin 11, Ishant 0)“Could it be that Joe Root will have a bigger impact with the ball than with the bat in this Test?” wonders Em Jackson. “There’s still not much hope but I’d take a fool’s hope over no hope right now.” Don’t downplay this, there’s actual genuine rational hope here for England now, and it’ll last until their second-innings collapse really gets going in an hour or two.
Joe Root in 2021:
740 runs at 82
8 wickets at 12
Still quite possible England lose this by an innings. Axar and Ashwin open the bowling. Foakes 4 not out off 79 balls the only bright spot
46th over: India 125-8 (Ashwin 10, Ishant 0) Root has taken three wickets in three overs, and he still hasn’t conceded a run! Just a remarkable quarter-hour or so of Test cricket.
This could genuinely be over today.
Axar Patel comes in and slaps his second ball straight to Sibley at short extra cover!
A beauty from the captain, which straightens to hit the top of off stump!
45th over: India 125-6 (Ashwin 10, Sundar 0) Ashwin bides his time, waits for his moment, and then when Leach drops one short and wide he cuts it away for four.
India has not lost a home Test batting second after securing a first-innings lead since February 1999 - when Pakistan overturned India's 38 run lead to win by 46 runs at Calcutta.
Only Pakistan (3 times) have done that in India since Australia did in 1964.#IndvEng
44th over: India 121-6 (Ashwin 6, Sundar 0) A maiden from Root to the watchful Washington Sundar.
43rd over: India 121-6 (Ashwin 6, Sundar 0) Ashwin comes down the ground to lift the ball over mid on for four, but those are the only runs of the over. Leach gets one to turn mightily past the bat, and Foakes collects it wide to his right and has the bails off in the blink of an eye. Lovely glovemanship there, but nothing for it.
42nd over: India 117-6 (Ashwin 2, Sundar 0) Well, well. What have we here? A match appears to be reappearing, and India lead by only five.
Rohit Sharma - 66 runs
All others in top-6 - 46 runs #INDvsENG
#INDvsENG This is the first time that #JackLeach has ever taken four wickets in the first innings of a Test. He averages 45 in the first innings, 20 in the second @Simon_Burnton
Root strikes with his first ball of the innings! Pant gets the slightest of edges, Foakes takes the catch, and India have lost three big wickets for three runs!
41st over: India 117-5 (Pant 1, Ashwin 2) The first ball to Ashwin is dropped a little short, and the batsman leans back andtimes the ball through the covers for a couple. “I would like engage the OBO to help me lobby the ICC to rename the second break in the day/night tests to the ‘Cocktail Break’,” writes Adam Levine. “I’d love to hear the words ‘I can’t believe he’s played that shot in the last over before cocktails’ emanating from Mark Butcher.” A wonderful idea, though in some Indian states it would have to be called a mocktail break.
And he’s gone! The ball was on its way to clattering off stump, a very similar delivery to the one that did for Rahane, umpire’s call on impact but otherwise two reds!
Rohit Sharma tries to sweep, misses and the ball hits him on the chest. He reviews, but he looks angry with himself as cameras zoom in on him and I’m not sure he’s confident.
40th over: India 115-4 (Rohit 66, Pant 1) Anderson’s first ball tempts Pant into limply hanging out his bat, and it whistles past the edge and through to Foakes behind the stumps. Chastened, Pant reins himself in a bit from then on, though he does fair smash one delivery straight to the man at backward point.
39th over: India 115-4 (Rohit 66, Pant 1) So, it’s Jack Leach v Rishabh Pant. Well, briefly - Pant hits his first ball to mid-on for a single.
Leach has bowled excellently this morning, and now has a reward! Rahane rocks back, gets nothing on a ball that straightens slightly, and his pad stops it smacking off stump!
38th over: India 113-3 (Rohit 66, Rahane 7) Just a single off the over, though Rohit wants a second and gets halfway down the track before being sent back. At the end of the over a groundsman comes on and sweeps fully half a bucket’s worth of dust off the crease. At one point it’s hard to tell if he’s cleaning up or burrowing.
37th over: India 113-3 (Rohit 66, Rahane 6) Rahane mistimes a sweep, and the ball caresses the top edge of his swishing blade and goes straight to Stokes at slip, bouncing once along the way. Then he sweeps again, this time he nails it, and a single later India lead by one. “Is David Reynolds really saying that our best chance here is offering to do Virat Kohli’s tax returns?” wonders Steve Hudson. “He might be right, I guess.”
36th over: India 108-3 (Rohit 66, Rahane 1) Too short and too wide, and Rohit Sharma cuts it away past point for four! Then a back-foot punch through the covers for four more! That’s 7% of England’s total right there, from two shots in three balls, and India are one more boundary away from parity.
35th over: India 100-3 (Rohit 58, Rahane 1) Leach bowls, and a sharp single to mid off earns the day’s first run and tickles the score into three figures. The third ball flicks off Rahane’s bat into his thigh pad and loops to leg gully, but there’s nobody there to catch it.
34th over: India 99-3 (Rohit 57, Rahane 1) A maiden to start the day, Rahane looking most discomforted by the fuller deliveries, of which there are a couple.
Right then, the players are out, Anderson has the ball in his hands, it’s 34C in Ahmedabad, let’s go!
Less than 10 minutes before the action starts. “Despite the wretched first day, the prospect of another day of test cricket brightens our morning,” writes David Reynolds. “And, as Andy Dufresne knows well, being in a fetid hole can lead to a great escape. Joe Root still might have a metaphorical Mexican beach in his near future.” That is a remarkable and admirable level of optimism, sir.
And here’s Anand Vasu’s take from the stadium itself. “The first sign of novelty appeared before a ball had been bowled when Ram Nath Kovind, the president of India, inaugurated the refurbished facility that has a capacity of 110,000, and revealed that the ground would be called the Narendra Modi Stadium,” he writes. “There cannot be too many instances of a stadium’s name being changed before it has even been used once, but these things happen in India.”
Related: Old and new are intertwined at India's fortress in familiar tale for England | Anand Vasu
Some pre-play reading, courtesy of Andy Bull’s take on yesterday’s action, and England’s slow-release balloon puncture of an innings:
There are days of Test cricket you remember for ever, and then there are the days like the one England just had in Ahmedabad, frustrating, exasperating, bad tempered and best forgotten, the ones you would rather just move right on from before anyone ever mentions them. When, at the end of play, the only real consolation is you get the chance to try all over again tomorrow.
Related: England's long resigned sigh of an innings a depressing inevitability | Andy Bull
The best thing about yesterday, from England’s point of view, is that it ended. But though it’s a new day it’s the same game, and the tourists are chest-deep in a fetid hole. Today is India’s opportunity to bat them out of the match, out of all hope of series victory, and out, for what it’s worth, of the World Test Championship final. England need an avalanche of wickets, but they need to attack without runs on the board to defend. It’s all, in short, extremely awkward. Here’s Ali Martin’s report on day one, and welcome!
England went into the day-night third Test in Ahmedabad buoyed by the prospect of the pink ball helping their seamers. But come the end of the opening day this optimism had melted away, their batsmen having endured yet another collapse to spin that means India are again the team in full control.
As Joe Root’s players trudged off the field their faces wore wry smiles and their heads were filled with regret. They had earlier been bowled out for a measly 112 in 48.4 overs – Axar Patel, the left-arm spinner, taking six for 38 – and in reply the hosts were within touching distance of parity at 99 for three.
Related: England capitulate to Axar Patel and give India control of third Test
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