India V England 2021 Tour

Rory Burns troubles continues, out lbw to Ishant, he's on borrowed time for me. 0-0

England 39-4, Sibley & Root both out. & now Lawrence in the last over before lunch tough to score, bowling is tight.

India v England 2nd Test Chennai Day 2 Close
India 329 & 54-1 Rohit Sharma 25 no
England 134 (59.5 overs) Foakes 42 no Pope 22 Ashwin 5-43 Ishant 2-22 Axar 2-40
India lead England by 249 runs

if india had made a pitch like that in the CC they would be starting the next season on minus points,
its not right they should be able to make a pitch so bowler friendly, it basically started in day 4 condition the way the ball was going through the top of the pitch this morning i have not seen anything like it looks like the end of day 5 not day 2 morning,

Doubt if ICC will investigate it and certainly if I was England, I would lodge a complaint. But it is what it is I suppose.

The only way to prevent, what has happened, here is to have a neutral groundsman to prepare Test Match pitches. It's gone on for years. It was always thought that you aim was to prepare a pitch that would last 5 days if possible, weather permitting. I don't think that Mike Hunt liked it when England asked for a sporty, result pitch in the past, but now there's much more of a willingness to try to produce a surface that suites the home-team & rightly so. I remember a Test at the Oval that was purpose made for Murali & he cleaned up.
However I believe when the World Cup was held in England, the ICC oversaw the pitch preparation.

England's problem is that we don't generally have the climate conducive to producing turning pitches, hence we have very few quality spinners & batsmen that play spin well. Take the pitch out of the argument & these are the 2 key areas where England have been second best. Even if we had won the toss, I suspect the result would've been the same, only taken a little longer.

We've had good spin bowling attacks over the years but always feel Underwood Emburey & Edmonds were our best three for a long time.

3 wonderful pieces of wicket-keeping by Foakes, showing why he should never have been dropped after his debut 3 years earlier. He's never put a foot wrong with bat or ball. I doubt that Buttler or Bairstow would've taken these chances. With spin in the game Foakes must play, as he'll take the half-chances that others wouldn't. he wont play the attacking, game-changing innings that Buttler or Baistow can provide, but is a solid performer with the bat as yesterdays innings highlighted. There's some doubt over his ability against extreme pace, but most batsmen have that problem.

Interesting change-up by India, with Pant coming in before Rahane, after 2 early wickets & a stranglehold in terms of runs scored. That idea backfired as Pant looked all over the place before he got out.

A few loose balls were served up from Moeen, the get the runs ticking over, before Rahane went to a good diving catch from Pope of Ali's bowling. England have to try to take away something out of this game, by an improved 2nd innings bowling & batting performance.

India 97-5 (33 overs) lead 292

I would say even now the best we can hope for is playing for a draw or pin hopes on for a washed out last two days!!

No chance of a draw, England batted for less than 60 overs in the first innings, the lead is approaching 350 & we aren't even half way through the match.

Only taken 45 overs to remember than Broad was in the side. We might as well have played an extra spinner. With the 3rd Test being a day/night match, they would have the option of reuniting Broad & Anderson, other than fielding Broad hasn't had a heavy work-load. It would still seen unlikely though, depends on the pitch.

Kohli putting on a masterclass on how to play on a turning track & a good counter-attacking knock by Ashwin. India already have more than enough, this is all about Kohli putting a marker down for the rest of the series & keeping England's batsmen out in the field for as long as possible before they at least try to salvage some pride out of the situation. they need a come up with a plan on how to survive & score runs.

Kohli & Ashwin bring up a 50 partnership, as India go to lunch on 156-6 & a lead of 351