India v England: third Test, day two – live | England in India 2024

129th over: India 436-9 (Bumrah 18, Siraj 3) So, I missed most of that Mark Wood over as I was chatting to Tanya. Apologies/sue me. Not much happened, just one delivery that beat Siraj on the inside and whooshed past off stump.

Thanks Tanya, hello everyone. Mark Wood has the ball in his hand and a big dumb grin on his face.

And while they take drinks, I’ll hand over to the unassailable Rob Smyth to take you through to stumps. Thanks to everyone for the messages and huge apologies that I haven’t been able to get to them all. Bye!

128th over: India 434-9 (Bumrah 17, Siraj 2) Crucial runs here from Bumrah, who tucks into Rehan Ahmed with two fours from the over, one googly sent rasping through the covers, another googly posted through midwicket.

127th over: India 426-9 (Bumrah 9, Siraj 2) Wham bam, Bumrah goes down town with six off Hartley over long on.

“Following on from the Taupo road trip email, having left Aotearoa New Zealand in December, I am currently following with intermittent signal on a five hour windy drive up to the hill country of Sri Lanka.” Writes Tim Pare. “There’s still plenty of soft ball cricket in the tea estates, but due to small grounds, they have a “no offside” rule, which although sounds like football, literally means a shot to the offside gets no runs and actually loses you your wicket. As a mediocre batsman favouring the cut shot … I don’t dare even speak of my average in these games!”

Amazing! The dear old OBO gets to go on fabulous journeys.

126th over: India 417-9 (Bumrah 1, Siraj 1) India continue to bat out time, and all the while, the pitch ruminates.

125th over: India 415-9 (Bumrah 0, Siraj 0) The Hartley metronome again.

“Good morning dear Tanja.” Hello Frederick Simon in Berlin!

”Poor Liam Dawson. What a fantastic county season last year. And he fulfils the magic criteria: Batting average 33, bowling 32 (in first class cricket). If Duckett gets a second go surely Dawson deserved one too.

”Talking of second goes…Poor Dom Bess: Averages 33 in test cricket with best figures of 5/30. One day he should get a recall.

”My 15 month old son has started waking up randomly at 4:30. I couldn‘t work out why, but now I’ve realised…he wants to watch the cricket!”

Your son shows very good taste for an under two! Liam Dawson is unlucky, but probably happy enough picking up the dollar in the franchises.

124th over: India 415-9 (Bumrah 0, Siraj 0) Time for Jurel to dispatch Ahmed for one more six before succumbing. A nice, neat, organised, determined debut.

WICKET! Jurel c Foakes b Ahmed 46 (India 415-9)

123rd over: India 409-8 (Jurel 40, Bumrah 0) Can the tail see Jurel through to a maiden fifty on debut? One off Hartley means Jurel keeps the strike.

122nd over: India 408-8 (Jurel 39, Bumrah 0) A sensational googly from Ahmed, too good for Bumrah, fizzes through the gate.

“Hullo Tanya, mailing from the road from Taupo to Napier, my first time back in NZ in a number of years. It’s a road trip with my sister and daughter, currently driving. Hoping to “see” some English batting this evening as we camp by the sea. More power to the OBO.”

How fabulous. I am very, very jealous Alistair Connor. Hoping to do that with my brother sometime soon.

121st over: India 408-8 (Jurel 39, Bumrah 0) Another Hartley maiden, his seventh.

WICKET! Ashwin c Anderson b Ahmed 37 (India 408-8)

119th over: India 401-7 (Jurel 32, Ashwin 36) The morning after the night before.

118th over: India 400-7 (Jurel 32, Ashwin 36) Wood returns for one more. Head down as he shrugs back to his mark. And, fiddle me dee, another drop. This time Ben Stokes at leg slip, as Jurel turns Wood round the corner into his guts and he can’t cling on.

117th over: India 400-7 (Jurel 32, Ashwin 36) 400 up. In the outfield, Wood looks bloody knackered. Prescient words from Guy Hornsby.

“Morning Tanya, morning everyone. Walking up just now to see India 7 down cheered me up until I realised this partnership is in danger of making life much harder for us in this Test. This innings is putting so many miles into the legs of our quick bowlers in particular, because in the McCullum era, we’ll likely bat for much shorter and we’ll be in the field again much sooner. I get that Wood is probably not going to play the next Test but he’s bowled more than Root and Ahmed. That doesn’t feel great, for him more than anything. We need these two out quickly, really. Anyway, yay.”

116th over: India 399-7 (Jurel 32, Ashwin 35) Suddenly the tempo has picked up a bit. Ashwin glances Wood fine for four.

115th over: India 394-7 (Jurel 32, Ashwin 30) Half way through the over, Hartley switches to over the wicket. I can’t keep up with all these field changes, though you’ll be glad to hear that Rob takes over from me in an hour, he’s always all over them.

Oh my – a drop. Jurel digs into a shortish one from Hartley and pulls it to mid wicket where it somehow falls into – and then out -of Ollie Pope’s hands as he tips over backwards. He slams the ground in frustration and is still shaking his head at the end of the over.

Arul Kanhere has a bone to pick with Sanket Dhume’s earlier analysis. “ I think they have slowed down to

1. Get some more runs

2. Wear down the pitch

3. Protect the tail

“There needs to be some nuance to this analysis. I don’t think the management can do anything about injuries. One series does not tell the whole story. And if I recall correctly, the same management had a pretty decent WC.”

114th over: India 392-7 (Jurel 31, Ashwin 29) Wood pounds the turf. Another searing bouncer provokes some twisting and turning from Ashwin. “They’re going for high hands” says Graeme Swann. Ashwin’s riposte is a push down the ground for four.

Afternoon session

A slow morning’s play, but could be a vital one if India can push past 450 after lunch. I’m off to drink coffee and stretch my limbs, thanks for all the messages, will get back to the rest of them after breakfast.

Lunch: India 388-7

112th over: India 384-7 (Jurel 27, Ashwin 25) Wood comes in for one last blast before sustenance. Jurel and Ashwin continue to refuse to be tempted to go for the big shot.

“Morning Tanya! Trust you and the dog both well. Yesterday I went for a quick stroll through the mustard fields here in the Aravali Hills just south of Delhi, and came back to see England had snaffled a couple of early wickets. Then I sat down to work and Rohit and Jadeja piled it on. This morning? Same quick stroll – same result! But I need to sit down and be vaguely productive now. So can someone else go for a walk, please? I mean, we know it works…” Anyone? I’m about to walk to the kettle, if that helps.

111th over: India 382-7 (Jurel 26, Ashwin 25) Hartley again. The fifty partnership comes up off 118 balls, of which 93 balls were dots. Can that really be right? Stokes continues to move the field this way and that. Five minutes till lunch.

110th over: India 380-7 (Jurel 25, Ashwin 24) Five off Wood’s over, a couple of nice shots from Jurel, a punchy straight drive and a touch-perfect late cut.

109th over: India 375-7 (Jurel 20, Ashwin 24) Tom Hartley fizzes through another over. The run rate this morning is a sludgey is 2.13.

“Hi Tanya” Hello Sanket Dhume. “For the third time in this series, India has let a position of strength slip from their hands. Some pedestrian batting in the first hour yesterday after winning the toss was bailed out by Rohit & Jadeja. Later, Jadeja slowing down as he got close to his 100 cost them momentum and the wicket of Sarfaraz, who looked like arguably India’s best batter so far in the series and today morning they have ground to a standstill again. Very characteristic of this management regime.

“It also speaks to the noticeable drop in India’s batting standards. Could you have imagined the likes of Tendulkar, Laxman, Sehwag allowing the shocking half-trackers that Rehan Ahmed/Hartley dish out about twice an over without smashing them out of the attack for good? This team really misses a batter like Pant, Kohli or even Rahane who’d take the initiative and counter-punch. This is also what made Sarfaraz’s debut yesterday all the more exciting. But it also annoys me that India do not seem to learn from their mistakes as this series progresses – something Stokes/England seem to be doing really well.”

108th over: India 373-7 (Jurel 19, Ashwin 23) Wood returns with some chin music. Jurel takes evasive action for the first two balls. More field changes by Stokes who reckons Wood has Jurel’s number. And ooof, Jurel picks up four, in the air, off his hips, just wide of Stokes.

And thanks to Ali, for digging out the business of the penalty runs. It turns out that yesterday, Sarfaraz Khan was given a quiet word by the umpires in the 75th over, before Jadeja received a first and final warning in the 80th

“Just wondering”, asks Dale in Melbourne, “whether it was the dog or the son who got back in the small hours. Or were they out together?”
Son, dog was obediently in her basket (or at least I think so).

107th over: India 369-7 (Jurel 15, Ashwin 23) A quick single, well fielded by Ollie Pope on the run, whose strawberry blond mullet pokes out of the back of his cap. And a beauty to finish as Hartley passes the outside edge of Ashwin’s bat.

106th over: India 368-7 (Jurel 14, Ashwin 23) Wood is brought back for another short sharp shock. A handful of singles. Something of a slow grind this.

105th over: India 365-7 (Jurel 12, Ashwin 22) Ashwin sweeps, like a teenager told to clean the kitchen floor. Brings a single. Hartley again bowling with concentration and variation. Ashwin still complaining about the five-run penalty.

“Good morning Tanya!” Hello Jonny, so lovely to have this company in the small hours.

“These sub continental tours are ruining my body clock! I decided for the first test to stay up through the night until the 4am start rather than take a nap and wake myself up. Each morning session has been fantastic and now I don’t want to brake the spell! But I’m 35 and have bags under my eyes that make it look like I have done 3 rounds with Mike tyson!

“If we get them out out for 375 this innings we have a great chance!”

Under 400, I reckon Stokes would be happy.

104th over: India 364-7 (Jurel 12, Ashwin 22) A nice over from Ahmed, until the last ball which is short and wide and Ashwin tucks in, dispatching the ball for four between point and backward point. Ahmed closes his eyes and tips his head to the heavens in frustration.

103rd over: India 359-7 (Jurel 10, Ashwin 18) A maiden from Hartley. I love the aesethics of him bowling in conjuction with Ahmed. Hartley is all height and angles, Ahmed all curves.

“Morning Tanya.” Brian Withington!

”Every morning of this series I have meant to be sensible, get an early night and set the alarm for 6:30 to catch the start of the second session.
“Instead, once again, it’s rolled past 4am and here I still am, coffee fuelled and sleep deprived.

“Yesterday Mark Wood & co made it all worthwhile before the fourth wicket stand broke me and I succumbed to the troubled sleep of the damned until the third session run out.

“This morning Jimmy and Joe have threatened to restore hope and the improbable prospect of England batting before lunch, but I suspect messrs Ashwin and Jurel may yet beg to differ.

“And in response to Finbar Anslow’s question might I offer Moeen Ali as a starter for 10 for the spinning all-rounder camp? Rehan Ahmed will hopefully fit the bill too in time.”

102nd over: India 359-7 (Jurel 10, Ashwin 18) Ashwin picks up a couple from a stylish drive off Rehan Ahmed, but that is negated shortly afterwards when he gets ticked off for running straight down the pitch – and five penalty runs are promptly awarded to England, after India were warned yesterday for doing the same thing. Ashwin takes it quietly on the chin as you can imagine.

101st over: India 354-7 (Jurel 10, Ashwin 13) Ashwin picks off an early post-drinks single with a handsome drive from Hartley.

“Hello again, T

The word ‘miscommunication’ (spoken in English) has been translated as ‘misunderstanding’ in the preamble. Is it too early for me to think about this? How can one English word be translated into another?

*shakes head while boiling kettle.”

Good morning Deepak Puri! I must admit, I just took that snippet of conversation from an India paper, and didn’t think about it. But you’re quite right!

100th over: India 353-7 (Jurel 10, Ashwin 12) A first over of the day for Rehan Ahmed, one from it, and that’s DRINKS!

99th over: India 352-7 (Jurel 10, Ashwin 11) Hartley, whose doppelganger I don’t think we ever successfully discovered,

tests Jurel with a super maiden. Jurel nearly perishes a couple of times, once slicing just short of Wood at backward point, another beaten past the outside edge.

98th over: India 352-7 (Jurel 10, Ashwin 11) Ashwin, who cuts a authoritative figure at the crease, turns the otherwise immaculate Andeson off his hip for four to bring up the Indian 350. They’ll want at least another 50 more – with the commentators on the one hand saying this will be the best day for batting, and on the other spotting out the marks that might work for spinners.

97th over: India 347-7 (Jurel 9, Ashwin 7) Hartley replaces Wood at the North End of the ground. Hordes of school children provide a shrill and enthusiastic accompaniment. Just a single to Jurel.

96th over: India 346-7 (Jurel 7, Ashwin 8) Ashwin plays defensively on the back foot and the ball flies just short of the diving Zac Crawley at second slip. Another Anderson maiden.

Hello Rosanna Lynch. “Morning Tanya. Thanks as always for the early morning OBO company. Absolute scenes here with the cat celebrating another wicket from the unstoppable Jimmy Anderson!” She includes a photo of her gorgeous sleeping cat, which sadly I can’t upload onto the system. My dog has yet to make an appearance, having crept upstairs to sleep on my son’s bed when he got back in the small hours.

95th over: India 346-7 (Jurel 7, Ashwin 8) Wow! Jurel picks up his first boundary by leaning back and ramping an 146kph bouncer from Wood and sending it soaring, with a waft of the wand, for SIX. His neat moustache smiles, or at least I hope it does. Ducks the next.

94th over: India 338-7 (Jurel 1, Ashwin 6) To his eleventh ball, and the last delivery of Anderson’s over, Jurel gets off the mark with a little dart to point. Ashwin walks down to give him a touch-glove of encouragement.

93rd over: India 336-7 (Jurel 0, Ashwin 5) Mark Wood screams in at 140kph plus. Ashwin stands tall like a sergeant, punches him away for four. The next is a screaming snifter that bounces nastily and Ashwin must jag his head back to avoid being hit . The third is pushed down from armpit height.

“Greetings from sunny Sydney” writes Leo Bajzert. “In days gone by, 326-5 would have filled me dread, but something weird has happened. We might get close, we get out swinging for 200 and be 200 behind. But I find myself caring less about the result and just really, really enjoying the cricket. Which is lovely, isn’t it?” It is and that’s the magic of Bazball! (though there was a certain morbid curiosity that accompanied the last days of the Joe Root era)

92nd over: India 331-7 (Jurel 0, Ashwin 0) Jurel blocks out an Anderson maiden, showing a good front stride and a solid face of the bat.

91st over: India 331-7 (Jurel 0, Ashwin 0) Root passes the outside edge of Jadeja’s bat, and does a little circular dance of celebration, three balls later, he gets his man, stepping to his left and gathering the ball at head height in front of the stumps.

“Good morning Tanya” Hello Finbar Anslow. “ I wanted to share a vague doubt as to our perception of the requisites of an ‘all-rounder’

“It’s an expressions that conjours up names like Flintoff, Botham, D’Oliviera, Stokes . . .

“Is it just my imagination or does one have to be a medium/medium fast bowler to be eligible? Are spinners automatically disqualified or is that a peculiarity of the England team? For example

“why is Joe Root a part time bowler?

“And why on earth am I thinking about this at 5 am?”

I think Joe Root may have just proved your point!

WICKET! Jadeja c and b Root 112 (India 331-7)

90th over: India 331-5 (Jadeja 112, Jurel 0) And the other new boy, wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, joins Jadeja at the crease. Jadeja gives him a pep talk, let’s hope it doesn’t include the words ‘quick single’. Jurel neatly shoulders arms to his first two balls in Test cricket.

WICKET! Kuldeep Yadav c Foakes v Anderson 4 (India 331-6)

89th over: India 330-5 (Jadeja 111, Kuldeep 4) Root again, and Jonny Bairstow has adopted the kneeling position at second slip. Can’t be that comfortable. He doesn’t get the ball, as Root wheels through a maiden.

88th over: India 330-5 (Jadeja 111, Kuldeep 4) Jimmy Anderson at the other end has been unpacked from the ironing basket. His first ball is on the money, of course it is. A couple of runs.

And good news from the commentators, who watched Ben Stokes having a bowl during practise this morning.

87th over: India 328-5 (Jadeja 110, Kuldeep 3) An early blast of Jerusalem with your coffee? The Barmy Army are on hand. An outside edge scuttles away off Kuldeep’s bat to bring the first couple of runs of the day. Otherwise a neat opening over from Root.

Joe Root has the ball…

Mark Wood is chatting: “The first two overs I thought it was going to be a very long day, but then it started reversing. There’s a bit in it for everyone, have to put some good toil in and all of a sudden there’s some interest. The outfield and pitch is quick and very green , the wicket is quite hard, the batters are hitting the ball into the ground , which was why it reversed so early (after the second over).

Asked about over rate. “Yesterday was hot, maybe that is something that we need to work on. All in all we’re trying to think about taking wickets, sometimes it might look as if we’re slow, but we’re trying to think about how to take these great players out.”

In the studio Alastair Cook and Steven Finn are talking about ….Sarfaraz Khan. Why wouldn’t you? And then we switch to pictures of England walking off the team bus, all navy blue sports kit and sliders. Time to grab a cup of tea, do drop me a line if you’re awake.

Preamble