England in India 2024-25 : The Pataudi Trophy

[Atithee]

Because Rajat is injured. All signs were pointing to him being retained. Several of us need to drop our cynicism, I’m included.

[prasen9]

India should bat until 1 hour before stumps on day 3, score 300 more runs and then declare. I am rooting for centuries by Bumrah and Kuldeep.

Gill scores a century and moves above Rahul, and above a 35 average. So, Rahul and Vihari are the under-35ers and of course Patidar. Just above Gill are Axar, Jadeja, and Shreyas. Hope Gill does well in Australia and moves above these guys.

New guys: Yashasvi 68, Padikkal 65, Jurel 63, Sarfaraz 50. We will see how they do in SENA.

[Kumar]

This game is very similar to first game. Let us hope we don’t make the mistakes from first game.

We had an opportunity to shut them out at 376-3, but a collapse has almost ruled that possibility out. How is the pitch behaving? Getting slower and slower?

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Jaiswal got 4 innings in test matches against SA in SA but he looked in trouble specially against left armer Burger. He doesnt have India A experience in SENA, so upcomming tour of Australia will be a big test for him. Every team wants to utilize home conditions, still it would have been best if Dharamshala track had some grass with pace & bounce

[Kumar]

I think Australia is typically more of a batting pitch than any other place. Our batsman have done well. I think Jaiswal would be okay in Australia, but more doubtful about NZ and England. I absolutely expect Gill to be our best batsman in Australia.

As it has been pointed out, teams are resorting to totally different pitches when playing indian test team. Does any of u remember spinner getting 5 wickets in NZ. It happened last week with both lyons and philips getting fifer. I can bet u the entire money in my pocket now that if it had been India, such a pitch would not be offered.

Similarly our touring A teams are playing on pitches which are more batting than the green tops that our test team gets. Our batsman seems to do way better in those A tours. So that A experience in SEN is worthless from perspective of valuation of players ability in SEN conditions


Don’t know why we have made two A tours to SA, but there has not been a tour to Australia, England or NZ since covid

[prasen9]

Yes, but, I still would value the runs scored by PRP. Though the pace was not there, the bounce is always there. Also, when someone scores big that means they don't throw their wicket away or get imperious, etc.

In tests, if we are going back to have seven batters it may be:

Openers: Yashasvi, Rohit
Batsmen: Gill, Sarfaraz, Kohli

Backup: Rahul (though they'll play him before Sarfaraz)

Keeper: Pant, Jurel

Spinners: Jadeja, Axar, Kuldeep

Pacers: Bumrah, Siraj, Shami (assuming fit), Mukesh, Akash Deep

Standby: Padikkal

If they take 17, then who gets in? Avesh if Shami is not fit.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Till that Kookaburra is brand new it makes tough for batters in Aus, once it becomes old it become easiest to face then other brands. So, Jaiswal has to face tough times and play the survival game, if he starts playing his shorts like he has done in SA it will be hadd for him to get success. India has been worst in NZ condition, even Bangladesh (though lost matches) but has played better then India in NZ with confidence. Indian spinners has been horrible compared to others in NZ, which has been one of the reason for their poor show as they have failed supporting pacers.In England, team has got some test wins but has troubled to handle swing. As per contracts, England Lions & NZ A were scheduled to tour India which happened recently, however A tour to Australia might be there soon.

[prasen9]

Yashasvi was careful in West Indies. So, he will be careful in Australia.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Batting in West Indies now is similar to batting in India or Sri Lanka. He needed to bat carefully in South Africa which didn't happened.

[prasen9]

He was not good enough in those minefields. It was not a matter of being careful. He was being careful but he did not have the skills or the luck to score there. Knowing he would not last long, he hit out. Australia usually is not like RSA. I hope they will not rig their wickets to make things a minefield like RSA did. In the first innings, he scored 0 off 7 balls and saw the rest of his teammates and the RSA batters go down. So, he went for his shots and scored 28 off 23 in I2, which was very valuable. Given how low the scores were in that series, a 25 is like a 50. In the second innings, he went for 17 off 37 balls, and 5 off 18 balls. Actually, he was playing more conventionally then. Maybe the rest of the batters benefited from his playing 37 balls but in hindsight, he went for his shots in I2 of the first test and should have gone for it like that in test 2. Of course, he did not think he would be out cheaply and tried his best but he did not get out because he tried to hit indiscriminately in RSA. Jaiswal is a very sensible player, except in the last two innings where he let adrenaline get to him. He will be fine in Australia strategy-wise. Whether he has the skills to play the moving ball, we will see.

[PKBasu]

I don't understand why few people are unhappy with Patidar being dropped. Does anyone really think he would have scored any runs? Would you rather have just 10 players in the team?

Does same thing was thought about Bharat ? If yes then why 7 test for Bharat & only 3 for Patidar

Because Bharat's 'keeping was generally tidy. I agree that Ishan Kishan should have been the incumbent 'keeper-batsman in South Africa, but once he began behaving bizarrely, Bharat got his chance. He was rightly dropped after his repeated failures with the bat, and a slight deterioration in his 'keeping. Jurel has been a good replacement on all counts, but that wasn't obvious beforehand (and Jurel did struggle in 'keeping to Kuldeep in the first innings of his debut test).

[PKBasu]

Superb innings this morning from Rohit and (especially) Gill. We got the better weather -- it was sunny (so much so that there was a glorious view of the snow-capped, actually snow-filled, Dhauladhar peaks) this morning, while it had been somewhat cloudy yesterday (and hence more conducive to swing). I particularly enjoyed Sarfaraz's innings before tea. He began slowly, getting his eye in. Then he just launched into Wood: first a lofted drive over the bowler's head, then a ramp shot to a low bouncer, and then a magnificent hook for 6, and a glorious glance for 4. He foolishly played a late cut uppishly on the first ball after tea, and was caught at slip by Root off Bashir. So he hasn't secured a test slot for the long-term -- which would have required a century. But I like what I see. He showed in his debut test that he is a brilliant player of spin, today he showed he can handle pace with elan as well.

[prasen9]

Even if Sarfaraz scored a century, they would bring in Rahul before him abroad. This management does not go with performance. They have their likes and dislikes. Tier I likes are Gill and Rahul and they will get lots and lots of chances until it is absolutely impossible for them to keep these two in the side. Then, come the others. And, of course, Kohli and Rohit will also be Tier 1 because our selectors lack the guts to drop them. Arguably, Rohit has been our best batter in the last 5 years or so. And, Kohli has been the best in the last year or so. So, they are not really out of form and deserve their places in the XI.

[arjun2761]

I don't understand why few people are unhappy with Patidar being dropped. Does anyone really think he would have scored any runs? Would you rather have just 10 players in the team?

Paddikal scored as many or more runs in one innings than Patidar scored in 6 innings. Paddikal is also 23 while Patidar is 30, so this this replacement made complete sense as far as team India finding their next set of players.

[PKBasu]

There really is no question about this. Padikkal should have replaced Patidar even for the last test. That he finally did replace him here was fortuitous, and we've got a much better batsman coming in, who also happens to be much younger. Patidar's test career has proven to be short, much as Suryakumar's was -- only that Patidar had one good innings, which (along with the 151 he made for India A) gave him a longer rope, with which he sadly hung himself. Padikkal had a couple of edgy fours (2 out of his first 3 boundary hits) but otherwise looked very good. I think he should be picked ahead of Rahul, but of course Dravid and Rohit won't do it.

Also, hats off to Kuldeep Yadav for again playing a superb innings, adding valuable runs that could be decisive in ensuring an innings victory here. This is his second consecutive consequential knock with the bat. And he has stolen Ashwin's thunder in his 100th test, with both ball and bat!