India V England 2021 Tour

^How would you see the batting line up? Archer out is a blow and really could England risk Wood?

I always think England performs much better if from position 3 - 6 down if there was at least one solid partnership between those positions, so the other team members get inspired and it's not often we get s team that posts a scorercard which boasts of solid good scoring right through the order. Invariably there are going to be cheap wickets thrown away, but just hope the vicory confidence doesn't evaporate quickly tomorrow, and fingers crossed there a good even pitch that lasts a good few days befroie tuirning on the last day. If Root wins toss - should we bat first tomorrow or bowl first?

England 12 man Squad
Sibley, Burns, Lawrence, Root © Stokes, Pope, Foakes, Moeen Ali, Leach, Broad, Woakes, Stone

Looks like a choice between Woakes and Stone then as I would think England would play 2 front line spinners i.e Moeen Ali and Jack Leach.
Unless they opt to use Joe Root instead of one of them.

As expected, Anderson has been rotated out & Broad in, With Buttler now rested for the remaining 3 Tests, & Foakes who has a Test match hundred & man of the series in the sub-continent to his name in, but no current form to call upon. The inclusion of Ali & Woakes could compensate by extending the strength of the lower-middle order. Ali is a certain to play, Bess had to be left out, he needs time away to improve his accuracy at this level. Woakes would add experience, but if he is chosen ahead of Stone, our bowling line-up lacks any real pace.

2nd Test:

India won toss and bat.

Pitch looks quite interesting.

Anderson, Buttler, Bess and Archer out.
Broad, Foakes, Moeen and Stone in.

India make changes too.
Bumrah out .
Sundar and Nadeem out.
Siraj, Yadav and Patel in.

Early strike for Olly Stone, removing Shubman Gill with his 3rd ball of the 2nd over.

Not a bad start for the lad. Hope it gives him some confidence

England's big 1st innings score has played some part in India's selection, putting overs into the legs of Bumrah, who has a history of injuries. The chance may well have happened despite this & Siraj made an impressive start to his Test match career against Australia, with 13 wickets from his 3 matches. Axar Patel was due to play in the 1st Test before injury ruled him out, & a decent bat, this will be his debut. Kuldeep will offer good variety with his wicket taking wrist spin. I expect this attack to be more of a threat than the 5 we saw in the 1st Test, with 2 of them providing little in the way of control or wicket taking.

Despite the early wicket, India have had the best of the 1st hour, Stone looked impressive, Broad was happy to pitch the ball up, looking for wickets, but conceding boundaries. Leach given an early bowl & the pitch does look dry. Rohit looks in One-Day mode as he takes Stokes for 16 in his 1st over, he made 41 from 36 balls with 6 fours & a six.

India 47-1 (12 overs)

India 86-3

Leach gets Pujara, caught at slip by Stokes & Ali clean bowls Kohli for a duck.

Early signs are as predicted, this game will not make it to day 5.