Second Test: India v England, Visakhapatnam, 17-21 November

[Papa Lazarou]

Another Hire Score Bore Draw in India Shock Horror, and they wonder why Test Cricket is dying...

Sadly I don't think this IS a bore draw wicket. It's been designed specifically to do 2 things.

1. Reduce the conditions that allow reverse swing - by producing a lush green outfield to stop the ball getting rough.
2. To bat well for a couple of days and then deteriorate and take spin - a bit of a risk, but reliant upon India batting 1st.

I think this is wicket where the innings scores will trend down. We will need to bat well 1st up to avoid chasing 400+ over 2 days at the end on a treacherous track.

 

[Postman Pat]

New ball does the trick....Rahane c Bairstow b Anderson 23

317-4

 

[spring hall convert]

Jimmy Anderson, first competitive bowl for how long?

16.0 - 3 - 44 - 3

 

[Pavilionaire]

Four wickets in the day, all taken by our pacemen, while our three spinners leave the field empty-handed. Hmmm...

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Four wickets in the day, all taken by our pacemen, while our three spinners leave the field empty-handed. Hmmm...

Might be because this is a wicket where the spinners won't be important until days 3-5....

 

[Pavilionaire]

Might be because this is a wicket where the spinners won't be important until days 3-5....

It was still taking spin though. As the Great Richie might have said: "None for a hundred and eighty off 49 overs - pretty ordinary effort, that".

 

[Gwylan]

It was still taking spin though. As the Great Richie might have said: "None for a hundred and eighty off 49 overs - pretty ordinary effort, that".

How many are proper spinners though? Moeen's the best of them and he's got a test bowling average of 40. They're all batters who can bowl rather than real spinners. I suspect we'll see a difference when India bowl

 

[ManOfSussex]

Kohli and Pujara make England work like dogs on day one

Mike Atherton, Chief Cricket Correspondent, Visakhapatnam

To my knowledge, there is no @vkgenius parody account on twitter but, then again, there doesn’t need to be. The writing on Virat Kohli’s blade proclaims “genius”- it is the type of bat he uses - and England’s bowlers had plenty of time in Visakhapatnam, where he scored a sublime 14th Test hundred, to ponder the appropriateness of the description.

Sooner or later, England were always going to feel the full force of Kohli’s bat and his hundred came as no surprise. Runs on the last day in Rajkot had given notice of his form and the clarity of his thinking; the ground here in Visakhapatnam has been historically kind to him; the groundsman had listened to instruction and produced a - so far- lifeless surface; the coin landed in his favour, and two early wickets fell to bring him quickly to the crease. Everything was set up.

Although he faced his tormentor, James Anderson, for the first time this series, their stars have moved in different orbits since 2014. Two years older now and in very different conditions, Anderson is coming back from injury, while Kohli has taken his game to a new level since his elevation to the captaincy, this being his seventh hundred in just 19 matches in charge. It felt a loaded contest, although Anderson’s return, with three wickets, went as well as could be expected.

Anderson struck with each new ball to bookend the day. His first wicket, that of Murali Vijay, showed that if his body had rusted during the break, his cricket brain certainly hasn’t; the second, that of Ajinkya Rahane just before the close, confirmed his fitness. England were thankful for him, because Vijay had looked ominous at the start, having driven three sweet fours off the front foot in the opening overs, until a bouncer from Anderson, following an instinctive change of ploy, went to slip off the glove. KL Rahul had already edged Stuart Broad to slip in the second over of the day and, unexpectedly, India were two wickets down in the first 40 minutes of play.

Enter Cheteshwar Pujara, who would no more walk out with such a proclamation of “genius” on his bat than he would cover his arms, as Kohli does, with tattoos. But, like Rahul Dravid before him, just because India’s No 3 enjoys a lower level of fame and exposure than the man who follows him in the order, it does not mean that he is any less valuable. Less marketable, perhaps, and less wealthy, but no less valuable to his team - as he proved once again.

Two more contrasting characters and cricketers you could not find, but they like batting together, having combined for three hundred partnerships before yesterday, and for four hours they subjected England to some fruitless, and ultimately dispiriting toil. It was a bad toss to lose for sure, but England did not always help themselves and Alastair Cook might last night have pondered the wisdom of introducing Zafar Ansari, his third best spinner, so soon into the attack, when India were wobbling. The release of pressure was palpable.

With Anderson’s first spell done, Broad struggling with a foot injury and Chris Woakes rested, the nearest England came to parting them in the opening session, was when they were involved in two mix-ups, the second of which provided the morning’s most comical moment when, having been sent back upon sprinting for two, Pujara dropped his bat mid-pitch and had to turn and dive full-length for the crease. The only moment of concern induced by an England bowler was when Broad moved a leg-cutter off the pitch like a leg-break just before lunch.

This occurred with greater frequency towards the end of the day, inducing a note of caution about England’s prospects, as this pitch will deteriorate more than last week’s. For the most part, though, it was a batsman’s paradise and it was a reality check for England’s bowlers after the hardness of Rajkot. Like a stick of chewing gum in the midst of the lush, green outfield, it was more typically Indian, absorbing any pace from the seamers and revealing England’s spinners as generally too short in length.

What had been a good length in Rajkot proved short of one here, and too often England’s spinners allowed the batsman to sit on the back foot and milk runs. Between them they managed just two maidens. Mind you, Pujara’s footwork was quicksilver and whenever he saw the ball flighted, he was quick to get down the pitch to attack. His fifty came shortly after lunch; Kohli’s soon afterwards, a milestone that was barely acknowledged, so much higher had he set his sights.

England held reasonable control for a while, until Kohli was given a life, on 56, when he top-edged a pull towards Adil Rashid at fine-leg off Ben Stokes. The short-pitched ploy was designed to induce such a mistake, so Cook ought to have placed a more athletic fielder there, which he did immediately afterwards by replacing Rashid with Anderson. It was a missed opportunity, even though it was a fiendishly difficult chance, low and hard, as Rashid advanced at pace.

On such a pitch chances must be taken, though. It was the last Kohli offered and the way England’s out-cricket deteriorated after that, you sensed they realised the error all too well. Ansari was taken for two expensive overs as his accuracy wavered; Moeen Ali, ignored earlier in the day for too long, was also removed from the action, leaking runs. Rashid plugged away manfully, negated by the slowness of the turn. When a stray dog invaded the arena, and evaded handling, England were grateful for the offer of an early tea.

Pujara pulled a long hop from Rashid into the stands shortly afterwards, to bring up his third hundred in as many Tests and it was a surprise when he cut a short ball from Anderson to the wicket-keeper, given his normally gargantuan appetite in such circumstances. Soon after his hundred, Pujara had showed his selfless side, or how easy it is for him to submerge whatever ego he possesses, by allowing Kohli more of the strike, so enabling India’s captain to bring up his own, in 30 fewer deliveries.

After Kohli’s match-saving innings in Rajkot, this hundred was more attuned to his nature. He senses an opportunity already and is not done yet.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/kohli-finally-proves-his-class-to-england-05g8bfmz8

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

VK must be just about the best batsman around now? Joe Root a close second?

 

[Gwylan]

VK must be just about the best batsman around now? Joe Root a close second?

Kane Williamson? And I believe a certain Mr Smith is officially number one

 

[Pantani]

VK must be just about the best batsman around now? Joe Root a close second?

Joe Root is much better than Kohli. He has a higher average, and can bat against the swinging ball. Kohli is a master in Indian conditions, but on a wet morning in England he is a walking wicket.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Joe Root is much better than Kohli. He has a higher average, and can bat against the swinging ball. Kohli is a master in Indian conditions, but on a wet morning in England he is a walking wicket.

Good point; I was overly influenced by a masterful performance today. I'd have them both in my side though!

 

[Pantani]

Good point; I was overly influenced by a masterful performance today. I'd have them both in my side though!

No doubt. We are probably comparing the best batsman in the world with the second best.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Not having Sky, I rely on Channel 5 for Test Highlights. I can't find them listed. Is anyone showing them (excluding Sky, obviously)?

 

[Gwylan]

No doubt. We are probably comparing the best batsman in the world with the second best.

Kohli is not even in the top 10 of current test batsmen

 

[knocky1]

But he might be tomorrow or 4 days time

 

[Gwylan]

But he might be tomorrow or 4 days time

He'd have to go some to be in the top 10. He's 14th at the moment and the ratings are based on career performance so one big score won't make a big difference (the ICC is a bit secretive about how exactly the ratings are calculated).

The ICC do say that the quality of the opposition is taken into account but England are rated 4th so that will count against Kohli. Amla and De Kock are both above Kohli in the rankings and will soon have to bat against a weak Australian attack but, bizarrely, because Australia are above England, runs against them are worth more. Similarly, if Williamson scores runs against a Pakistan attack, it's worth more Azhar Ali scoring against NZ

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

He'd have to go some to be in the top 10. He's 14th at the moment and the ratings are based on career performance so one big score won't make a big difference (the ICC is a bit secretive about how exactly the ratings are calculated).

The ICC do say that the quality of the opposition is taken into account but England are rated 4th so that will count against Kohli. Amla and De Kock are both above Kohli in the rankings and will soon have to bat against a weak Australian attack but, bizarrely, because Australia are above England, runs against them are worth more. Similarly, if Williamson scores runs against a Pakistan attack, it's worth more Azhar Ali scoring against NZ

Wow. Thanks for spelling this out. I had no idea it was so complex. De Kock is on fire - but Bairstow has also had one heck of a year too hasn't he?

 

[Gwylan]

Wow. Thanks for spelling this out. I had no idea it was so complex. De Kock is on fire - but Bairstow has also had one heck of a year too hasn't he?

Bairstow has: I think he's top run scorer (or second top) this calendar year. But if you look at the rankings, he's below Adam Voges who has had a poor run. That's why I don't think a big score for Kohli will make all that much difference

 

[studio150]

Going well this morning with Ali picking up wickets 392-7