Key events
WICKET! Duckett b Bumrah 47 (England 113-2)
He’s a superstar! The best seamer in the world for my money and that’s why. A tantalising length, he brings Duckett forward and angles it back into the lefty off the deck and crashes the furniture behind. Wonderful bowling. He deserves that after having his request for a plumb lbw review denied in the previous over. A handy knock comes to an end.
18th over: England 105-1 (Duckett 39, Pope 31) Back to back fours to start this Ashwin over. Lovely batting from Pope. An inside out drive through mid-off to a half-volley is followed by a cute tuck off the pads down to fine leg. That give him the confidence to safely navigate the rest of the over. This partnership is hurtling along at 7 runs an over.
Had they reviewed it would have been out! Three reds. Bumrah can’t believe it. It did look close but I didn’t realise it was that close. The doubt was the leg-stump line. It was angling in and the off-stump was visible. A huge let off for Duckett!
17th over: England 97-1 (Duckett 39, Pope 23) Bumrah is back into the attack and Pope greets him with a checked-drive for two that gives the sweep on the off-side some work. That brings up the 50 run stand from just 43 deliveries. Pope then plays away from his body and gets an inside edge that trickles for a single rather than ricochet onto his stumps. The final ball pings Duckett on his pads as it traps him on the crease. There’s an appeal but, as usualy, Sharma errs on the side of caution and declines the review.
16th over: England 94-1 (Duckett 39, Pope 20) Pope gets a single off the first ball of the session with a neat clip towards midwicket. Was uppish, but safe. Duckett gets a single himself as he tucks one behind sqaure. A flashing drive catches the outside edge of Pope’s blade and he’ll take two before a reverse-sweep to deep point keeps him on strike. Five off that over. Picking up where they left off as the deficit drops below three figures.
The players are back out in the middle. Ashwin and Sharma are engaged in a long chat. Surely they’d worked out their plan during the break? Guess not. Still plenty to add as Ashwin spins the ball between his hands and gets ready to bowl to Pope.
“Good morning Daniel! Just offering my suggestion that those hats better be reversible. Enjoying England’s positive start.”
Morning Amelia. Hope you’re feeling fresh.
You’re absolutely right! Surely they’ve already thought of that? If not, someone needs to get in touch and make sure the next batch is on brand.
“Morning Daniel”, howdy Andy Bradshaw, thanks for dropping by.
“Interesting to see whether the RR of 7 continues after lunch or it’s a blip.”
I can’t imagine they’ll take their foot off the gas. And it’s not Bazball. It’s just that plodding and prodding on defence won’t do much good on this track against that bowling unit. So going on the attack is actually the most sensible appraoch.
Duckett said before the start of the series that playing with a horizontal bat on the sweep would be his most productive approach to combat the turn and bounce. So far he’s nailing them either side of the wicket and Pope looks busy as well.
Really curious to see where this goes from here.
What he said.
England have finally won their first session of the Test match; good moppage with the ball followed by confident sweepage with the bat
— Ali Martin (@Cricket_Ali) January 27, 2024
“Hi Daniel!” hey Darryl Accone, always good to hear from you.
“As Marx (Karl, not Groucho) wrote: “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce”.
“We are in the farce stage of Mighty Mouse McCullum’s regime. It’s hard to believe the premeditated folly of scant preparation time, the bizarre choice of debutant spinner, and the ongoing Bairstow/ Foakes wrangle that tangles the batting order and is possibly complicit in the departure “for personal reasons” of Harry Brook. Will England mistreat and abuse Brook the same way they did the demon speedster gifted them by the Windies? With the officialdom lot “in charge”, you bet.”
To be fair to Darryl, this was sent at the change of innings. Now, after Duckett’s reversing and Crawley’s biffing, perhaps there’s life in the Bazball ethos yet?
Of course, that could all come unstuck in the next session.
Here’s the Crawley wicket. You don’t see the set-up from Aswhin who moved about the crease and varied his release point.
Lunch: England 89-1, trail by 101.
England’s best session of the Test. They did the business with the ball, rattling three Indian wickets before Crawley, Duckett and Pope knocked off 89 runs at a shade under six an over.
It’s been an impressive display from the tourists. Crawley was imperious until he got a good’un from Ashwin and Duckett, with his awkward approach and crunching revers-sweeps, has steered England to the break with momentum on their side.
15th over: England 89-1 (Duckett 38, Pope 16) Jadeja replaces Patel who was struggling for control. A slider down the leg side beats Bharat and bobbles away from four byes, though the ‘keeper was unsighted by Duckett’s attempted paddle. Every other ball was worked for a single and that will be the close of play. England’s session no doubt.
14th over: England 80-1 (Duckett 36, Pope 13) Ashwin is slowing his pace down. Riiight down. An interesting ploy as it forces the batter to wait that little bit longer before playing the reverse-sweep. Duckett makes a go of it but misses out. There was an appeal for a minuscule nick but Sharma wasn’t having any of it and declined the option to review. Three singles to kick things off means that a relatively quiet over still moves the score along.
13th over: England (Duckett 35, Pope 11) Shot of the morning from Pope. In a sea of reverse-sweeps and one mighty six from Crawley over long-on, my favourite stroke so far is that one from Pope. Just a perfectly timed cover drive as he got to the pitch of the ball and on top of the bounce. So easy on the eye when he’s doing that. A single gets Duckett back on strike and he sweeps (conventionally) in front of square to close out the set. Patel is getting rinsed. England are motoring at just under six an over.
12th over: England 67-1 (Duckett 30, Pope 6) A full-toss outside Duckett’s off-stump gives the batter the freedom to do what he wants with it. So naturally he brings out another reverse-sweep and scoots it down to deep third for four. Pope unfurls a reverse of his own but looks ungainly as he does so and can only get a single. Duckett takes a single with the third revers-sweep of the over. Who knew that was a strike-rotating stroke?
11th over: England 59-1 (Duckett 24, Pope 4) Duckett smokes a reverse-sweep tthen obliterates another. My goodness he’s nailed that second one. There’s no risk. He’s reading the bounce, getting low and playing with flowing hands. Two runs to start the over means he’s taken 10 off Patel who might need to rethink his strategy.
10th over: England 49-1 (Duckett 14, Pope 4) Ashwin is a master. The manipulation of angles is what brought that Crawley wicket. Around the wicket and wider on the crease, he managed to get the ball to move across the right hander’s prod. Perhaps he was playing for the turn back in that never came. Either way, softer hands might have saved him but I won’t be too critical. That was just delicious bowling. Pope is off the mark straight away with a drive into the covers and has another two in the same region.
WICKET! Crawley c Sharma b Ashwin 31 (England 45-1)
Breakthrough! Wonderful bowling. Dangled the bait and Crawley couldn’t help himself. back around the wicket and a little slower, he dragged the tall batter out away from his body and the defensive prod was a little too firm. A healthy edge is snaffled by the skipper at first slip and India are on the board.
9th over: England 44-0 (Crawley 31, Duckett 13) A well timed clip from the back foot adds three more to Duckett’s tally. A single for Crawley past point and another single for Duckett on the on side has the scoreboard ticking along rather nicely as far as England are concerned.
8th over: England 39-0 (Crawley 30, Duckett 9) England have done well to spread the field so there’s an easy single down the ground for Crawley and another for Duckett through a vacant mid-wicket. Crawley then leans into a sumptuous cover drive. Didn’t try to belt it, just an effortless push that skips away for four. He’s looking good so far.
7th over: 33-0 (Crawley 25, Duckett 8) Outstanding batting from Crawley. He starts this Patel over by getting down low and paddling a couple down to fine leg. Then, when Patel gives it a bit of air, England’s opener skips down the track and, with a gorgeous swing of the bat, pops him over the rope at long-on for six. A nudge off the pads gets Duckett on strike who closes the over with a thumping reverse sweep in front of square. England aren’t going to let India’s spinners settle into a rhythm. This is great stuff!
6th over: England 20-0 (Crawley 16, Duckett 4) Crawley gets the reverse away. He doesn’t quite time it, it’s more off the toe than the middle, but he gets a big stride at it and manages to have a proper swing of the arms through the shot so it scampers away for four in front of square. Three singles elsewhere means that’s a relatively costly over from Ashwin. England’s batters are starting to find their groove. Been an impressive show so far.
5th over: England 13-0 (Crawley 10, Duckett 3) Spin from both ends with Patel replacing Bumrah. Duckett welcomes him into the attack but unfurling an outrageous reverse sweep to a ball that pitched outside leg stump. It spits and turns and evades both bat and the stumps behind him. What would WG Grace make of this? A more conventional prod forward gets Duckett a single on the on side and Crawley gets one of his own with a nudge towards point.
4th over: England 11-0 (Crawley 9, Duckett 2) Oooh, forward short leg was in business as Crawley’s forward push ballooned into space in front of the wicket. Did it clip the bat or was it just pad. The fielders were interested so I’m guessing there was some wood involved. Ashwin giving it a bit of air which I like to see. Duckett squeezes a single to get back up the other end.
3rd over: England 10-0 (Crawley 9, Duckett 1) Quality from Crawley. Just a hint of width and that’s all he needs to lean into a gorgeous back-foot punch through the covers. He timed the leather off that one. Bumrah follows it up with a slower ball and keeps things tight for the rest of the over.
2nd over: England 6-0 (Crawley 5, Duckett 1) Crawley gets out the reverse sweep and collects four down to deep third. He wasn’t fully in control as it bounced a bit on him and caught the top edge, but he got enough on it to get it to the fence. Duckett looked less secure. One booming sweep misses everything, though not his off-stump by much. And a prod off the inside edge had the man at short leg interested for just a moment. Ashwin won’t ind the attacking intent.
Spin to open from the other end. Ashwin will bowl to Ducket with a slip and a short leg.
1st over: England 0-0 (Crawley 9, Ducket 0) Bumrah starts by angling the ball into Crawley, testing his defence. He then gets one to hold its line from a good length around the fourth stump. That’s a nice looking delivery. Back into Crawley who is comfortably behind it and then thwacked on the thigh-pad as the final ball spits a little off the deck. Maiden to start.
Bumrah’s got the new rock in his hand. Crawley is facing up. Two slips and a gully. A standard ring filed elsewhere. Away we go!
Here’s the one that started the slide. What do you reckon? Bat or pad first? I still can’t decide. I think whatever the on field decision was would have stood.
India lead by 190. I tell you what. If those three wickets are anything to go by, England will have to bat incredibly well, with a whole lot of discipline and a heap of good luck, just to clear the deficit.
Root was great and Amhed benefited from what was an ugly swipe in the end from Patel, but three wickets for no runs on a sub-continent track can raise alarm bells. No doubt about it. It’s starting to keep low.
WICKET! Patel b Ahmed 44 (India all-out 436)
England have cleaned ‘em up this morning. That was close to a half-trcker from the leggie and Patel leaned back as he looked to swipe it away on the leg side. But it barely lifted and clattered the stumps. No half-century for Patel but the Indian spinners won’t mind that. By the looks of it this pitch is starting to offer up some dead spots.
What’s the opposite of a silver lining?
Good news: That is a really nice ball from Root, lots of lovely drift.
Bad news: England will face about four of them every over
— Rory Dollard (@thervd) January 27, 2024
120th over: India 436-9 (Patel 44, Soraj 0) No hat-trick for Root as Siraj’s defensive prod is up to the task. England’s former skipper has been head and shoulders their best bowler and he has bagged a deserving four-for. Can’t see Siraj hanging about so maybe Patel might throw his bat about.
Leach has been hoiked after just one over so Ahmed will come into the attack.
WICKET! Bumrah b Root 0 (India 436-9)
First ball! Root is on a hat-trick! Full outside the off stump, it turned back into the right hander. Perhaps kept a little low but Bumrah was in no position to play that as it squeezed under his poke from the crease.
WICKET! Jadeja lbw Root 87 (India 436-8)
GOT HIM! Excellent from Root. That round-armed action managed to get the ball to skid and Jadeja was tentatively forward. Some debate over whether the ball hit the pad or bat first. It looked like it might have been simultaneous but the third umpire has stuck with his colleague’s decision on the field. Ball tracking shows it would have clipped the bails and that’s good enough to end a quality knock and hand England their first scalp of the morning.
The finger has gone up! Root from round the wicket with a round-armed action has hit Jadeja’s pad. He’s been goven but reviews immediately. Stand by….
119th over: India 436-7 (Jadeja 87, Patel 44) Leach starts from over the wicket. He’s too full with his first ball and Jadeja can slap a single down the ground. Some lovely drift to Patel – who has a slip on either side of the wicket to contend with – prods without conviction. But Leach over pitches again and Patel leans into a wonderful cover drive, spanking that half-volley for four. There’s another juicy floater outside the off-stump. Two boundaries to welcome Leach into the attack. Poor bowling really. There are only two fielders on the off-side at cover and mid-off so that’s a gimme for the batter.
“Good morning from a steamy far south of India, where unseasonal rains are playing havoc with the dirt tracks under my bicycle tyres.”
Good morning to you Martin Wright. Thanks for joining me.
“England could do with a touch of them today. What will they do without Leach? Maybe get Tom Hartley to have a crewcut, don some small round spectacles and clean them in between deliveries. Anything’s worth a try…”
Haha, if Leach goes for some tap here, thety might just give that a go.
Leach replaces Wood. We’ll soon find out how that knee of his holding up. Will India look to target him?
118th over: India 427-7 (Jadeja 86, Patel 36) Root from round the wicket. He managed to get some lovely turn and bounce away from the left-handed Patel in the previous over. He’s finding a nice area now, around the fourth stump on a full length. Patience is the name of the game here. A slip and a short mid-on are the catchers in place. Patel isn’t interesting in taking him on. He’s happy to lean forward and prod with soft hands. Another maiden.
117th over: India 427-2 (Jadeja 86, Patel 36) Wood continues. He’s skidding it around a fifth/sixth stump line trying to tempt Jadeja into a prod. The batter isn’t biting and he’s letting it go. Just one slip – hovering around fourth in the cordon – means that’s probably not the right line. Wood then switches to round the wicket and finds a better angle into Jadeja who is solid on defence. A bounce to finish the maiden has Wood off his feet. He does that a lot actually.
116th over: India 427-7 (Jadeja 85, Patel 35) I’VE MISSED A FEW OVERS! I’m so sorry. No idea how that’s happened. And I woke up early as well!
Anyway, luckily for me not much has happened. Wood started the day and has sent down three overs. Root has likewise bowled three. Six runs have been scored so far.
Apologies for that. We’re back on track now.
Here’s a closer shot of Leach’s knee. Is this the equivalent of when Glenn McGrath stood on a ball back in 2005? Probably not. But Leach is the leading spinner and therefore, given the way the team is set up, England’s leading bowler.
Can’t help but feel that got their tactics all wrong. They’ll need Leach back as soon as possible. If not for this Test then at least for the start of the second.
Here’s more on Jack Leach’s troubles:
Poor ol’ Jack Leach. He bowled just 16 overs as he made his return from a lower-back stress. It’s not what England wanted from their leading spinner and a jarred knee prevented him from doing any more. It remains to be seen if he’ll take part today.
Jack Leach’s left knee very heavily strapped as he gingerly walks over to a bag of balls to see if he can bowl. Damaged it on the evening of day 1, then aggravated yesterday morning #IndvEng pic.twitter.com/Zt7EvUtWIh
— Vithushan Ehantharajah (@Vitu_E) January 27, 2024
It was Republic Day in India yesterday, and their batters certainly came to the party.
Read Ali Martin’s report here:
Preamble
Day three. They call it a moving day. A day when the game’s fate coalesces into view through the haze and everything that came before starts to make sense.
England will need this one to move in a markedly different direction from the course it has taken so far. A whopping 175 runs behind and staring a chastening entry into this five Test series, the good news is that it can’t get much worse than this.
The decision to selection three spinners – two of them rookies – has backfired. Especially with Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed haemorrhaging runs at 5.24 and 4.56 runs an over respectively. Joe Root has looked good though, bowling with a mix of control and penetration. I’d expect the former skipper to play the leading role with the ball this morning.
Of course, it’s not just English inadequacy that has brought us here. India have been imperious. First with the ball to bundle their guests out for 246 – a score that many tried to pass off as about par – and then with the bat as a trio of 80-plus scores has taken them to 421-7.
One of those octogenarian knocks belongs to Ravindra Jadeja who will resume not-out on 81. With a batting average of 35.94 and a bowling average of 24.07, while also being an absolute gun fielder, he is firmly entrenched as one of great all-rounders of the modern era.
Alongside him is Axar Patel who closed yesterday’s play by spanking Hartley for a four, then a six and then another four to head to the shed on 35.
This partnership of 63 has likely taken the contest beyond England’s reach. But if Ben Stokes’ boys can go bang-bang-bang, and get some scores of their own, well, this is a side that has made a habit of procuring remarkable wins.
Play gets going at 4:30am UK time/10am in India. I’m going to dash and brew a much needed cup of coffee and will be back shortly with some build-up bits and bobs.
