I will criticise England...

Possibly/probably because Ashwin had been ruled out...they attempted to protect their wickets and consolidate.

In doing so, their intent disappeared, the bowlers were visibly more consistent and everybody looked more vulnerable.

Duckett went from blitzing his way to a chanceless (?) 130odd with Rohit scrambled...to being out basically three times grinding the next 20 runs.

JB is a different case, he looks as though he might have had his summer in the sun a couple of years ago. He could hit himself out of this, but that feels his best chance. Looks muddled & uber vulnerable.

For Root and Stokes, they both got out to almost their first 'positive' shots.

The execution wasn't there but it still took a worldie from Jaiswal at slip (much more difficult than the one we dropped for 47/4 on day one morning) and a decent grab on the boundary.

Extremely fine margins, that is elite sport, but I would posit that had the overall intent/approach remained as it has been - we would not be where we are.

I trust Stokes/McCullum implicitly, they probably had reason to go out a tad differently on day 3 (the mornings had looked trickier to bat/Ashwin was ruled out/Duckett had never been overnight drooling on a massive number etc) but I think that is where this match tilted inexorably.

in one of the multiverses I'm about to play a match winning triple ton @ no.7...

That is a ridiculous dismissal!

How the heck does umpire's call count when he was very clearly given out caught. Nonsense.

Not sure Cook appreciates the irony of what he is saying, or actually even believes it once it leaves his mouth.

Wakey, wakey - you suggest England should try to "value their wicket" and "make the opposition work for your wicket" and lo and flipping behold...we are back at 50/6 like in your good old days.

that said - his analysis tends to leave me a bit cold...quite enjoy Finny..

He was a mega player, I loved him.

He had a relative embarrassment of riches as a captain, and he steered them fairly well.

This team is not that team. It is not selected to play under him, and it would fail playing under him.

Strangely, I think you could fit Cook the player into this side.

It seems anathema to the way everyone wants to characterise 'Bazball' but Stokes would just send him out and tell him to do his thing.

Drop in KP, Swann and Monty for JB, Rehan and 'x' and blimey...

it's certainly an overblown term..and mis-understood to a point..

just to take some of the very positive batsmen of different eras...Richards, Ponting, Lara, KP and at even time Stokes himself..the judging of when to go and when to sit maybe needs some individual thought but would also come back to the point that this squad is not a world beating red ball team...so in that context most of the inevitable stick is slightly misjudged...toughest tour of all in recent times for all sides...

That's it, brent'...

Root, Stokes and Jimmy are great. Could make a case none of the others will come close to that (Brook has the potential to be).

This set of players, give-or-take, had won 1 in 17!!

Zero plausible case that we should not place all our faith in those who immediately follow it with 14 wins in 20 (or whatever it is).

Mistakes are part of life, but some refuse to accept/understand this.

Anyway the capitulation shown since has been awful to watch

It sure has.

i dont rate this india team even at home as an exeptional side

the current batting line up is inexperienced with a couple missing,,,but the bowling line up is probably the best in test history in these conditions and pretty decent beyond it...

If we go by that analogy then Apt we will all applaude Tiger when he has got a putt to win a major and decides to use his 3 iron. But because he's one of the greats it was the right thing to do as he's won 15 of them.

you would need a very high quality batting line up by all historical standards to draw a game when needing to bat out 131 overs in India ..if you're referring to the 1st inns then typically in those conditions we'd probably score less and especially with this test match talent pool..

in terms of the bowling...we're asking very inexperienced spinners to replicate top class proven top end bowlers..not realistic and amazing they've made it as much of a contest through 2 tests and 2 days as they had...

You all need to calm down and have a cup of tea!

Fine margins!

India should be 3-0 up. Luck was against them in the first Test and with them in this one.

Talk was of England can chase anything. They scored 300 batting last and could have got the 400 if Root scored a hundred in that chase and then it is 2-0.

Make no mistake England rattled India...batsmen, bowlers and their Captain who was previously poor.

I commend the England approach but would say to Root....do your thing. Look at our bowling attack and look at their. We have got to the point where the bleedin’ obvious has come to bare but what a ride.

Enjoy and give them a break!

Why were India lucky in this test Whispering?

India had 3 men out in the 80’s in the first Test. 5 batsmen found boundary riders. That us unlucky as well as poor batting. That should have batted England out if the first Test. Pope’s innings was a Phenom. I am not sure too many foreigners have done that in a second innings in India

India topped at 3.25, or perhaps 3.3.

We move on, Friday will roll around and it'll be great.

Lot of nip here, early doors.

Yowsers - absolute jaffer to clean up Crawley!

No Ball

47/0 was very fortunate, 47/2 about right - if not still flattering England.

This is very tough going. Akash Deep looks solid.