India V England 2021 Tour

I wouldn't take anything away from these first 2 tests.
They were won on the toss of a coin. Who ever batted first was going to win the match.

^^ totally that India took a big gamble and won if England had batted first then it would have been England's game again that pitch was good for only the first day then it was to helpful to the Bowels , judging by what the Indian capten has said I think we will see another poor pitch in the next game,

I would wager that the pitches in India are never near the standard in England but have we ever complained about pitches in Pakistan or South Africa, or Australia before? I know the Aussies said the 1981 Headlingley one wasn't Test standard

(16-02-2021 12:12 )lovebabes56 Wrote:  I would wager that the pitches in India are never near the standard in England but have we ever complained about pitches in Pakistan or South Africa, or Australia before? I know the Aussies said the 1981 Headlingley one wasn't Test standard

India can make good pitches , I thought the first test was a good pitch it was good for batting the first two day and didn't really help the bowels until day 4 , I would say that was a good test pitch as it helped both sides of the game at different points ,
Leaving the grass a bit long at headingley so it dose a bit on the first morning if very different to making a pitch that the ball is going through the top of on day two like the one we just seen

(16-02-2021 11:05 )Charlemagne Wrote:  I wouldn't take anything away from these first 2 tests.
They were won on the toss of a coin. Who ever batted first was going to win the match.

Maybe, but personally, I didn't see this pitch deteriorate dramatically. Balls were still going through the top in the first session on day 1, just not as often, it was only marginally better. I believe we would've still lost batting first, maybe lost late on day 4 early day 5.

Whilst England's all round team performance was ok, Roots batting was why we won. he can't keep scoring big hundreds, he'll make the odd mistake, but other batsmen need to help him out more, & score heavily.

Moeen had to play, but it was inevitable that he would be rusty without any redball matches behind him. Rohit took advantage of that.

Ashwin will take all the plaudits, but the debut of Axar was impressive for a young bowler.

With a 317 run victory margin, two players contributed 306 runs between them, the 2 centuries scored in this match were equally important in winning this Test as Roots double was in the 227 run victory in the 1st Test

(16-02-2021 13:11 )winsaw Wrote:  India can make good pitches , I thought the first test was a good pitch it was good for batting the first two day and didn't really help the bowels until day 4 , I would say that was a good test pitch as it helped both sides of the game at different points ,

Surely this is the definition of a shit pitch

(sorry Winsaw but this did make me laugh)

(16-02-2021 11:05 )Charlemagne Wrote:  I wouldn't take anything away from these first 2 tests.
They were won on the toss of a coin. Who ever batted first was going to win the match.

Surely that is an issue?? The coin toss should not be a determining factor at all. Dispense with the toss (if good enough in the county championship which matters just as much then good enough at test level) and give decision to higher ranked team/nation in first test, then based on results

(16-02-2021 11:05 )Charlemagne Wrote:  Who ever batted first was going to win the match.

I'm sorry, but that's complete nonsense. England were outplayed because India were a much better team in those conditions - and if England had won the toss and batted first they would still have been outplayed.

1st innings runs: 329 + 134 = 463
2nd innings runs: 286 + 164 = 450

India had a pitch like that prepared because they backed themselves to beat England in those conditions. They weren't taking a gamble with the toss and wouldn't have been too worried if they had lost the toss.

England weren't good enough, it's as simple as that. Claiming that we lost the match because we lost the toss comes across as being a bit delusional. Maybe the truth hurts, but India were a lot better than England.

(16-02-2021 13:21 )SecretAgent Wrote:  

(16-02-2021 13:11 )winsaw Wrote:  India can make good pitches , I thought the first test was a good pitch it was good for batting the first two day and didn't really help the bowels until day 4 , I would say that was a good test pitch as it helped both sides of the game at different points ,

Surely this is the definition of a shit pitch

(sorry Winsaw but this did make me laugh)

Not really a good test pitch should have days when it favour the batters and some when it favour the bowels , for me a test pitch should offer something different each day , I want to see good batting first 2-3 days then the ball coming more into things for an exciting ending,
A bad pitch is one that don't change that ever helped the bowlers to much from day one or where both teams make 600 in there first inning,

(16-02-2021 13:46 )hornball Wrote:  

(16-02-2021 11:05 )Charlemagne Wrote:  I wouldn't take anything away from these first 2 tests.
They were won on the toss of a coin. Who ever batted first was going to win the match.

Surely that is an issue?? The coin toss should not be a determining factor at all. Dispense with the toss (if good enough in the county championship which matters just as much then good enough at test level) and give decision to higher ranked team/nation in first test, then based on results

If you do that it needs to be the away side that chose what to do so there is less home field advantage