England's tour of India - 2021

[coolz_hari]

Because the Motera won't stand up to 5 days?

Traditional Indian pitches suit batters for the first 3 days and it starts spinning from day 4 because of weather conditions and type of soil but dusting from day one and match being completed in just 2 days is unacceptable.

 

[asprin]

You think modern day generation is going to watch such 2-3 day pink ball tests a lot going forward

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the introduction of Day-Night Tests an attempt at luring in the newer generation into watching Test matches? We here are cricket tragics, so we have no problem with the traditional ones but change is inevitable.

Also if you dont want pink ball tests to be packed inside each series, then the players are going to have an even tougher time coming to grips with the pink ball.

Well, the point was to not overdo it and keep it special. Yes, that might mean players may struggle to adjust but that is expected to happen whenever something new at play. For crying out loud, this was just the 16th Test in the history of Day-Night Test cricket. Give it time and I'm sure batsmen will learn to cope with it.

I might even like the idea of playing a day/night test with a white ball (like how ODI's are played) and changing ball after 40 overs.

Sure, I do not mind this as long as we have a Day-Night fixture. My preference isn't for a pink ball per se, just that it wouldn't hurt to have something different once in a while. We are seeing such matches end inside 3 days - I accept that's not ideal. But I'm also confident that with practice, this trend will change.

Crawley and Sharma both opened the batting and probably faced the most from the seamers who, on the whole didn't look at that effective

Fair enough. But I still think it was more of a mind thing than technique.

 

[SaiSrini]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the introduction of Day-Night Tests an attempt at luring in the newer generation into watching Test matches? We here are cricket tragics, so we have no problem with the traditional ones but change is inevitable.



Well, the point was to not overdo it and keep it special. Yes, that might mean players may struggle to adjust but that is expected to happen whenever something new at play. For crying out loud, this was just the 16th Test in the history of Day-Night Test cricket. Give it time and I'm sure batsmen will learn to cope with it.



Sure, I do not mind this as long as we have a Day-Night fixture. My preference isn't for a pink ball per se, just that it wouldn't hurt to have something different once in a while. We are seeing such matches end inside 3 days - I accept that's not ideal. But I'm also confident that with practice, this trend will change.



Fair enough. But I still think it was more of a mind thing than technique.

I dont think a pink ball test is going to bring in the newer generation. The newer generation will stick to a pink ball test only if it can produce the quality that is produced by a sporting daylight test match and one that lasts into the 5th day. Every pink ball test match lasting under 3 days is not going to excite the newer generation because within those 3 days, they watch batsmen scoring at 3-4 runs per over, which is more than half lesser than what is known to be the scoring rate in a T20 or even an ODI match.

If D/N tests are to survive, they need to quickly find a way to consistently enter into the 5th day. And I think D/N tests cannot have rank turners or ultra seaming pitches. They need to have flatter batting wickets with true bounce. Basically recreate an ODI and play it over 5 days and let the wicket degrade. I think the first test match in Chennai would've been an ideal D/N test pitch, with a white ball (it would have still ended in 3 days or less with a pink ball).

 

[Ohm]

I was thinking of watching highlights of this match, now I'd rather watch full match replay.

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

I was thinking of watching highlights of this match, now I'd rather watch full match replay.

I will watch your rare posts here recently. Which will take even less time than highlights

 

[Ed Smith]

Traditional Indian pitches suit batters for the first 3 days and it starts spinning from day 4 because of weather conditions and type of soil but dusting from day one and match being completed in just 2 days is unacceptable.

Sounds like an Indian problem rather than a test cricket issue

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Jofra was up at 8 this match. 20 innings into his test match career he's averaging 7.75 with the bat.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

 

[Crassus]

It's a farce to end it within 2 days. Makes a mockery of test cricket but I'm sure India will get away with it. The series has been a bit rubbish if we're being honest.

Looking forward to the dustbowl that'll be put out for the 4th test.

Also, for those moaning about the green seaming wickets England put out for the Indians....

This was the pitch for Lords, there's a tinge of green but nothing like the ridiculous pitches NZ were giving the Indians last year. It's just a good test wicket, one that offers a challenge to both batsmen and bowlers and rewards those that dig in. The pitches we've seen out in India don't even look fit to walk the dog on. The second Chennai pitch in particular was breaking up and exploding in the first session of the game.

 

[blockerdave]

Funny how talks about negatives of Pink ball Test is gaining momentum after this Test. I'm not denying what happened - a Test match ending inside 2 days is farcical. But no way should the blame solely lie on the format. We could see glimes of batting being fine in Crawley's and Rohit's innings. It felt like it was a mind thing for some batsmen. Seeing collapses of epic proportions affected them while batting the second time.

Day-Night Tests are certainly a change and while I don't want them packed inside each series, having them once in a home-away series should be encouraged.

certainly at the end of yesterday, i really saw poor batting by England and minds affected by both the pitch of the last test and the pink ball in general... though not sure how that explains India's collapse against Root this morning.

I certainly think this pitch was better than the last tests, but I think all teams seem to have issues with the pink ball.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

It's a farce to end it within 2 days. Makes a mockery of test cricket but I'm sure India will get away with it. The series has been a bit rubbish if we're being honest.

Looking forward to the dustbowl that'll be put out for the 4th test.

Also, for those moaning about the green seaming wickets England put out for the Indians....

This was the pitch for Lords, there's a tinge of green but nothing like the ridiculous pitches NZ were giving the Indians last year. It's just a good test wicket, one that offers a challenge to both batsmen and bowlers and rewards those that dig in. The pitches we've seen out in India don't even look fit to walk the dog on. The second Chennai pitch in particular was breaking up and exploding in the first session of the game.

Relax! I do not think anyone on this forum is denying that this wicket/series has had good pitches. We are all in agreement and we all think BCCI should be penalized for this match. Also I am in agreement with @SaiSrini, either improve the pink ball cricket or do not play it. Would this pitch have behaved differently had this been day test?

Also pitch

 

[Aalay]

Well, at least no one has complained about the pitch.

TBH, I agree with what Virat said at the post-match presentation ceremony. Both teams did bat poorly on a pitch which was challenging but not to the extent both teams made it look. It seemed like England just gave up at one point because they were not comfortable against the spinners. They have to realize that this Indian team is shite against spinners as well. For god's sake, we gave Joe Root a 5-wicket haul, and we donate wickets to Moeen Ali every single time he bowls against us.

The difference between both teams right now is the quality of spinners. India has Ashwin and Akshar, who are much better spinners compared to anyone England will bring in. I know many people (including me) were disappointed when we found out that Jadeja will be out of this series and might have made English fans happy. However, these pitches are tailor-made for someone like Akshar Patel. He can bowl in those areas all day, every day, and he is taller than Jadeja and just like Jadeja, he will turn the ball a little bit but will get you more often than not with the straighter ball. In the last 2 matches, Rohit Sharma has been the standout batsman for India, which has been another difference between the two teams.

 

[Ashutosh.]

Bairstow's last 7 test innings against India - 0, 6, 0, 0, 18, 0, 0

 

[Aislabie]

Jofra was up at 8 this match. 20 innings into his test match career he's averaging 7.75 with the bat.

It goes straight into the pantheon alongside some of the great England tails - ones like Fraser-Watkin-Such-Malcolm, or Headley-Caddick-Fraser-Tufnell, or Mahmood-Harmison-Panesar-Hoggard

 

[Ed Smith]

It goes straight into the pantheon alongside some of the great England tails - ones like Fraser-Watkin-Such-Malcolm, or Headley-Caddick-Fraser-Tufnell, or Mahmood-Harmison-Panesar-Hoggard

Ergh