To be honest, India should romp home with plenty of overs to spare. I suppose England do still have a chance. If England are to win this Test Match, they MUST take quick wickets and re-apply the pressure back on England.
India In England India vs England Natwest Test Series : 4th Test Match Played at The Brit Oval
England back in the match with 3 wickets in the session....
England players, 2 Indian batsmen and 2 on field umpires came to field to start the match after innings break. India needed 233 runs from 50 overs. When we think about this target with Indian team batting line up in mind it doesnt seem that India will have any sort of trouble in chasing this target but we never know in cricket. This is a test match so the bowlers are allowed to bowl short pitch deliveries; spinners can bowl negatively to frustrate the batsmens. So, this match can well turn out to be a really interesting one.
Strauss took his time in setting the field. Sehwag and Gambhir discussed the tactics and finally umpire, Billy Bowden said play. 1st over from Anderson was very tight one. Gambhir managed to pick 2 runs from the first over. Andersons opening bowling partner was Stuart Broad. Stuart Broad bowled 3 very good deliveries to Sehwag and then on the 4th ball he managed to take Sehwags wicket. Broad bowled a full length delivery, Sehwag tried to smash it on leg side but a fielder was placed there by Strauss. The fielder was Paul Collingwood and Collingwood made no mistake in taking the catch. Sehwag went back to the pavilion for a duck.
After Sehwags wicket next batsmen who came to bat was Rahul Dravid. Things got even worst for India as Gambhir followed Sehwag to the pavilion in the very next over! After hitting Anderson for a boundary in his 2nd overs very first bowl Anderson came back and took the wicket of Gambhir on the 4th ball of his 2nd over. India lost another wicket. Next batsmen who came to bat were Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar and Dravid knew what they need to do. They both were not taking any kind of risks and were mainly rotating the strike. The pressure was on Indian team. After loosing both of their openers cheaply India needed a good partnership. But that wasnt the case.
Sachin Tendulkar smashed 2 boundaries and took a single but went to pavilion for 9. Broad bowled a full length delivery; Sachin tried to push it on the off side for a single but was not able to and was bowled. A very big wicket for England side and Indian team was in pressure. India was 21 for 3. Next batsmen who came to bat were VVS Laxman. Not many people would have forgotten the partnership between Dravid and Laxman vs Australia. That partnership just not saved the match for India but also helped India to win the match. Laxman and Dravid both played remarkably well in that innings. Will they be able to do the same stuff again? Indian fans will hope so.
Not much time was left before tea so Dravid and Laxman avoided taking any kind of risk. But in the last over before tea of Swanns! Dravid and Laxman both smashed 1 boundary each to Swann and finished the session on a good note. Then the umpires decided to take tea. Although India have lost 3 wickets! It is still possible for them to win the match but on other hand England have managed to take some quick Indian wickets which have made sure that England has a chance to win the match as well. Would be interesting to see the ending result of the match!
So, the play started after tea. Session before tea just not went in favor of Indian cricket team. Everyone though that chasing 233 would be an easy task. But no, England bowlers had some other plans. England bowlers bowled in right areas and managed to take 4 Indian wickets till tea. Now, India have 2 hours left to chase down the target and England team have obviously 2 hours as well to take remaining 6 wickets of Indian team. Its a balanced match at the moment anything can happen. There could be a draw as well. Lets see how the play went after tea.
Match ends in a draw
Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were not taking any kind of risk after tea and thats what was expected from them. England bowlers continued bowling in the right areas and Indian batsmen were really having trouble in taking the score forward. But after 15 minutes or so after tea Laxman and Dravid started being positively! They knew that if they will play slowly and with negative mind set then England bowlers will have chance of taking few more Indian wickets. Dravid was still playing slowly which is his normal innings. But Laxman was looking good and was rotating the strike well. This was allowing Dravid to play his normal innings.
But that wasnt the case for too long. After a partnership was starting to build! Laxman lost his wicket by playing a poor stroke. Graham Onions was bowling, Onions bowled it short, Laxman tried to smash it on leg side but got bottom edge onto the ball and was caught out by the fielder, James Anderson. Virat Kohli was the next batsmen and he too was not able to stay at the crease for long as he got out for 4. Now the question which Indian team will have in their mind is should they give more chances to Kohli? Obviously he hasnt proved yet that he is good enough to play tests for India. If he is not good enough then maybe Indian selectors can give a chance to someone like Puajara, Rahane, Raina? There are too many options. India needs a solid middle order batsman which can make runs in pressure situations. Obviously Kohli is not succeeding in doing that.
Next batsmen who came to bat were MS Dhoni. Dhoni was not really nervous with the match situations. We all know that Dhoni is a really good batsman and has capability of playing well in pressure situations. Dhoni knew that if he will not play his normal innings then he may loose his wicket as well. So, Dhoni was rotating the strike well and was hitting bad balls away for boundaries as well. Dhoni was looking good at the crease. So, even Dravid was looking good. Now there was no chance of India winning the match. Just half an hour was left and India needed approximately 133 runs to win. So, the match was basically heading towards a draw. But England got back in the match with taking wicket of Indian captain, MS Dhoni. Stuart Broad bowled a full length delivery; Dhoni played it quite early and completely missed the ball and got lbw out.
Harbhajan Singh who played well in the 1st innings was the next batsmen. We never know with Harbhajan. He does not take his batting seriously at all. So, the Indian fans were really nervous because Harbhajan can even get out on the very 1st ball or he can even play a big innings. 15 minutes were left now for the play to end and Dravid took no risk and was taking single on the second last ball of the over or the last ball of the over to get strike in the next over. If he was not getting single on the second last ball of the over or last ball of the over then Harbhajan was doing well to play the over successfully. Indian members in the stadium were motivating their team by saying chak de India. Go India Go and that sort of stuff! Even England members in the crowd were motivating their team. Harbhajan and Dravid did well to stay at the crease till the end of the match and in the end the match ended in a draw. We have had some amazing performances throughout this match and it would be interesting to see that who wins the man of the match award.
Coming up next : Post match presentation with Michael Atherton.
Not a good start for India here. I think you should include the current bowler in the summary at the end just to add something. Hopefully India can get back into the game since I hate England.
Pretty careless batting there by Indian batsmen. They blew their wickets away.
I wonder if Dravid and Laxman strengthen the middle order with their steady play, otherwise they would only have to look for a draw.
England in with a sniff of victory but in all likeliness this will be a draw. I can see the Indians just blocking it out if they lose a couple more wickets.
Guys, I am thinking not to post other countries international matches. It takes lot of time and because of other countries international matches India's international matches updates may delay a bit. So, I am thinking to cancel the idea of posting other countries international matches. What I will do is, once the world is all set to start. I will post a update showing the performance of 8 major international teams so that readers can have a idea about how the teams have been playing recently. I hope that this idea is good enough. Let me know your views guys.
India In England India vs England Npower Test Series : 3rd Test Match Live From Chester-Le-Street
So, the play started after tea. Session before tea just not went in favor of Indian cricket team. Everyone though that chasing 233 would be an easy task. But no, England bowlers had some other plans. England bowlers bowled in right areas and managed to take 4 Indian wickets till tea. Now, India have 2 hours left to chase down the target and England team have obviously 2 hours as well to take remaining 6 wickets of Indian team. It?s a balanced match at the moment anything can happen. There could be a draw as well. Let?s see how the play went after tea.
Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were not taking any kind of risk after tea and that?s what was expected from them. England bowlers continued bowling in the right areas and Indian batsmen were really having trouble in taking the score forward. But after 15 minutes or so after tea Laxman and Dravid started being positively! They knew that if they will play slowly and with negative mind set then England bowlers will have chance of taking few more Indian wickets. Dravid was still playing slowly which is his normal innings. But Laxman was looking good and was rotating the strike well. This was allowing Dravid to play his normal innings.
But that wasn?t the case for too long. After a partnership was starting to build! Laxman lost his wicket by playing a poor stroke. Graham Onions was bowling, Onions bowled it short, Laxman tried to smash it on leg side but got bottom edge onto the ball and was caught out by the fielder, James Anderson. Virat Kohli was the next batsmen and he too was not able to stay at the crease for long as he got out for 4. Now the question which Indian team will have in their mind is should they give more chances to Kohli? Obviously he hasn?t proved yet that he is good enough to play tests for India. If he is not good enough then maybe Indian selectors can give a chance to someone like Puajara, Rahane, Raina? There are too many options. India needs a solid middle order batsman which can make runs in pressure situations. Obviously Kohli is not succeeding in doing that.
Next batsmen who came to bat were MS Dhoni. Dhoni was not really nervous with the match situations. We all know that Dhoni is a really good batsman and has capability of playing well in pressure situations. Dhoni knew that if he will not play his normal innings then he may loose his wicket as well. So, Dhoni was rotating the strike well and was hitting bad balls away for boundaries as well. Dhoni was looking good at the crease. So, even Dravid was looking good. Now there was no chance of India winning the match. Just half an hour was left and India needed approximately 133 runs to win. So, the match was basically heading towards a draw. But England got back in the match with taking wicket of Indian captain, MS Dhoni. Stuart Broad bowled a full length delivery; Dhoni played it quite early and completely missed the ball and got lbw out.
Harbhajan Singh who played well in the 1st innings was the next batsmen. We never know with Harbhajan. He does not take his batting seriously at all. So, the Indian fans were really nervous because Harbhajan can even get out on the very 1st ball or he can even play a big innings. 15 minutes were left now for the play to end and Dravid took no risk and was taking single on the second last ball of the over or the last ball of the over to get strike in the next over. If he was not getting single on the second last ball of the over or last ball of the over then Harbhajan was doing well to play the over successfully. Indian members in the stadium were motivating their team by saying ?chak de India??. ?Go India Go? and that sort of stuff! Even England members in the crowd were motivating their team. Harbhajan and Dravid did well to stay at the crease till the end of the match and in the end the match ended in a draw. We have had some amazing performances throughout this match and it would be interesting to see that who wins the man of the match award.
Coming up next : Post match presentation with Michael Atherton.
We have had 5 days of amazing cricket here at Chester-le-street. But in the end, this test match has ended in a draw. At a point of time it seemed that England will loose and sometimes it seemed that India will loose. But in the end both the teams did well to draw the match. Now, I would like to call Andrew Strauss to have a chat with us.
Andrew, your bowlers bowled really well to save the match for England. It seemed that it would be an easy win for India. But your bowlers bowled in right areas and saved the match for England.
Yeah, bowlers bowled really well to stop India winning this match. That?s a happy sign for the whole side.
Bowlers are bowling really well but the batting is a bit of concern for England. Especially the top order! Cook has not really played a big innings so far in this series. That?s why the England side is not getting off to good starts. Do you think the same?
Yeah, that?s a bit of concern for us. Cook and I need to take our side off to a good start. If we don?t then the side gets under pressure. Cook has struggled so far in the series but I hope he will get his form back till the next match.
OK Strauss. Thanks for talking to us. Best of luck for the next match!
Cheers Michael.
Now, I would like to call MS Dhoni to have a chat with us.
MS, England bowlers bowled really well to stop Indian team from winning this match. Are you disappointed by not winning this match?
Yeah, whole side is a bit disappointed with not winning this match. But England bowlers bowled really well to stop us winning the match. It was not an easy pitch to bat on. But I am happy as well. At a moment it seemed as if we will loose this match. We have learned a lot from this match and I hope we will perform well in the next match.
Some of the Indian players were injured before this match. Have they recovered now? Also, can we expect India to have some changes in their team for the next test match?
Yeah, the players are recovering well. But still there is no final news on them. I hope they recover soon. As far as changes in the side are concern I am not too sure about it. I will have a chat with the senior players of the team and the team staff before having changes in the side. If we need to win the series then we need to win the next match and we will try our best to win the next match.
OK Dhoni, well played best of luck to you and your side for the next match.
Thanks a lot.
Now, it?s time to give the award to man of the match. There have been some really good performances throughout this test match and the man of the match for this test match is Paul Collingwood for his very well made 140 in the 1st innings and some really good bowling in this test match.
Collingwood really well played. You played really well in the 1st innings I am sure you would be eager to play in the 4th Npower test match and try and win the 4th test match for England.
I surely am eager to play the 4th Npower test match. Team which will win the 4th test will win this series and the whole England team is eager to play the 4th test match after saving this test match.
Apart from your batting your bowling was good in this match as well. Are you working on your bowling these days?
Yes I am working on my bowling these days. If my captain needs me to bowl then I am happy to bowl few overs and get some wickets for my team.
OK Collingwood thanks for talking to us. Best of luck for the next match!
Thanks Michael.
Now it all depends on the 4th Npower test match. Team which will win that test match will win this series. This series could end up in a draw as well. But the England team and Indian team fans will be hoping for their side win. That?s all from the presentation ceremony.
Boring end to the match as I expected after those early wickets at the start of the session. Sets up a good final Test though where any side could take it.
Dravid "The Wall" maintained his cool in the end there with a doggid effort. It was his innings that stopped England's momentum and thus the game resulted in a draw. I feel that Collingwood's 17 overs should have been split up between Broad & Swann.
As for the Man of the Match selection, I feel that it was a good decision that Collingwood got the award as he batted wonderfully in the first innings for his 140.
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15 minutes were left now for the play to end and Dravid took no risk and was taking single on the second last ball of the over or the last ball of the over to get strike in the next over. If he was not getting single on the second last ball of the over or last ball of the over then Harbhajan was doing well to play the over successfully. Indian members in the stadium were motivating their team by saying chak de India. Go India Go and that sort of stuff! Even England members in the crowd were motivating their team. Harbhajan and Dravid did well to stay at the crease till the end of the match and in the end the match ended in a draw. We have had some amazing performances throughout this match and it would be interesting to see that who wins the man of the match award. 
