There’s a lot to admire about Indian cricket. They’ve always produced elegant batsmen, canny spinners and the odd robust seamer. One thing they’ve traditionally struggled with, however, is fielding.
Back in the good / bad old days, Virender Sehwag would score a lightning fast century with the bat, and then slowly give several of those runs back in the field. He was about as athletic as molasses. And some of his teammates we’re much better.
Although India’s fielding has improved recently, especially in limited overs cricket, today was a reminder of times gone by. They dropped catches, they looked ragged, and basically let themselves down big time. Their normally tidy keeper, who I’ve nicknamed Louis Saha (just to avoid typing Wriddhiman too many times), managed to drop Ben Stokes twice in two sessions. Not good.
Talking of Stokes, he was he usual belligerent self. Although he had his fair share of luck – he’ll be buying Louis a drink or two this evening – he flayed the Indian bowlers to all corners of Rajkot. If there were actually any spectators in the stands, someone might have got hurt.
Stokes has now scored 4 test hundreds in 28 tests. Not a bad return for an all-rounder by any means. It’s worth remembering that Andrew Flintoff managed just 5 tons in 79 games. It’s an interesting comparison.
Earlier in the day, another England player made his fourth test century. That man, of course, was Moeen Ali. I feel chuffed to bits for Mo. Although I’ve always been his biggest fan I was beginning to lose faith a few months ago. Was he good enough in any discipline to play for England? On the evidence of recent games, I should hang my head in shame. He’s looked every inch a proper test batsman here.
England’s 537 is a more than useful total on this surface. Yes it’s good for batting but it’s not a complete featherbed by any means. There are already a few cracks just short of a length, and a couple of balls have already disturbed the surface and turned sharply.
Although the Indian openers survived fairly comfortably until the close, our bowlers won’t feel too downhearted. Moeen bowled quite well and was unlucky not to bowl Vijay with one that ripped past the inside edge. There was also a bit of spin for Rashid.
Tomorrow morning will be key. How many times have I written that? The ball is now 23 overs old so there’s a good chance Broad, Woakes and Stokes will find some reverse swing in the first session. If we can make a couple of breakthroughs, and then give our spinners a chance to bowl at India’s batsmen with runs on the board (something they didn’t always have in Bangladesh), then we might be able to force a result.
It should be a very interesting day’s play on Friday. I sense that England need to take advantage while the going’s good. I doubt India will prepare another surface like this in a hurry. There’s some movement for the seamers (albeit just a smidgeon) and the wicket has decent carry for this part of the world. Dhaka it is not.
James Morgan
Always thought that Mo had potential to be top 6 and his batting was dismissed a bit too quickly. He batted for 6hrs for his first ton against Sri Lanka on a 5th day pitch at Headingley and showed bags of guts and technique. I think he suffered at 8 because he wasn’t quite sure how to approach it as much as anything. 5 may be a spot too high for him long term but he can definitely handle it when there’s a lot of spin about.
After a pretty difficult day 3 where India progressed serenely, despite some decent bowling from nearly everyone at different times, I thought England were under the pump somewhat. However with the 3 wickets over the last session and especially the 2 wickets in the last 2 overs, I think England still have a prospect of a reasonable lead if they can knock over a couple of wickets tomorrow morning. The other side of the coin of course is that India having a good day tomorrow and get near the England total and then we get nervy 2nd innings in a similar manner to a match played in Adelaide nearly 10 years ago!