3rd Test (Lord’s) - 10 July to 14 July

[CartyDurham]

I don't follow CC closely enough to know who should replace Bashir but it says something about spin bowling in this country that they pick a player who hasn't played a Test in 8 years.

Agreed. They did however recall Dawson to the fifty over side so I suspected he would be in if Bashir went down

there are spinners about but not good enough or either enough experience to handle the pressure against India

 

[Ju7]

He would have been called up for the India tour last year but wasn’t in the end as he was playing in South Africa and didn’t want to be called up to carry drinks. Granted, there are no franchise leagues going on at the moment, but it’s surely a sign that he’s going to play, and in an era where England pick on vibes, it’s a safe option

So he refused to go as part of the squad as he would be 2nd choice?

 

[Daemon]

Yeah but until yesterday the criticism was that they’ve become too easy to hit. It’s mostly been suggested as a reason for Bazball working better than expected.

Let's put into perspective what I mean when I say he should have scored faster. During the last three partnerships Jadeja scored 53 runs off 166 balls. S/R of 31.9, 1.91 runs per over. If he'd struck at a rate of 45, or 2.7rpo, India would have won. I understand that scoring runs was difficult, but why is it so unreasonable to ask a middle order batsman to go at 2.7rpo with the tail? I'm not saying he needed to clear the men on the boundary every other ball. And I understand that he's not exactly a power hitter, but let's not undersell what he's capable of, he's played 200 ODIs as a very good lower order bat. Surely he has the ability to score 3 an over when the field is set back.

The problem is getting back on strike to make 3 an over after you whack the first ball but can only get 1

 

[slowfinger]

Bumrah faced the third most balls in an innings in his career (54), Siraj the most in his (30). That constituted 40% of the deliveries bowled during their time in the middle.

A couple of comparisons:
- Leach faced 17/62 balls in the match-winning tenth wicket partnership with Stokes at headingley in 2019. (27%)
- Vishwa Fernando faced 27/95 balls when batting with Kusal Perera when they beat South Africa in Durban in 2019. (28%)

It was always unlikely that Jadeja would get India over the line but I think he did let the two tail-enders face a lot of balls. Credit to both of them for sticking it out but the more they were exposed, the higher the likelihood they would succumb.

I thought that when I was watching. The amount of times Jadeja took a single and left the 10/11 to face the last 3-4 balls was astounding. I get faith in your team but it didn't seem right.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah but until yesterday the criticism was that they’ve become too easy to hit. It’s mostly been suggested as a reason for Bazball working better than expected.

Let's put into perspective what I mean when I say he should have scored faster. During the last three partnerships Jadeja scored 53 runs off 166 balls. S/R of 31.9, 1.91 runs per over. If he'd struck at a rate of 45, or 2.7rpo, India would have won. I understand that scoring runs was difficult, but why is it so unreasonable to ask a middle order batsman to go at 2.7rpo with the tail? I'm not saying he needed to clear the men on the boundary every other ball. And I understand that he's not exactly a power hitter, but let's not undersell what he's capable of, he's played 200 ODIs as a very good lower order bat. Surely he has the ability to score 3 an over when the field is set back.

This one? https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...a-vs-australia-1st-test-464526/full-scorecard

It's an interesting scorecard actually. Ishant faced more balls than VVS in 76 fewer minutes - Australia were offering singles and they were taking them. But VVS had a SR of 92, he scored almost three times as fast as Jadeja yesterday. I think this would have been a much better strategy.

Fair enough but I think we should just agree to disagree here. I just dont think 2s were an option and neither Bumrah or Siraj looked capable of working easy singles if they were fed the strike earlier in the over. And honestly, that was a most unfortunate dismissal for Siraj coz it may well be possible that if that ball misses or goes somewhere else, we may well be talking Jaddu playing one of the ATG test knocks.

 

[Molehill]

Bumrah faced the third most balls in an innings in his career (54), Siraj the most in his (30). That constituted 40% of the deliveries bowled during their time in the middle.

A couple of comparisons:
- Leach faced 17/62 balls in the match-winning tenth wicket partnership with Stokes at headingley in 2019. (27%)
- Vishwa Fernando faced 27/95 balls when batting with Kusal Perera when they beat South Africa in Durban in 2019. (28%)

It was always unlikely that Jadeja would get India over the line but I think he did let the two tail-enders face a lot of balls. Credit to both of them for sticking it out but the more they were exposed, the higher the likelihood they would succumb.

It's not just the balls the tailenders faced, it was what Jadeja was doing with the ones he had too. Stokes scored 70 off his 45 balls, Perera did likewise from his 68. Jadeja scored 44 from 129 balls after the 8th wicket fell. Stokes was happy for him to go with this plan as he knew sooner or later the tailenders would make a mistake (especially as the target gets closer), and so it proved. You can say he got close, but it was doomed for failure really. The only recent examples of teams pulling off a heist like this both involved a batsman going on the attack.

He would've been better off trying to hit 5th and 6th balls for boundaries when the field was up and then hoping the other 2 could survive or find a single.

 

[cnerd123]

How exactly was Jadeja supposed to score at 3 an over whilst also shielding the tail? No one has answered this.

Jadeja could have gotten a single every ball, but doing so would have exposed Siraj and Bumrah. He tried to hit boundaries along the ground but got no value for his shots. Hitting in the air risks dismissal, and for large parts England just bowled good balls at him. So he took singles on the 4th/5th balls (occasionally on the 3rd/6th balls) and backed Bumrah and Siraj to see off the rest of the over.

One over he couldn't get the single on the 5th ball, so the field came up on the 6th ball. He picked up an easy boundary, but then Bumrah had to survive 6 balls next over (which he did).

On numerous occasions he wanted to run two but Bumrah wasn't having it.

It was a stalemate. There's no way Jadeja, with his skillset and in those conditions, is hitting risk free boundaries. England were actually bowling well to their field. At the same time, it was difficult for England to take a wicket. The game was hanging on who made a mistake first. Bumrah eventually gave in and played a bad shot. Siraj was unlucky. But Jadeja survived.

I ask the question again - please explain what exactly he should have done better? What scoring options were available to him that he did not take?

Criticisim needs to be founded on some substance. Right now it's coming off as a hot take just for the sake of it, being put forward by people who only read scorecards to understand a game.

Jaiswal, Nair, Gill could have all done a lot more. They actually batted poorly. If you want to criticise anyone in the Indian batting lineup it's them.

 

[cnerd123]

He would've been better off trying to hit 5th and 6th balls for boundaries when the field was up and then hoping the other 2 could survive or find a single.

The field only came up on the 6th ball, and very rarely did we see it as Jadeja had usually taken the single by then.

He didn't want to give the English bowlers an entire over to either Bumrah or Siraj. Bumrah was on strike first ball of the over that Stokes got him on. If Jadeja had tried what you suggested, the game would have been over before tea.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

So he refused to go as part of the squad as he would be 2nd choice?

Basically

 

[Ali TT]

That VVS-Ishant partnership in Mohali is fascinating reading from the scorecard. Ishant faced 70% of the deliveries during the partnership yet scored at 2 runs an over compared to run a ball for VVS.

I guess the difference with Bumrah/Siraj and Sharma is that both essentially shut up shop whereas Ishant was scoring runs.

As cnerd says though, England executed their bowling and fielding plans well while the dying pitch made forcing the pace with the bat hard. I saw Jadeja try to leather a couple of on fronts that barely tricked to mid-on, such was the slowness and challenge with timing.

 

[Ju7]

Basically

I'm surprised that they haven't made a thing over that.Interesting that Leach has a central contract too.

 

[Uppercut]

How exactly was Jadeja supposed to score at 3 an over whilst also shielding the tail? No one has answered this.

Jadeja could have gotten a single every ball, but doing so would have exposed Siraj and Bumrah. He tried to hit boundaries along the ground but got no value for his shots. Hitting in the air risks dismissal, and for large parts England just bowled good balls at him. So he took singles on the 4th/5th balls (occasionally on the 3rd/6th balls) and backed Bumrah and Siraj to see off the rest of the over.

One over he couldn't get the single on the 5th ball, so the field came up on the 6th ball. He picked up an easy boundary, but then Bumrah had to survive 6 balls next over (which he did).

On numerous occasions he wanted to run two but Bumrah wasn't having it.

It was a stalemate. There's no way Jadeja, with his skillset and in those conditions, is hitting risk free boundaries. England were actually bowling well to their field. At the same time, it was difficult for England to take a wicket. The game was hanging on who made a mistake first. Bumrah eventually gave in and played a bad shot. Siraj was unlucky. But Jadeja survived.

I ask the question again - please explain what exactly he should have done better? What scoring options were available to him that he did not take?

Criticisim needs to be founded on some substance. Right now it's coming off as a hot take just for the sake of it, being put forward by people who only read scorecards to understand a game.

Jaiswal, Nair, Gill could have all done a lot more. They actually batted poorly. If you want to criticise anyone in the Indian batting lineup it's them.

People have suggested scoring options - going harder after Root and Bashir, and trying to run more 2s. You think that would have been an even riskier strategy than asking the tail enders to play the longest innings of their careers, which is fine, I just disagree. I think the strategy he chose asked too much of Bumrah and Siraj and was always likely to end the way it did.

It’s hardly insightful to say that Jaiswal getting out for a duck was worse than what Jadeja did. I only started criticising Jadeja because people were praising it as a kind of heroic last stand. I thought the tail stuck around long enough to give him an opportunity to win the game, longer than he could reasonably have expected. It’s not like I’m calling it the worst innings ever, but it was a failure. He couldn’t score quickly enough to get the job done.

 

[cnerd123]

People have suggested scoring options - going harder after Root and Bashir, and trying to run more 2s. You think that would have been an even riskier strategy than asking the tail enders to play the longest innings of their careers, which is fine, I just disagree. I think the strategy he chose asked too much of Bumrah and Siraj and was always likely to end the way it did.

It’s hardly insightful to say that Jaiswal getting out for a duck was worse than what Jadeja did. I only started criticising Jadeja because people were praising it as a kind of heroic last stand. I thought the tail stuck around long enough to give him an opportunity to win the game, longer than he could reasonably have expected. It’s not like I’m calling it the worst innings ever, but it was a failure. He couldn’t score quickly enough to get the job done.

'Going harder'? Do you literally mean swinging his bat harder at the ball? Stokes had every fielder bar slip, and mid off on the boundary when they bowled to Jadeja, and they were taking pace off the ball and dropping it into the rough. What exactly do you expect him to do in that scenario?

Running twos, as I mentioned, was something Bumrah was against. Maybe his legs were aching, maybe he had a niggle. It takes two to run 2, Bumrah wasn't supportive.

It was absolutely a heroic last stand. You don't need to overthink it just because you feel the urge to go against public opinion.

 

[devisreeprasadmahesh]

THE ULTIMATE TRUTH

These fellows have some serious mental issues. They badly need sports psychologists. Just look at the World Cup final in your own backyard: timid and frightened. Only Pant, Bumrah, or Jaiswal look Australian in this team. The rest are sheeps. Nitish Reddy looks like a tailender with the bat—subdued and terrified.

Many of them simply lack the mental toughness required for competitive sports. No shortage of talent, but psychological issues. Just facts.

 

[CartyDurham]

THE ULTIMATE TRUTH

These fellows have some serious mental issues. They badly need sports psychologists. Just look at the World Cup final in your own backyard: timid and frightened. Only Pant, Bumrah, or Jaiswal look Australian in this team. The rest are sheeps. Nitish Reddy looks like a tailender with the bat—subdued and terrified.

Many of them simply lack the mental toughness required for competitive sports. No shortage of talent, but psychological issues. Just facts.

Are those your facts based on watching them or are you on the Indian staff ?

 

[CartyDurham]

Hm not as pessimistic as you yet. This England side is very beatable. Hopefully our guys step away from the game for a minute and just talk it out without recriminations.

You should be 3-0 up India. They have failed to push home the advantage multiple times

 

[Arachnödouche2.0]

You should be 3-0 up India. They have failed to push home the advantage multiple times

Yeah, jokes aside, I'm not big on if-onlys; smacks of a bitter, entitled mindset. The essence of sport is to capitalize on your opponent's weaknesses at just the right moments, a right skill of itself, and England have done that better hence deserve to be 2-1 ahead.

 

[karan_fromthestands]

THE ULTIMATE TRUTH

These fellows have some serious mental issues. They badly need sports psychologists. Just look at the World Cup final in your own backyard: timid and frightened. Only Pant, Bumrah, or Jaiswal look Australian in this team. The rest are sheeps. Nitish Reddy looks like a tailender with the bat—subdued and terrified.

Many of them simply lack the mental toughness required for competitive sports. No shortage of talent, but psychological issues. Just facts.

Such a quality post! I like the extremely detailed insights with proper reasoning. Very valid argument.

 

[Ali TT]

Yeah, jokes aside, I'm not big on if-onlys; smacks of a bitter, entitled mindset. The essence of sport is to capitalize on your opponent's weaknesses at just the right moments, a right skill of itself, and England have done that better hence deserve to be 2-1 ahead.

Winning - it's really the only stat that matters in the end

 

[OverratedSanity]

Jadeja's innings was merely sub-optimal, but I think it's pretty obvious it was an excellent one? No amount of nitpicking over his method (which I initially didn't agree with) is going to convince me that an innings that gets you close to the finish line from 80 odd for 7 is anything other than superb.