***Official*** England in India

[Xuhaib]

Nah I hate it. Neither rewards good cricket nor punishes bad cricket (by the bowler especially). Worst kind of pitch.

Not that 600 plays 650 isn't awful too, but the curator should get the kitchen sink for this. Awful awful pitch.

OK, fair enough.

[Neil Pickup]

Wouldn't have been out though - the bowler had already entered his delivery stride.

Yes it would - international cricket has different playing conditions on this aspect of the laws.

[flibbertyjibber]

Seriously? Been horrible viewing. One of the most excruciating Test matches to watch that I've ever seen.

All the intrigue has happened on the scoreboard, not out on the pitch, apart from that madcap hour on Day 3.

Totally agree with this, if the end result wasn't so important i'd have switched off long ago even with my team involved and I never do that. Boring as hell.

[Neil Pickup]

yea, guys like neil pickup need to taste it so bad.

Delighted to do so. I think my brain utterly rejected the hypothesis of the pitch turning into an absolute road on the grounds that it made no sense whatsoever for India to produce such a wicket for a must-win game... c'est la vie...

[centurymaker]

if you had to pay $200 to watch a day's play, you may get a few to watch 600 V 500
but no one would pay $200 to watch a day's play on this pitch.

test crickter killer

[Neil Pickup]

(thinking about it in depth now- we fans often forget that we have made no contribution whatsoever, so there's really no real reason to feel overjoyed or dejected.
we are a bunch of ****s wasting our time or getting entertained watching others win or lose, make $$$$ and have a reasonably good time playing sports).

How involved in grass-roots cricket does someone need to be before they can legitimately say "we", then?

[centurymaker]

Delighted to do so. I think my brain utterly rejected the hypothesis of the pitch turning into an absolute road on the grounds that it made no sense whatsoever for India to produce such a wicket for a must-win game... c'est la vie...

yeah, it's almost like some inner party wanted india to lose the series #conspiracy

[centurymaker]

How involved in grass-roots cricket does someone need to be before they can legitimately say "we", then?

upto you to decide.

i for one don't use 'we' for india.

& I was hoping for england to not lose wickets in fear of getting my prediction horribly wrong, although the prediction was half in jest,
thanks to pews

[uvelocity]

This is a pretty fitting end to indias rise and fall. A useless performance and bad tactics on a boring pitch.

nah ****, it gets worse for you when we turn up

[uvelocity]

royal we ftr

[Spikey]

It would have been understandable had they come out to bat with quick runs in mind, without bothering if they lost wickets in the process. To everyone's shock, though, R Ashwin began the day turning down singles, which he had been doing in Kolkata too before hitting boundaries when the field came up towards the end of the over. Back then, though, England were going after wickets. Only the naïve would expect them to bring the field up in this situation.

Brace up for this. Hold on to your armchairs, for you might fall off them: India did expect just the same from England. "The same as the last game," Ashwin said of refusing singles. "Looking for the last two balls for the fielders to come in. They had a different strategy [this time]. They didn't bring the fielders up. After two overs we decided to take the singles."

India v England, 4th Test, Nagpur, 4th day : Sidharth Monga: India, waiting and hoping | Cricket Features | India v England | ESPN Cricinfo

[Neil Pickup]

Why was Ashwin whining about Trott hitting Jadeja's mystery ball for four?

[Cabinet96]

Yeah, I don't really understand the problems with that. David Lloyd said he didn't think Trott should have done it either. As far as I see it, it's just a bad ball, albeit a really bad one that is unusual.

[hendrix]

As far as I see it, it's just a bad ball, albeit a really bad one that is unusual.

exactly.

It's not as if anyone ever tries to bowl longhops or wide half volley's, so I don't get the "it slipped out of his hand' thing. He executed poorly and was punished. Maybe he executes the next one brilliantly and it's a unplayable delivery that takes a wicket

Besides, it's only 4 runs. Not the end of the world.

[stumpski]

Storm-in-teacup stuff, given that Dhoni and Jadeja were laughing when it happened. They weren't bothered, so I'm not sure why Ashwin should've been.