India in England, 2018

[PKBasu]

Adil Rashid finally takes it away. England were about to take the new ball, but fortunately for them, Root wasn’t persuaded by his fast Bowling greats.

[ankit1407]

All our brilliant innings eventually ends up in a losing cause.. we have history of that ( Sachin against Pak; Kohli against Aus) to name few .. seems like we will lose this one as well..

[PKBasu]

Anderson has been bowling a desperately negative line far outside the off stump for several overs now.

[PKBasu]

In the end it was an elementary error by Rahul that cost India the match — although it was Rahul’s 149 that made the final day competitive. Leg spinners who pitch so far outside leg stump normally can’t get wickets because the batsman can just pad the ball away like a Hockey goalie. Rahul elegantly missed it with his bat and had his off stump clipped!

[PKBasu]

Sam Curran is an extremely skilful bowler: the ball that got Jadeja was an absolute beauty. I wonder how much success he’ll have outside England.

[ankit1407]

So it ended as expected 4-1 .. Hopefully this is the last we have seen from Dhawan and Vijay from red ball cricket ..

Others such as Shami, Pandya , Ashwin and Rahane should be out of the team as well and asked to go back and play domestic before being considered again..

Time to get the likes of Shah, Mayank Agarwal a test cap..

A wishlist but I do hope Mr Shastri is shown the door ..

[Prem]

Don’t agree as far as Shami and Ashwin are concerned.
Shami was brilliant with the ball but very unlucky. Michael Artherton during commentary even nicknamed him ‘Mohd. UNLUCKY Shami’. Also, Ashwin has been our match winner over the past few years. Yes, he doesn’t have a great record in England but shouldn’t be dropped just on this ground. He was not fully fit too in the last match, which cost us the match.

Overall, our batsmen lost the series when bowlers managed to take 20 wickets in most matches. 3 matches were were lost by us by 2 digit runs margin and all these matches could have gone either way.

Shastri should go as he was bad with team selection and for not having at least 2 first class 4 day practice games before the First Test and even reducing the only game to a 3 day game.

[rajitghosh]

The modern generation won't know of the Hai Hai Shastri chants at Eden Gardens when he was a player. Either he would waste balls while batting or get hit while bowling. He was useless as a player and is useless as a coach. He got into the Indian team because India had a shortage of talent in those days and bits and pieces players like him flourished. His averages both in batting and bowling say it all. He is now spreading that incompetence among the current generation while a real legend like Kumble (he and Sehwag were India's greatest match winners) was fired.

[prasen9]

Don’t agree as far as Shami and Ashwin are concerned.
Shami was brilliant with the ball but very unlucky. Michael Artherton during commentary even nicknamed him ‘Mohd. UNLUCKY Shami’. Also, Ashwin has been our match winner over the past few years. Yes, he doesn’t have a great record in England but shouldn’t be dropped just on this ground. He was not fully fit too in the last match, which cost us the match.

There is some merit to what you say. But, you are being too charitable with Ashwin. That statement should read Ashwing has been our match winner on spinning pitches at home. It is not about a great record in England. He is abysmal abroad in the SANE countries.

Ashwin's bowling average in Australia: 55, England 33, South Africa 46. He has not played in New Zealand.

Actually, in England he may be somewhat passable. Just because he is good in the subcontinent and on slow, spinning pitches does not mean we should play him in England.

The bottom-line at the end was Shami not getting enough wickets for whatever reason and Ashwin not doing much in a low-scoring series and being outshone by Moeen. Fitness is part of the game. If he was not fit, he should have owned up and not played. The blame for playing him should go to the team selectors too. But fit or unfit, for justified reason or not, my point is he was the weak link whereas England's attack fired with all cylinders. Anderson, Woakes, Moeen, Curran were great. Stokes and Broad were very good. And Rashid was just about fine given his two wickets in the last day. no holes. Assisted by the incompetence of Indian batsmen, of course.

[prasen9]

a real legend like Kumble (he and Sehwag were India's greatest match winners) was fired.

I respect Kumble as a coach and as a fantastic bowler in India and against poor opposition. Sort of another Ashwin. But, he was also largely a failure abroad and rarely won us matches abroad. Here is his record:

Australia: 38, England 41, New Zealand 40, Pakistan 42, Sri Lanka 45.

He was okay in South Africa 32, West Indies 31.

A match winner in India only and Bangladesh, Zimbabwe maybe.

[prasen9]

In the end it was an elementary error by Rahul that cost India the match — although it was Rahul’s 149 that made the final day competitive. Leg spinners who pitch so far outside leg stump normally can’t get wickets because the batsman can just pad the ball away like a Hockey goalie. Rahul elegantly missed it with his bat and had his off stump clipped!

The other Rahul used to do this consistently. And that would have been a very wise strategy. Because that would force Rashid to bowl without the rough at least to him. And, then he would get more freebies to hit. At the end, it was a big mistake.

[rajitghosh]

[/quote]The other Rahul used to do this consistently. And that would have been a very wise strategy. Because that would force Rashid to bowl without the rough at least to him. And, then he would get more freebies to hit. At the end, it was a big mistake.
[/quote]

Comparing with the other Rahul is blasphemy. The other Rahul also knew how to leave balls in England.

[Prashant]

The modern generation won't know of the Hai Hai Shastri chants at Eden Gardens when he was a player.

Eden Gardens? You mean every ground in India, most definitely including his home in Mumbai. Never had a clue what the team needed when batting, just his own stats.

[prasen9]

Never had a clue what the team needed when batting, just his own stats.

Unfortunately, I felt the same when I saw Rahul and Pant batting in the last innings. I did not have a problem with them hitting. But, you only hit balls that are likely to go to the wicket. From the perspective of the team, they should have padded all balls pitched outside leg and let all wide balls go outside the off. They did not do that. From the perspective of saving their careers, they needed runs. Look at Rahane's innings. He played out 145 balls with good discipline. We cannot say the same for Rahul, Pant or Kohli. At the end, Pant was more successful and played out more balls than Rahane 194. But, when you are trying to save a test, there is no need to try to loft over a fielder at the boundary. Wrt Rahul, no need to play anything outside the leg.

[prasen9]

Never had a clue what the team needed when batting, just his own stats.

Unfortunately, I felt the same when I saw Rahul and Pant batting in the last innings. I did not have a problem with them hitting. But, you only hit balls that are likely to go to the wicket. From the perspective of the team, they should have padded all balls pitched outside leg and let all wide balls go outside the off. They did not do that. From the perspective of saving their careers, they needed runs. They played for themselves and not the team. Look at Rahane's innings. He played out 145 balls with good discipline. We cannot say the same for Rahul, Pant or Kohli. At the end, Pant was more successful and played out more balls than Rahane 194. But, when you are trying to save a test, there is no need to try to loft over a fielder at the boundary. Wrt Rahul, no need to play anything outside the leg.

In fact Pant's antsyness kept Rashid on for another over and Root did not take the new ball. Of course, Pant, being a left-hander was at a disadvantage. But, he was trying to hit several shots and missed instead of just blocking the ball after Rashid started dropping it on the rough. And that continuation led to Rahul being out in the next Rashid over.

Maybe they would have been out either way with the new ball. But, whatever, it feels bad to lose a match by playing bad cricket.