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Post by Admin on Feb 11, 2021 16:07:42 GMT
Archer injured
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Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2021 19:21:31 GMT
James Anderson, Jofra Archer and Dom Bess will miss the second Test for England against India starting on Saturday in Chennai.
Anderson is being rested after inspiring England to a 227-run first Test victory, taking five wickets.
It was confirmed on Thursday that Archer will miss out because of an elbow injury, while Bess is dropped.
Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Ben Foakes, Olly Stone and Chris Woakes come into the 12-man squad.
Jos Buttler, who kept wicket in the first Test, is rested for the remainder of the Test series but will return for the Twenty20 matches that follow.
Explaining the decision to drop 23-year-old Bess, whose performances have been inconsistent this year, captain Joe Root said: "I'm sure he'll come back with questions and I'm sure he will be disappointed, but that's what you expect from guys that really care and want to be out there all the time, performing for their country.
"He's got a very good attitude. He's still very much at the start of his career and he'll use this as an opportunity to get better."
Archer, who made his Test debut against Australia in 2019, took three wickets in the first-Test triumph but experienced discomfort in his elbow.
He suffered a low-grade stress fracture in his right elbow last year but the current issue is not related to any previous problem and it is hoped the treatment will settle the condition quickly, allowing the Sussex paceman to return in time for the third Test in Ahmedabad starting on 24 February.
His injury is the second late setback England have suffered on the tour, with Zak Crawley taking a tumble on a marble floor and injuring his wrist before the first Test.
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Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2021 7:37:52 GMT
Turning wicket lost toss Kohli duck won't last five days spectators as well how quaint
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Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2021 17:08:10 GMT
India 300 for 6 (Rohit Sharma 161, Rahane 67) vs England
A majestic innings in capricious conditions from India opener Rohit Sharma gave the hosts a strong platform at the outset of the second Chennai Test. Rohit counterattacked during a harum-scarum morning session and then settled in to grind England into the dry, cracked clay of the MA Chidambaram Stadium, converting his fourth Test hundred as an opener into a dominant 161.
After Virat Kohli had voiced his dissatisfaction with the pitch produced at Chepauk for the first Test against England, it was no surprise to see the ball turn and spit for the spinners on day one of the rematch. Kohli himself was done in by it, bowled for a fifth-ball duck by the returning Moeen Ali before lunch. But that was the high point of the day for Moeen and England, as Rohit and Ajinkya Rahane produced a bustling century partnership that threatened to be decisive even at such an early stage.
England claimed three early wickets - including one for Olly Stone with his third ball on only his second Test appearance - but were effectively shut out by Rohit and Rahane during the afternoon session, despite regular half-chances coming and going. Again Joe Root was left to rue a lack of control from his spinners: Jack Leach was the more consistent, asking questions throughout the day, while Moeen went at more than four an over, despite picking up the wickets of Kohli and Rahane.
Rohit rode his luck at times, gloving Leach short of slip on 41 and enduring some nervy moments against Moeen in the 90s, but he picked when to attack with judicious care to ensure that India would not squander their in advantage after winning the toss. He skipped along briskly during the early exchanges, scoring 80 from 78 balls before lunch, and kept England toiling long into the day. Such was his dominance that he was visibly frustrated after slog-sweeping Leach to deep backward square leg, having scored almost exactly two-thirds of his side's 248 for 4.
RELATED Story Image Rohit Sharma pleased with 'proactive' approach on Chennai turner
Rahane showed his quality, too, reaching fifty for the first time since his Boxing Day Test hundred at the MCG. He fell shortly after Rohit, although not before he had controversially been given not out on review when the third umpire failed to check whether a delivery from Leach had bounced up to hit the glove off the pad.
In the next over, Rahane was bowled sweeping at Moeen, and Root himself picked up a wicket when he had R Ashwin stabbing a bat-pad catch to short leg, but with Rishabh Pant bringing out his trusty frying pan to deal with the spitting ball India bounced along to reach 300 in the final over of the day, much to the satisfaction of the home fans who had been allowed back in for this match.
England, whose attack featured three changes from the one that bowled them to victory in the first Test, made a good start after being put into the field, with Stone striking in the second over, Shubman Gill pinned lbw offering no shot. Rohit and Cheteshwar Pujara then played positively during an 85-run partnership at more than four an over, with the former latching on whenever England's bowlers missed their lengths. Rohit hooked Ben Stokes for six, twice swept Leach for fours to bring up a 47-ball fifty and drilled another boundary to long-on to take India to 100 shortly before the break.
There were early signs of turn and the ball disturbing the surface, though, and it was Leach who broke the second-wicket stand when Pujara tamely steered to slip. That brought cheers from the crowd, with Chepauk back at 50% capacity for this game, as Kohli walked out to bat - but they were silenced a few moments later when Moeen tossed up an inviting delivery that ragged back inside the India captain's expansive drive to ping the off bail.
Kohli was left looking quizzically at his partner, and lingered while the umpires confirmed that the ball had indeed crashed directly into the stumps. But as has often been the case during Moeen's Test career, he mixed the sublime with the ordinary: his first ball of the day was a full toss, and a similar delivery saw Rahane get off the mark with a drive through cover.
With Rohit sweeping aggressively - he scored six boundaries and 31 runs from the 16 times he employed the shot - and Rahane working the gaps interspersed with the occasional off-side boundary, India held England at bay before pressing home their advantage as the day wore on. Rohit, who survived an early review for lbw against Leach, was occasionally ruffled by the left-arm spinner's line, while Rahane had to endure some uncomfortable moments against Stone's short stuff, but as the partnership grew so will England's sense of foreboding about a surface on which they will have to bat last.
Having moved to 97 by rifling Moeen over long-off for six, Rohit almost toe-ended a paddle sweep to short midwicket, before bringing up his hundred with a more effective attempt a couple of overs later. England thought he should have been given out stumped on 159, but TV umpire Anil Chaudhary gave Rohit the benefit of the doubt despite his back foot seeming to be on the line when Foakes dislodged the bails.
Chaudhary was again the focus of attention once Rohit had departed, when he declined to wind the replay on after determining that the delivery had missed Rahane's inside edge. England's review, which had been lost in error, was later restored by the match referee - but their frustration was palpable at the end of a day that clearly distilled the challenge ahead.
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Post by Admin on Feb 14, 2021 13:19:42 GMT
India 329 (Pant 58*, Moeen 4-128) and 54 for 1 lead England 134 (Ashwin 5-43) by 249 runs
India took giant strides towards levelling the series in Chennai after running through England and then building steadily on a 195-run lead. Fifteen wickets fell in the day, R Ashwin claiming five of them in an innings for the 29th time in Tests, as England's hopes of hanging in the contest on a turning pitch were obliterated in two sessions of skittish batting.
England were in trouble from the outset of their reply, losing Rory Burns in the opening over and Joe Root, the batting talisman during three consecutive wins in Sri Lanka and India, before he had managed double - let alone triple - figures. They sneaked past the follow-on mark thanks to a nuggety, unbeaten 42 from Ben Foakes, but India were doubtless content to bat again on a commanding lead, and leave England to worry about facing their demons on days three and four.
Chepauk might be dry as a tinderbox but England needed more than a spark to turn the third innings into the sort of conflagration that might get them back into the game. Jack Leach chipped out Shubman Gill cheaply but once again Rohit Sharma marshalled the India batting effort, although England felt aggrieved when he was given not out on review after appearing to offer no shot against Moeen Ali - the impact was outside off but the ball would have hit middle stump. Rohit also successfully utilised the DRS after Leach won an lbw decision in the following over, with Ultra-Edge confirming an edge on his reverse-sweep.
India had already forged themselves a strong position on the back of Rohit's conditions-defying 161 on day one, and although they could only add 29 runs to their overnight 300 for 6, the bowlers were soon tucking into their work on a responsive surface.
Ishant Sharma trapped Burns lbw third ball for the opener's second consecutive duck and Ashwin struck twice either side the dismissal of Root to leave England in dire straits on 39 for 4 at lunch. Axar Patel, on debut, was the man to deny England's captain and batting bellwether a first-innings hundred for the first time this year, detonating a sharply turning delivery as Root looked to deploy his favoured sweep shot, a top edge safely pouched by Ashwin at short fine leg.
Ashwin, on his home ground, gave an exemplary display of how to harness helpful conditions, alternating his pace, lines of attack and method of delivery to keep England's batsman pinned down. Dom Sibley was his first victim, caught at short leg off the back of the bat attempting to sweep, while Dan Lawrence struck a tortured pose through much of his 52-balls innings, which ended with the last delivery before lunch and a catch to short leg. Lawrence's slump over his bat handle said much about the tourists' chances.
With Ben Stokes seemingly opting against the "take a few runs with me" approach in the hope of getting accustomed to the surface as the ball lost its hardness, England continued to creep along at around two an over - but the inevitable occurred when Ashwin struck again to remove Stokes for the ninth time in Tests. India had burned a review before lunch, when Ashwin hit Stokes on the back leg only for ball-tracking to show it going over, but he bypassed such considerations with a beautifully flighted delivery that defeated the batsman in the air and off the pitch to shudder off stump.
From 52 for 5, England briefly cobbled some resistance, as Ollie Pope and Foakes put together a 35-run stand - their highest of the match. But having grazed in the outfield for almost 40 overs of his first home Test, Mohammed Siraj produced a wicket-taking intervention with his first delivery, Rishabh Pant's leaping, one-handed take down the leg side accounting for Pope.
Moeen and Olly Stone fell in quick succession before tea, and it needed some doughty resistance from Foakes, playing his first Test in almost two years, to steer them past the follow-on target. Pant then produced another stunning catch - part of a blemish-free showing behind the stumps - to dislodge Leach and Stuart Broad dragged a sweep on to his stumps to complete Ashwin's five-wicket haul.
Pant had been the danger man, as far as England were concerned, at the start of the day, although they managed to sneak through largely unscathed after India resumed in pursuit of quick runs stretch their advantage. Two wickets fell in Moeen's first over, the second of the morning, and while Pant helped himself to four more boundaries on the way to an unbeaten 58, England wrapped up the innings via two in three balls for Stone. But as the events of the day unfolded, it was clear that India were already in control of their own destiny.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
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Post by Admin on Feb 15, 2021 14:03:11 GMT
England 134 and 53 for 3 (Lawrence 19*, Root 2*) need 429 more runs to beat India 329 and 286 (Ashwin 106, Kohli 62, Moeen 4-98, Leach 4-100)
As India flexed their muscle on day three, moving inexorably towards a series-levelling triumph over England, the second Chennai Test began to take on a carnival feel. Already well ahead in the game and with time to indulge, they served up an exhibition for a grateful Chepauk crowd. R Ashwin, the local hero, proved himself worthy of such billing with a fifth Test hundred and England were hanging on by stumps as the ball fizzed and the close catchers circled.
After the subcontinental batting masterclass, followed closely by a trial against spin, now was the moment for England to contend with an Indian wall of sound. Despite scrapping hard to take five wickets during the morning session, they were steadily enveloped by the hoots, whistles and cheers from the stands, as first Virat Kohli and then Ashwin steadied India's second innings, before the home spinners returned to their task with relish.
Notionally, England needed 482 to win or two-and-a-bit days of rearguard resistance. Practically, they were merely searching for scraps of encouragement to accompany them on the road to Ahmedabad.
There could be no more appropriate thala in the home team's efforts to drive home their advantage than Ashwin. He came into this came having not passed 50 in a Test since 2017, but after taking an aggressive approach from the outset, he eventually reached a raucously received hundred during the evening session - achieving the double of a century and a five-wicket haul in the same match for the third time. Just imagine the decibel level if Chepauk had been at more than 50% capacity
His route to three figures had featured numerous sweeps, a few hearty biffs and no little drama. When India resumed after tea, Ashwin was on 68 and had only the last two batsmen to keep him company; he might have been stumped straight away, but the ball eluded Ben Foakes - the brilliance of whose keeping had kept up English spirits earlier in the day - and he was still 23 short when Mohammed Siraj walked out at the fall of the ninth wicket.
But with the crowd cheering every dot ball that Siraj negotiated, Ashwin raised the tempo and the volume. England took the new ball but Ashwin carved Jack Leach away to move into the 90s, then took on Moeen Ali, striking a clean six into the stands before charging down to slice four more to third man and bring team-mates, family and spectators to their feet.
No one celebrated more gleefully than Siraj, who having upheld his part of the bargain swung a couple over the ropes himself as India's last-wicket pair added 49 to give England one final kick, as well as silence any lingering discontent about the state of the pitch. The issue on a turning surface has simply been one of skill, and despite a more proactive batting effort England were soon in trouble once again.
For the seventh time in eight attempts, England's openers failed to take the scoreboard past 17, as Dom Sibley was pinned by an Axar Patel arm ball. Rory Burns and Dan Lawrence enjoyed marginally greater success with a deliberate attempt to use their feet, but Ashwin picked up his sixth wicket of the match when Burns closed the face to be caught at gully, and Patel removed nightwatchman Leach to leave England three down at the close.
Having failed so abysmally with the bat first time around, England were given an extended spell in detention for their fourth-innings examination. Wickets fell quickly inside the first hour of the day, with Foakes' glovework responsible for two stumpings and a run-out, but Kohli and Ashwin were able to fashion an extended union as the ball got softer. Having come in on a pair and taken 20 balls to get going, Kohli played with steely resolve in conditions that were still tricky, passing 50 for the second time in the series during a 96-run stand.
Kohli was eventually trapped lbw by Moeen, who claimed an eight-wicket haul on his return to Test cricket, but the force was increasingly with Ashwin as England missed several chances to dismiss him. Stuart Broad was twice the unlucky bowler during an old-ball spell of fast legcutters with the keeper up to the stumps: Ben Stokes could not hold on one-handed at slip with Ashwin on 28, and Foakes put down a thin outside edge (off a 132kph/82mph delivery) when he had made 56.
England were perhaps already resigned to their fate, but Foakes' efforts deserved to be remembered for the soft hands and lightning reactions that did for Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant - making him the first England wicketkeeper to effect three stumpings in a men's Test since Alan Knott in 1968. That will remain a footnote in a Test that is all over by the shouting (and whistling) in Chennai.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
Lots of commnt about English batsmen not been able to play spin and the lack of spin bowlers in this country, maybe if they played 4 day games in high summer instead of March but hey the Hundred
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Post by lancsdes on Feb 15, 2021 22:34:26 GMT
So right Admin. And conversely, their spinners are better than ours because they get a lot more practice at bowling spin just as their batsmen get a lot more practice at batting against it
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Post by Admin on Feb 16, 2021 8:13:00 GMT
India 329 (Rohit 161, Rahane 67, Pant 58*, Moeen 4-128) and 286 (Ashwin 106, Kohli 62, Moeen 4-98, Leach 4-100) beat England 134 (Foakes 42*, Ashwin 5-43) and 164 (Moeen 43, Axar 5-60) by 317 runs
India cruised to victory in a little over a session on the fourth day at Chepauk, Axar Patel collecting a five-wicket haul on debut as England went down by a crushing margin of 317 runs - emphatic retribution after the tourists had gone 1-0 up on this ground less than a week earlier.
Having seen his side dominate the match from toss to finishing tape, Virat Kohli's satisfaction was as palpable at his disgruntlement after the first Test. On a classically subcontinental surface, England twice could barely match the individual contribution of India's first-innings centurion, Rohit Sharma, and were left with precious few scraps with which to slink off to Ahmedabad ahead of the day-night encounter.
The only slight regret for another enthusiastic crowd came in the absence of a R Ashwin landmark for them to acknowledge - he finished with 8 for 96, narrowly short of becoming only the fourth man to score a century and take ten-for in a Test.
England's task on their return to the ground was a near-futile one, but there was the potential to spend time in the middle against India's spinners and salt away knowledge for the battles ahead. As it was, only Joe Root spent any significant amount of time at the crease - even 33 from 92 balls was modest by his recent standards - and barely a shot was played in anger until Moeen Ali decided to go down swinging with five towering sixes before being last man out, stumped off Kuldeep Yadav.
Fittingly for a Test that saw some grumbling about the pitch but was more memorable for the displays of high-class wicketkeeping, the game ended with the ball in the hands of Rishabh Pant. This was only the sixth time in Tests that a match had featured five or more stumpings - and India's march to victory on the fourth morning began with another, as Dan Lawrence charged at Ashwin only to be nutmegged, leaving Pant to seal his fate after collecting brilliantly down the leg side.
That dismissal brought out Ben Stokes, searching for pointers in his ongoing duel with India's offspinner. Despite digging in as the ball ripped and spun - one delivery from over the wicket nearly took him on the chin before Pant collected it above his head - Stokes was rendered near-strokeless, facing 38 balls from Ashwin of which 36 were dots, the last also bringing his wicket as an inside edge ricocheted off pad to slip.
Patel picked up his third, following the dismissals of Dom Sibley and Jack Leach on the third evening, when Ollie Pope shovelled a slog-sweep straight to deep midwicket, and although Mohammed Siraj dropped Root with the lunch break approaching, Kuldeep Yadav was finally able to enjoy the feeling of taking a Test wicket, more than two years after his previous appearance, when Ben Foakes swept without conviction and was taken on the edge of the square.
India rounded the rest up without much delay, as Root received a near-unplayable ball, which took the top glove as he pressed forward and flew to slip, and Olly Stone became another victim of the sweep to complete Patel's five-for. Moeen had some fun with 43 off 18 balls as England at least managed to surpass their first-innings total - but nothing could take the shine off as India rewarded the returning Chepauk crowd with a thumping win, and the afternoon free.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
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Post by Admin on Feb 16, 2021 9:01:39 GMT
Moeen now going home to prepare for one day cricket astonshing
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Post by lancsdes on Feb 16, 2021 18:36:33 GMT
"Moeen now going home to prepare for one day cricket astonishing" Agreed. Utterly bonkers. After doing decently in second innings you would think he would be mad keen to stay out but resting up for pub cricket more important
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Post by Admin on Feb 17, 2021 21:26:43 GMT
England management apologised to Moeen for giving the impression that he wanted to go home, appears he was scheduled to return
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Post by Admin on Feb 21, 2021 19:44:45 GMT
3RD TEST AHMANABAD 24/2/2021 TO 28/2/2021 Bit like OT when the temp stand is up
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Post by Admin on Feb 24, 2021 13:50:06 GMT
I'm getting the phrase batting collapse
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Post by Admin on Feb 24, 2021 18:54:56 GMT
Stumps: India 99 for 3 (Rohit 57*, Rahane 1*, Leach 2-27) trail England 112 (Crawley 53, Patel 6-38, Ashwin 3-26) by 13 runs
What do you see when you look at a pink ball? As Joe Root had indicated on the eve of the Ahmedabad Test, there's not a lot of data to back up any preconceptions about day-night Test cricket. Therefore, both sets of players came into this contest at perfect liberty to see in the conditions whatever they so chose.
Ben Stokes, for England's part, had been "licking his lips" in anticipation of a seam-dominated joust in what he clearly envisaged being the Trent Bridge of the East. And sure enough, England's optimistic surge continued on the morning of the match, as James Anderson and Stuart Broad were thrown together for one last heist, like the cast of Ocean's 14, before Root won a crucial toss and handed his batsmen the same opportunity that they had seized upon in the first Test - a chance to post a gargantuan first innings and dominate the match narrative through sheer weight of runs.
Well, so much for the best-laid plans and all that. Unfortunately for England's dreamers, India saw clean through the optics, and the lacquer, and all the paraphernalia that comes with this most fundamental switch of the sport's basics. Instead they looked directly at another dry, dusty red-earthed deck, and opened their ears to the sweet music of 50,000 passionate fans at the newly minted Narendra Modi stadium - which, even when half full, was still more populated than almost any ground bar the MCG.
The upshot was an ardour-dousing day of one-sided dominance - one that has emphatically killed off any hopes of Root's men emulating those of Sir Alastair Cook nine years ago, and inflicting on India a rare home series defeat. The late dismissal of Virat Kohli was a boost to their hopes of limiting their deficit but by that stage Rohit Sharma was rumbling on towards another century - very different, but no less emphatic, to the game-breaker he produced on the first day of the previous Test.
And though Anderson and Broad proved predictably parsimonious in their combined analysis of 15-7-27-0, they had been fighting the rising tide from their opening spells after England's catastrophic batting malfunction had surrendered any right to set the match agenda. Instead, England's attentions began to stray to factors beyond their control - most notably, the state of the footmarks that were forming big cavities for their heavy-limbed seamers, and the state of the TV umpiring, which reprieved each of India's openers on evidence that may have been correct but was less-than-conclusive, much to Root's mounting fury.
Instead, the mastery of R Ashwin - in his 77th Test and now odds-on to reach 400 wickets before the match is done - was matched for the second Test in a row by the eager apprenticeship of Axar Patel, who proved his debut in Chennai had been no fluke by improving on his Test-best figures with a remarkable haul of 6 for 38 in 21.4 overs.
Between them, they harvested the doubts that still lingered from that last Test, and instigated a collapse that was remarkable even by the standards of England's last visit to India in 2016-17.
From a pre-lunch scoreline of 74 for 2, with Zak Crawley batting with uncommon poise and panache, England squandered their last eight wickets for 38 in 17 overs - almost universally spooked by the fear of what might have been, rather than by any unplayability on the part of the balls that did them in.
Between them the spinners accounted for nine of England's ten all told - the exception being Dom Sibley, who flinched to slip in the third over for a duck to give Ishant Sharma a souvenir from his 100th Test appearance. On the evidence of the rest of the innings, Ishant is unlikely to be over-worked in the next few days.
Despite some unconventional seam movement for Jasprit Bumrah in particular, India turned to spin as early as the seventh over - and were not made to wait for vindication. Jonny Bairstow, hailed as England's missing link in Chennai despite a top score of 47 in his two appearances at No. 3 in Sri Lanka, showed that visualisation hadn't been a big part of his rest-and-rotation break. He poked uncertainly at his first ball from Axar and was slammed on the knee-roll by the ball that didn't turn - his wasteful use of the review merely compounding his confusion.
That brought Root to the middle several hours earlier than he would have liked - although in his earliest overs, he was at least shielded by an extraordinary flurry from Crawley at the other end. It would prove all too brief in the end, but while it lasted, Crawley's timing was stunning - right from his very first scoring shot, a non-committal block that pinged through long-on off Bumrah.
He continued in the same vein en route to a 68-ball fifty, replete with drives and clips whenever seamer and spinner alike over-pitched. And just as Rohit had transcended the conditions in Chennai through his uncompromising weight of stroke, so Crawley appeared to be providing the forward momentum that England needed to post a competitive total. So long as he endured, and enabled Root to grow into his day's work, the chance was there to make a good toss count.
But then, on 17, Root made a fatal misjudgement - Ashwin's brilliance is through the air every bit as much off the pitch, and having given the impression in his first three Tests of the winter that he was infallible to the trickery of all spinners, Root chose to slide onto the back foot to a ball that just kept hanging in the air longer than he had anticipated, and was pinned in front of middle and leg as the ball pitched and gripped. Tellingly, he had barely unfurled a single sweep in the course of his 37-ball stay.
Moments earlier, England had seemed set to claim the morning spoils. Instead, their mood was wrecked three overs later, as Crawley succumbed to the best double-whammy of the day. Two deliveries from Axar, pitching in almost identical spots - the first ripped venomously past the outside edge; the second kissed straight on through, off the deck, into the knee-roll, to leave England on 80 for 4 and with two new batsmen at the crease.
The first of those, Ollie Pope, didn't even see out the over after lunch, as he too was done in by Ashwin's flight, and beaten around the outside edge by another ball that skipped on through to hit off stump. And one over later, Stokes surrendered on the back foot to Axar, pinned in front of off as he rocked back and simply missed with a defensive poke. At Chennai, he'd been launching such deliveries over midwicket in a "get them before they get you" mindset, but here he felt obliged to drop anchor for the cause, to no avail.
The rest were rounded up with minimal fuss - Ben Foakes the last to go for a becalmed 12 from 58 balls as he too missed a straight one, bowled by Axar as he rocked back to cut and missed. In mitigation, the timing of their final collapse - an hour into the afternoon session - did mean that England would be bowling as the witching hour set in, but it was going to take a bout of necromancy from Anderson and Broad to revive England from this point.
Suffice to say, it did not transpire. Both men were promoted to the new ball ahead of Archer - which was food for thought in itself after the manner in which Archer had roughed up Rohit in the first innings at Chennai - but in their familiar, self-preservatory fashion, both men dragged their lengths back, almost subconsciously, to avoid being driven, rather than attack from the outset in the do-or-die manner that the moment required.
Shubman Gill, for his part, did his utmost to ride out the threat - he took 27 balls to score his first run, by which stage he had been reprieved by the third umpire after Stokes at second slip failed to close his fingers around a low edge off Broad. Archer eventually scalped him with the short ball, but it was too little too late for England's hopes - which were perhaps best summed up by Pope's eventful few minutes in the field in the closing overs.
One moment, he came close to pulling off a world-class one-handed take at short leg as he pre-meditated Rohit's sweep and launched himself to his right. The next, no doubt still brooding on the one that got away, he dropped Kohli at slip off the luckless Anderson, who according to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball data has now induced 73 false strokes and three dropped catches off the main man since he last claimed his wicket seven years ago. On this evidence, he might not get another opportunity before this contest is done and dusted.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @miller_cricket
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Post by Admin on Feb 25, 2021 14:42:09 GMT
Hells teeth that escalated lost by 10 wickets
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