England in India 2024-25 : The Pataudi Trophy

[Atithee]

^*I think he is batting higher because of the debutants in the team. Anyway, happy wherever he bats.

[PKBasu]

Chanceless 50* off 48 balls for Sarfaraz on debut. He doesn't look elegant while batting, but boy is he effective against spin.

Not troubled at all by Anderson, Sarfaraz is 57* not out now, in a 69-run partnership with Jadeja.

[PKBasu]

Sad way for Sarfaraz to get out. Jadeja was stranded on 96 for awhile, got to 98 and 99, then called for a single which the debutant responded to, then was sent back. He couldn't possibly beat the direct throw, and so was run out for 62 after a very promising debut innings. He looked good for a 200 on debut, frankly. Jadeja was ludicrously circumspect in the runup to the century, and then even refused an easy single off the last ball of the penultimate over -- perhaps to give Kuldeep Yadav some batting practice against the new ball?? Eventually, Jadeja did get to face the last two balls of the day, duly hitting one for four, so it beggars belief that he refused to take the sure run off the last ball of the previous over.

[prasen9]

^*I think he is batting higher because of the debutants in the team. Anyway, happy wherever he bats.

He batted higher because we wanted a right, left pair with the spinners coming on. Both their spinners turn the ball one way, i.e., away from the right-hander and is harder to face for the right hander. And, a bit maybe because of the debutants.

Well played Sarfaraz. There is still one more innings to get a ton on debut!

Rohit should cut out the hook/pull that is lofted. In the morning session, he did well to cut it out. Only hooks and pulls on the ground to get singles. He is not a good hooker/puller as opposed to his other shots. i think a prior analysis showed that he scores at 35 per out when hooking/pulling vs 45 when he is playing overall. So, it is not worth it. Just his ego and this media myth that he is a good hooker/puller (in tests). Of course, in white ball cricket, it is fine depending upon bowler, situation, and ball. Too many times he takes the bait and gets out.

With Jadeja being in exceptional batting form again, Yashasvi being superb, Sarfaraz playing a gem of an innings, Rahul playing a good knock, and Rohit doing very well, we have five batters in form including two openers. Gill has been poor, Iyer poorer, and Bharat even more so. Patidar has been the worst although he has had only three innings. With Sarfaraz breathing down his back and Gill having the advantage of having bribed the selection committee pooling money with Rahul, Patidar should take note and give us a century in the next innings. If we get two more functioning bats including Rahul maybe getting fit, then we will be able to counter the three #11s and passengers we are carrying. Then, it will be fun to see Bazball under the yoke of a 550 total with the pitch behaving badly at times.

[Kumar]

I agree with Raj . Jadeja should absolutely bat up in Indian conditions. And it is a no brainer when u have three debutants.

Jadeja was ludicrously circumspect in the runup to the century, and then even refused an easy single off the last ball of the penultimate over -- perhaps to give Kuldeep Yadav some batting practice against the new ball?? Eventually, Jadeja did get to face the last two balls of the day, duly hitting one for four, so it beggars belief that he refused to take the sure run off the last ball of the previous over.

85.4: James Anderson to Kuldeep Yadav, Too full at 129.2 clicks outside off, Kuldeep Yadav opens the bat's face and runs for a quick single towards backward point. Jadeja wants the double but is sent back by Kuldeep in time with a sharp call.

Sneaky by Jadeja not wanting to face Anderson in the last over. Any wicket in the last over typically results in stumps being called. Alas, his move almost backfired as Kuldeep did not want to take 2 and he ended up having to face Anderson the last two deliveries.

Curious why they did not take the new ball as soon as it was available especially with the knock against Sarfaraz that he does not handle pacers well. And they waited for another over after his dismissal seemingly to bring it against Kuldeep. Further once new ball was ten, why not let Mark Wood bowl with new ball. Is it becoz umpires may call light with pace bowlers bowling?

[Kumar]

Once again this team surprised me. I was expecting complete capitulation but they did well. Sarfaraz was protected and he justified that protection with a nice knock. For all his quickness, Jadeja does get run out quite a bit or involved in run outs.


Test interestingly poised with morning session the absolute critical. India will need to survive first 10 overs with Jadeja still in the crease and no more than one wicket lost.

Team mgmt made some smart decision with sending Kuldeep as night watchman. He is more defensive compared to Ashwin who typically likes to throw his bat.

Will india cross 350?

[prasen9]

Jadeja is not a very good or quick decision maker. He is always very optimistic that there is a run maybe because he can run very fast.

Kuldeep should not be out for 1 hours. Jadeja needs to drop the habit of Indian batters getting out early on in the day after resuming a big innings. We need to go to lunch with Jadeja and Jurel with the loss of only Kuldeep perhaps.

The idea of nightwatchmen is sort of stupid I think. Does it really result in more runs overall?

Both Yashasvi and Sarfaraz come from very poor backgrounds relatively speaking. I am so glad that they got into the Indian team.

[Kumar]

By the way all kudos to Sarfaraz. He absolutely got the best set up with Mark Wood replaced immediately after he came to the crease. Wood bowled just few balls to Sarfaraz after Rohit’s dismissal. He did not face the quicks at the tail end of his innings.

Still, It has been a while since we saw a right hander dominate spin bowling like he appeared to have done today. I am hoping we never get to see Sarfaraz bat until 30 overs or so into the innings and hopefully longer. It certainly looks like Patidar has let pressure get to him. Would love to see him show up for the next game.

As to Gill, it would be absolute travesty if he fails in second innings and continues to get picked. Sorry, he got to go. His innings in the vizag test though highly instrumental for india’s victory was not convincing enough to keep him in the squad. Let him play the remaining ranji games and bring him back for Australian tour where he may be our best batter.

As to Jaiswal, his mode of dismissals to pace bowlers is still troubling. Dismissals from loose drive and unable to handle the bounce seems to be the theme. Still he is young and hopefully can ensure that there are no holes in bis technique

[Kumar]

Jadeja is not a very good or quick decision maker. He is always very optimistic that there is a run maybe because he can run very fast.

Kuldeep should not be out for 1 hours. Jadeja needs to drop the habit of Indian batters getting out early on in the day after resuming a big innings. We need to go to lunch with Jadeja and Jurel with the loss of only Kuldeep perhaps.

The idea of nightwatchmen is sort of stupid I think. Does it really result in more runs overall?

Both Yashasvi and Sarfaraz come from very poor backgrounds relatively speaking. I am so glad that they got into the Indian team.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/ind- ... am-1421299

It had been threatening to happen all day, during his partnerships with both Rohit and Sarfaraz. Jadeja has this way of playing a shot and scurrying down the pitch whether he means to take a single or not. By the time he's decided not to, his partner is often well out of his crease

.

Jadeja better figure this out. He needs to be smarter.

As to night watchman, lot of top order batsman don’t like to come in and play when only 3-4 overs remain. Night watchman does help if that batsman can help stave off a wicket. Yesterday, it would have been totally unfair for Jurel to walk in at that juncture for his debut innings and face new ball as well. That was perfect time to bring in someone like kuldeep who appeared to have survived some anxious moments.

[Kumar]

Rohit should cut out the hook/pull that is lofted. In the morning session, he did well to cut it out. Only hooks and pulls on the ground to get singles. He is not a good hooker/puller as opposed to his other shots. i think a prior analysis showed that he scores at 35 per out when hooking/pulling vs 45 when he is playing overall. So, it is not worth it. Just his ego and this media myth that he is a good hooker/puller (in tests). Of course, in white ball cricket, it is fine depending upon bowler, situation, and ball. Too many times he takes the bait and gets out.

Dravid was a master at weaving to the bouncer keeping an eye on the ball all the way thru. None of our current players appear to play bouncers well. Pujara will take it on his ribs. Rohit will play attacking stroke off it. Gill probably plays it the best. Still remember how he toyed with Mitchell Starc at Gabba when they peppered him with short balls.

[Atithee]

Jadeja was run out in first test, involved in Ashwin run out in second, and now ran Sarfraz out in third. This is inexcusable. He needs to fix this. I remember Dhawan had a similar tendency to take a few steps out after every ball he played, IIRC.

[Sin Hombre]

Agree with atithee and the rest here on Jadeja.

We need 500 runs minimum in the first innings. I expect England to score 500 in 4 sessions in their response on this patta pitch.

Gill and KL are going to set records for Indian batsmen with the lowest test averages who played 80+ tests. KL already has that record for 50+ tests.

[prasen9]

Rohit shook off Jadeja well. Sarfaraz has possibly learned enough to do the same and not trust him going forward. It was actually Jadeja's call and Wood was behind Sarfaraz. But, Jadeja totally misjudged things. Sarfaraz was only out of the crease for 3-4 steps by when the ball was already with Wood. So, it was a most idiotic call.

[Atithee]

The lure of a century makes people very selfish.

[PKBasu]

Pathetic for Jadeja to get out first thing in the morning. So he has really wasted the chance he gave himself by running out Sarfaraz.

He does have a problem with running out partners. It needs fixing, but should have been fixed long ago. Dravid too was someone who ran out a lot of partners during his career. But he usually compensated with long innings. Jadeja went into his shell before reaching 90, and stayed in that bizarre shell until he got out.