England Test Match Tour of India 2024

England need to temper this gung - ho approach with smarter thinking! Too easy for India today! Although England were unlikely to upset the odds, they were sitting handily enough 3 even 4 down. Root and Stokes weren't too clever in the way they got out (Stokes hampered in running do we think??) Pope also!! It seems clear to me that England's last thought is the wider context and the WTC. If that is the case, are they disrespecting the sport itself, in putting the emphasis on 'having fun/entertaining' ahead of a hard nosed trench cricket approach if the situation calls for it, in pursuit of winning??

^^ With better thinking England could've won this match, no doubt. Root was like a headless chicken,
I just hate to see our No.1 batter play Bazball when playing in his usual positive manner is plenty good enough, such a waste. Not sure how bad his hand injury is, did that dictate how he set bout to play. Never seen Stokes run out in such a lazy way before, up to this point his knee has looked fine.
Unfair to even consider England disrespecting the Sport, they are doing more than any to keep it vibrant & alive. Driving the game forward has brought them more victories & points than they could ever had imagined.
One area where I have criticized them in the past has been over-rate, which has directly affected their WTC rankings, they lost countless points in last summers Ashes. At least perhaps the penny has dropped in this series. No excuse for not bowling your daily requirement, & by that I mean not using the extra 30 minutes as part of that equation. It should be doable, 3 spinners help, but even so, that is not a given, India have been slower. Referrals don't help, but we are stuck with them.

Virat Kohli will now miss the 3rd & 4th Tests, with some doubt over his availability for the 5th & final match. Better new for the return of Rahul & Jadeja who are both set to return after injury.

Jack Leach has been ruled out for the remaining 3 Tests due to a knee injury, & will travel home. There will be no replacement.

England make one change for the 3rd Test at Rajkot, with Wood returning in place of Bashir.

India V England 3rd Test Rajkot Day 1 Close
India elected to field
IND 326-5 (86 overs) Rohit 131 Jadeja 110 no Sarfaraz 62 Wood 3-69

India make 4 chances with Bharat, Axar Patel, Mukesh Kumar, & Shreyas Iyer replaced by Dhruv Jural & Sarfaraz Khan both making their debuts, & Jadeja & Siraj returning.

[quote='Boomerangutangangbang' pid='2846366' dateline='1707988775']
India V England 3rd Test Rajkot Day 2 Close
India elected to field
IND 445 (130.5 overs) Rohit 131 Jadeja 110 no Sarfaraz 62 Jurel 46 Ashwin 37 Bumrah 26 Wood 4-114 Ahmed 2-85
ENG 207-2 (35 overs) Duckett 133 no Pope 39

Welcome to the second T20 sorry I meant day two of the third test match

Duckett made 133 not out from 118 balls with 21 fours & 2 sixes. With the ball taking both swing & spin & a quality bowling attack his innings ranks very highly, the 3rd fastest hundred on Indian soil for a touring team.
Still a mountain to climb in this match, trailing by 238, England will have to try to get past India by 100-150 runs, as batting last will be a challenge.