Report, reaction and analysis
Close: India's day as they reach 215-2
80th over: India 215-2 (Pujara 91, Kohli 45) Pujara cover-drives Root, handsomely, but only gets two as Craig Overton make a fine sliding stop. Root decides enough is enough and tries to take the new ball, so the umps call it a day. It’s been very much India’s day, with two quick wickets to complete England’s collapse, followed by the opposite when they batted – two wickets that came slowly, with only KL Rahul missing out as the top order provided the stiff resistance that was missing on Wednesday. They had plenty of luck, but rode it with great skill and composure. Pujara has been immense and Kohli has returned to form, joining him in a partnership that has cruised to 99 already. For England Ollie Robinson was very exacting, Craig Overton very handy too, Jimmy Anderson uncharacteristically hot-and-cold. India trail by 139, and they have just a faint sniff of another Headingley miracle. Do join us tomorrow to see if they can pull it off.
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79th over: India 212-2 (Pujara 89, Kohli 44) Pujara too plays a pull for four, off Moeen, who responds by beating the bat with an arm ball. England are now down to just one close catcher, which seems a bit defensive.
78th over: India 206-2 (Pujara 85, Kohli 44) Pujara is using his feet to both terse off-spinners, something that England could stop if they wanted to, by having a silly point and a forward short leg. They’ve got enough runs in the bank to do it, but Root doesn’t seem to be keen. With his bowler’s hat on, Root finally dishes up a part-timer’s ball and Kohli helps himself to a pull for four.
77th over: India 200-2 (Pujara 84, Kohli 39) Another single brings up India’s 200. They’ve reduced their overdraft to 154.
76th over: India 199-2 (Pujara 84, Kohli 38) Three singles off Root. The Hundred this is not.
75th over: India 196-2 (Pujara 83, Kohli 36) Moeen goes for a few singles. “Second new ball available in five overs,” says a caption, but there won’t be any point in taking it tonight as they’ll be off for the light.
74th over: India 193-2 (Pujara 82, Kohli 34) Root suddenly gives Kohli some trouble, drawing a bottom edge that drops down into the crease, and then a play-and-miss with a beauty of a ball that ends up going over the stumps. Root has bowled three overs and gone for only three runs. In the bar tonight, he’ll be telling Jimmy how to be economical.
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73rd over: India 190-2 (Pujara 81, Kohli 33) Moeen gives Pujara something to cut. He loves that and strokes it for four, nice and late. David Lloyd, on commentary, makes a good point about Kohli: “in the field, he’s so animated, but look at him now, he’s really calm”.
72nd over: India 185-2 (Pujara 77, Kohli 32) Root sees that maiden from Mo and thinks if he can do it, so can I.
71st over: India 185-2 (Pujara 77, Kohli 32) Moeen recovers from his milking and bowls a maiden to Kohli.
“We were at that Antigua Test in 1991,” says Adam Roberts. “After two rather miserable trips in 1986 (our honeymoon) and 1990 supporting England, we were delighted we could go to the ARG [Recreation Ground] and support the Windies. It was a wonderful trip as my brother’s hotel was very involved with the cricket, so we were at a dinner with the commentators. Richie Benaud introduced himself to me! Then we spent the evening with Tony Cozier. Two days later, a drinks do with the players when Allan Border stumbled into my wife trying to find a drink; we spent the evening with Jeffrey Dujon. The Windies of course lost.”
Intriguing! Can you say a bit more about it...? “Benaud was charming. We chatted about Derbyshire (his wife is from there and we are from Notts/Leics). Cozier was excellent company, just really easy to talk to and really fun. Jeffrey Dujon seemed a lovely, gentle man. We actually saw him at the Oval later that summer and he remembered us (I ended up working in Cayman, where his uncle was the Senior Magistrate). The Windies team mingled well, the Aussies were very insular.”
70th over: India 185-2 (Pujara 77, Kohli 32) Root gives himself a slip and a silly cover – funk at last. And he bowls a very respectable over, with just a single from it.
69th over: India 184-2 (Pujara 77, Kohli 31) Moeen is milked for the first time – five singles off the over. The light has got worse, Kohli is trying to march off, but the umpires seem to be saying they can stay on if it’s spin from both ends, so here comes Joe Root.
68th over: India 179-2 (Pujara 75, Kohli 28) Anderson to Kohli: five dots and a tuck for a single.
Dinesh Karthik, who’s been very sharp on commentary all summer, produces a good stat. In the first 30 overs of their first innings, India played 47 false shots and lost five wickets. In the first 30 overs of their second innings, they played 54 false shots and lost one wicket. There’s so much luck in this funny old game of ours.
67th over: India 178-2 (Pujara 75, Kohli 27) Moeen beats Kohli with another excellent arm ball. Jos Buttler whips off the bails, but you can tell from the body language that nobody thinks it’s out. Moeen has bowled five overs, across two spells, for ten runs, which is a very polite way of saying “Skip, you’ve under-used me.”
66th over: India 176-2 (Pujara 74, Kohli 26) Anderson succeeds in keeping it tight again – until the last ball of the over, which is just full enough to be creamed through the covers by Kohli. Anderson has gone for more fours today than he has in years.
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65th over: India 172-2 (Pujara 74, Kohli 22) It’s another double change as Moeen Ali comes on for only his fourth over of the day. Root has been showing even less faith in him than in Curran. Moeen bowls a good over and secures a moral victory, drifting his arm ball past Pujara’s attempted cut.
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64th over: India 171-2 (Pujara 74, Kohli 21) Jimmy Anderson is back, nursing a niggle (possibly) and a grudge (almost certainly) after bowling a spell of 2-0-20-0. He is a man on a mission to bowl a maiden, and, with Pujara facing, he manages it.
“Just wondering,” says Mark Slater, “if your allusion to ‘Sweaty Betty’ is for the magnificient brew Betty Stogs from the Skinners brewery, Truro, Cornwall. A pint of the amber ale is ordered by locals under this name. If it is, then my regard for you has increased from the very high point I already hold you in!” Mark, I’m honoured, but no, my allusion was to Sweaty Betty the sportswear brand. But thanks for adding to my rather sketchy knowledge of Cornish brewing.
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63rd over: India 171-2 (Pujara 74, Kohli 21) Two more to Kohli, clipping Overton to leg, and that’s drinks, with India still on top in this innings, and still under the pump in the match. They trail by 183.
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62nd over: India 168-2 (Pujara 73, Kohli 19) Curran goes too full and Kohli clips him for four, imperiously, to bring up a fine fifty partnership. He can almost smell the hundred his team need from him.
Meanwhile Marcus Gregory (59th over) answers my doubts with a link to a Test in Antigua in 1991. Touché! Who knew that Viv’s West Indies, on top of all their other attributes, were the alliteration champions of the world?
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61st over: India 163-2 (Pujara 72, Kohli 15) This has been the International Day of the Leading Edge. Kohli gets another one as Overton finds some movement from leg to off. Like all the others, it proves harmless: come on Joe, give us a funky field.
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60th over: India 162-2 (Pujara 71, Kohli 15) Kohli, facing Curran, is watchful until a bouncer comes along, whereupon he pivots and pulls and picks up a cheap four. Curran bites back with some extra bounce, rapping Kohli on the glove. He’s a resourceful, resilient character, but it feels as if this could be Curran’s last Test for a while. Chris Woakes is on the mend, thankfully, and is expected to play for Birmingham Bears (aka Warwickshire) in tonight’s Blast quarter-final.
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59th over: India 157-2 (Pujara 70, Kohli 11) A maiden from Overton to Kohli, who executes the sort of leave that either makes you go “Good leave!” or “Ooof!”
“Alliterative cricketers?” says Marcus Gregory. “Off the top of my head, I can think of West Indies fielding four in the same XI: Gordon Greenidge, Richie Richardson, Malcolm Marshall and Patrick Patterson.” Classy. But are you sure Patto’s all too short Test career overlapped with Richardson’s long one?
58th over: India 157-2 (Pujara 70, Kohli 11) Another double change as Root turns to Curran, who bagged Kohli at Lord’s. He goes full, looking for swing, and Kohli plays a dreamy cover drive but only gets a single, as Burns half-stops it at extra-cover. Ouch!
57th over: India 156-2 (Pujara 70, Kohli 10) Anderson is taken off after a spell of – wait for it – two overs, none for 20. Welcome to The Hundred, Jimmy.
Overton takes over and Pujara, who is in fine form now, shoves him through mid-off for four. This partnership has raced to 40 and India trail by a mere 198.
56th over: India 152-2 (Pujara 66, Kohli 10) Robinson bowls a no-ball to Kohli, his second of this spell. He’s looking a bit leggy. He can still muster some accuracy, bowling Kohli a straight one that might have produced a catch at short leg, if there was one (which would also stop Kohli standing outside his crease). Then he persuades him to inside-edge a drive, but it’s a thick one, quite safe. Robinson seems to be going off, possibly for a strong Espresso.
“Following on from David Hopkins (over 52),” says Louis Wood, “does that mean we can draft in Nick Knight?” Ha.
55th over: India 151-2 (Pujara 66, Kohli 10) Anderson recovers from that 12-run orgy of an over to bowl four dots, but then strays onto the pads, as he has done a few times today, and Pujara whips it for four. And then Anderson does it again, so Pujara glances for four more. “Jimmy’s gone searching for wickets more than usual today,” says Nasser Hussain. “He’s missed Stuart Broad, in his ear at mid-off.”
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54th over: India 143-2 (Pujara 58, Kohli 10) Pujara joins in the fun, upper-cutting Robinson for four. That’s the only blot on an otherwise good over; the lights are on and the ball is swinging, prodigiously at times.
“Proportionately far fewer alliterative names among England’s female cricketers,” reports Richard O’Hagan. “I can only find: Myrtle Maclagan, Helene Hegarty, Wendy Watson, Clare Connor, Kate Cross.
I’ve ignored Betty Belton and Betty Birch, because Elizabeth.” Personally, I’m pro-Betty, as per Bill and Bob. Also, Betty’s a great name and you don’t come across it much these days, except after Sweaty.
53rd over: India 138-2 (Pujara 53, Kohli 10) Heeeeere’s Jimmy. And that gets Kohli going – as Anderson’s inswinger goes too leg-stumpish, he clips it away with the greatest of ease. Sky flash up Kohli’s stats in England when the ball is “channel/off stump line”: 2014, average 6.71; 2018, average 159; this summer, average 9.50. Lovely symmetry ... but Kohli, as if smarting from this, pushes through the covers for four. Twelve off the over from Anderson! Sacrilege.
52nd over: India 126-2 (Pujara 50, Kohli 1) Yet another leave from Kohli, and this one brings an appeal as a nip-backer from Robinson brushes the back trouser leg. Richard Kettleborough shakes his head instantly, and he’s right: too high. Facing his tenth delivery, Kohli finally gets off the mark – with a leading edge. he’s out of form and under the cosh, but he’s also a superstar, so this could go either way.
“At the risk of being perfectly pedantic about piffling practicalities,” says David Hopkins, “I’d challenge whether all of Kim Thonger’s list is strictly speaking alliterative? For my money, true alliteration requires the opening sound of each word to be the same, not just the letter. So while Hassem Hameed and Willie Watson qualify, I’m not sure Graham Gooch does.” The gloves are off.
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51st over: India 123-2 (Pujara 50, Kohli 0) After the pull, a bye brings Kohli to the business end. Facing Overton for the first time, he leaves the first ball, then dabs the second down to one of the four slips. No drama yet, but it’s never far away with this man.
Fifty to Pujara!
A pull for four off Overton and Pujara is waving his bat for his fifty. For the first time in the series, he’s been fluent.
50th over: India 118-2 (Pujara 46, Kohli 0) Robinson keeps Pujara quiet until the fifth ball of the over, which is tucked away for another single. Kohli has one ball to face and is able to leave it.
“Have some more alliterative Indians,” says Deepak Nandhakumar. “Ajit Agarkar, Gautam Gambhir, Sandeep Sharma, S Sreesanth.” Thank you!
49th over: India 117-2 (Pujara 45, Kohli 0) Kohli survived two balls at the end of Robinson’s over and now he’s a spectator as Pujara faces Overton. There’s a single off the last ball, so Kohli will have to wait again. Jimmy Anderson, who was off the field, has mysteriously reappeared now that Kohli’s out there. Maybe his niggle isn’t too bad after all.
48th over: India 116-2 (Pujara 44, Kohli 0) Good move, Joe Root, And there was I thinking Robinson and Overton are too similar to bowl in tandem – in terms of pace and trajectory, they’re more like twins than Overton and his actual twin, Jamie.
An email comes in from Charles Hart, taking us way back into cricket history. “I can’t help comparing India in 1947, when as a 15-year-old I sat on the grass at Lord’s – four shillings entry – and India today. Then she had no fast bowlers, wisdom decreed that Indians did not have the physical framework for such bowling and relied on spin. Edrich and Compton had a wonderful partnership; they were far more interesting to watch than today’s outcrop, including Root, as they played sideways on. Need I say, India lost.” Four shillings! That’s great. But doesn’t Root play sideways on too?
Wicket!! Rohit LBW b Robinson 59 (India 116-2)
Umpire’s call! Brushing the leg stump. So Robinson strikes and Rohit’s long wait for a hundred in England goes on – though, as so often this summer, he has given them a firm foundation. And now... it’s Kohli time!
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Wicket? Rohit given LBW b Robinson 59
For once, it’s not too high. But is it going down...?
47th over: India 116-1 (Rohit 59, Pujara 44) Back comes Craig Overton, of window fame. He was excellent earlier, but now he gives Pujara a half-tracker and gets cut for four before settling into some dots.
More on the most urgent subject of the moment, alliterative cricketers. A few readers are saying that if Kim wasn’t having Freddie Flintoff, he should have disallowed all diminutives that begin with a different letter (Bill, Bob etc). But those are part and parcel of the name William or Robert, whereas Fred is hardly built into Andrew.
Here’s Andrew – possibly Fred – Cosgrove. “After Kim’s sterling effort with alliterative English cricketers,” he says, “I tried to come up with an Indian squad too, but only got as far as Bishen Bedi and Deep Dasgupta and then got stuck. Can anyone fill out this team?” Parthiv Patel, perhaps.
Tea: India win a session!
46th over: India 112-1 (Rohit 59, Pujara 40) Curran tries a bouncer at Rohit, which has been his downfall more than once, but this one doesn’t get up above the waist, so he has no trouble swatting it for four. And that’s tea, with India’s batsmen winning a session for the first time in this Test.
They haven’t lost a wicket since lunch, helped by Joe Root’s blunder with a review that would have given him three reds if he’d asked for it in time. Anderson, Robinson and Overton have all been exacting, but Rohit and Pujara have passed the exam so far. India trail by 242.
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45th over: India 106-1 (Rohit 54, Pujara 39) Mo blots his copybook by dropping very slightly short, three balls in a row, and going for 2, 1, 1.
44th over: India 102-1 (Rohit 53, Pujara 36) Curran tries going round the wicket to Rohit, which keeps him honest, brings a leading edge, and yields a maiden. The crowd are getting restless: I feel a beer snake coming on, or possibly a blast of Sweet Caroline.
43rd over: India 102-1 (Rohit 53, Pujara 36) Moeen again, finding some drift and flight and conceding just the one run, a thick edge from Rohit.
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42nd over: India 101-1 (Rohit 52, Pujara 36) A better over from Curran, but India still take three runs off it, so they’ve reached a hundred with only one wicket down. They could easily be 90-5, so this has been a good effort. Now they just need another 400 or so.
And here’s Kim Thonger. “I noticed while idly wandering through Wikipedia in the lunch break that the most recent England cricketer with an alliterative name is Haseeb Hameed. In his honour I have made a list of previous alliterative cricketers from which a quite decent Historical Alliterative XI could be selected should anyone wish to do so. Yes I know, get a life.
“Anyway, I can report a 40-year gap between Frank Foster (1911) and Willie Watson (1951), and I wonder if there was a secret anti-alliteration selection policy in those decades because pre-1911 there were loads of the buggers, and then nowt for four decades.
Haseeb Hameed
Chris Cowdrey
Paul Parker
Graham Gooch
John Jameson
Pat Pocock
Brian Bolus
Peter Parfitt
Bob Barber
Colin Cowdrey
Willie Watson
Frank Foster
George Gunn
Frederick Fane
David Denton
Bernard Bosanquet
Bill Bradley
Alf Archer
Ted Tyler
Francis Ford
Charles Coventry
Billy Bates
Billy Barnes
“PS I have not included Fred Flintoff because of course his name is Andrew.”
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41st over: India 98-1 (Rohit 51, Pujara 34) Pujara, still on the dancefloor, gives Mo the charge first ball, before finding that he can only pad it away. A single to each h batter as Mo settles in nicely. Root gives him only two catchers, a slip and a short leg, which feels like what you’d do if you had a lead of 50-100, rather than 250.
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40th over: India 96-1 (Rohit 50, Pujara 33) England have bowled a few too many deliveries on Pujara’s pads, and Curran supplies two more now. The first is a freebie, clipped for two; the second is spicier, swinging in late, but Pujara moves like Jagger and gets enough of a flick on it to pick up four. And here comes Mo, not before time.
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39th over: India 89-1 (Rohit 50, Pujara 26) One more from Anderson. He tries a bit of wobble seam and gets Rohit mis-timing a push to mid-off; otherwise, nothing doing.
A text comes in from my friend and colleague Emma John, who was round at mine for the morning session. “Think we may have just witnessed the moment when Curran got dropped for Saqib.” We may well have done. The gods seem to have had a word with him: Sammy, you can have platinum hair if you like, but you can’t have a golden arm as well.
Fifty to Rohit!
38th over: India 89-1 (Rohit 50, Pujara 26) Robinson is coming off, but it’s not Mo, it’s Sam Curran. He was brighter in the first innings but he’s well down the pecking order now, as you can see from the fact that this is his second over of the innings, while the other seamers are all in double figures. Rohit’s eyes light up and he helps himself to two drives for four, one straight, the other past cover, both effortless. He adds a comfy clip for a single to reach fifty, for only the second time in the series, although he’s been in form. A colossus at home, Rohit has never made a Test century in England: cometh the hour, cometh the chance to put that right.
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37th over: India 80-1 (Rohit 41, Pujara 26) Anderson still has enough in the tank to beat the outside edge of Rohit’s bat as he wafts away from the body. Rohit pulls himself together and takes a quick single to midwicket, and India finally bring up the big eight-oh.
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36th over: India 79-1 (Rohit 40, Pujara 26) Six more dots, this time from Robinson to Pujara. Time for a bit of Moeen, surely.
35th over: India 79-1 (Rohit 40, Pujara 26) Anderson is still on, so maybe he doesn’t have a niggle after all – his grimaces may have been expressing the sheer agony of going for a few fours. He’s back to form now, collecting another maiden.
Meanwhile there’s an interesting tweet from Lawrence Booth, editor of Wisden and graduate of the University of the OBO. “I think - though can’t be certain,” he writes, “that 12th man Wood told Root about the three reds for the Rohit lbw during that drinks break. Root threw his head back, and Wood then gave him a consoling pat.”
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34th over: India 79-1 (Rohit 40, Pujara 26) Ollie Robinson continues with his decidedly non-military medium. What’s the opposite of military? In this over, he’s on the spot again, conceding only a single and a no-ball. “Tell you what,” says Shane Warne, “Robinson’s got plenty of wickets in this series, but I don’t think he’s bowled better than he has today, when he’s got none for 31.”
Thanks Rob and afternoon everyone. Major landmark ahoy: India are about to reach 80 for the first time in this match. They’ve done well since lunch, riding their luck with reviews and plays-and-misses and cashing in on something you seldom see on a cricket field – some Jimmyrosity.
33rd over: India 77-1 (Rohit 39, Pujara 26) In his desperation to make Pujara play, Anderson drifts onto the pads and is put away to the fine leg boundary. He’s been nowhere near his best since lunch, yet he is still enough of a genius to produce a gorgeous full-length legcutter that somehow beats Pujara’s outside edge and the off stump.
That’s drinks, and time for me to hang over to the great Tim de Lisle. You can email him on tim.delisle.casual@theguardian.com or tweet @TimdeLisle. Thanks for your company and emails. Bye!
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32nd over: India 73-1 (Rohit 39, Pujara 22) England try to review another LBW appeal from Robinson against Rohit, only to run out of time - and replays show it would have been out! It was similar to the first appeal a couple of overs ago, only this one hit Rohit on the flap of the pad rather than the thigh. Root reviewed a split-second after the DRS counter hit zero.
“Afternoon Rob,” says Rob Wolf Petersen. “Are you familiar with the concept of the Overton Window? It refers to the spectrum of publicly acceptable policies available to political leaders at any given time. Think it should be repurposed for a cricketing context, to signify the amount of time young Craig has to prove himself worthy of a place in England’s Test side, before more established seamers recover from injury.”
Ha, very good. So far his windows have been two Tests, one Test and one Test. This time he’ll surely enjoy a luxurious three-match run in the side until the end of the series. He must be ahead of Sam Curran now.
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31st over: India 73-1 (Rohit 39, Pujara 22) Jimmy Anderson returns to his preferred end in place of Overton (10-5-18-1). He’s trying to get Pujara to play outside off stump, but the line is still slightly too wide and that allows Pujara to survive the over with ease. The Sky commentators think Anderson might have a niggle; he was grimacing slightly as he had a chat with Joe Root at the end of the over.
“Smith,” says Dominic Hastings. “If the Ashes were starting tomorrow, and making assumptions about Wood’s wheels and Stokes, what are the views on the win %s. I’m 46-54.”
England? Win the Ashes in Australia? Oh, no no no no no, there’s no chance of that. I’m really sorry if we gave you the wrong impression.
30th over: India 73-1 (Rohit 39, Pujara 22) Rohit reaches to slice a full, wide delivery from Robson over the cordon for four. He and India have become more aggressive since lunch, with 39 runs from 11 overs.
ROHIT IS NOT OUT! It was a terrific delivery from Robinson, bowled from slightly wider on the crease. It beat Rohit’s defensive push and hit him on the back thigh - but the fact it hit the thigh rather than the pad tells you it was almost certainly going over the stumps. Replays confirm that was the case, so England lose a review. They have two left.
ENGLAND REVIEW FOR LBW AGAINST ROHIT! This looks close, though my feeling is it will be umpire’s call on height and therefore not out.
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29th over: India 69-1 (Rohit 35, Pujara 22) This is a spell of Stokesian length from Overton, ten overs either side of lunch. It might be his last. Pujara, trying to leave a shortish delivery at the last minute, inadvertently guides it to third man for four. He gets another boundary off the last ball, this time with a pristine cover drive.
“Call me a pessimist,” says Richard O’Hagan, “but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the commentary from over 27 was reprinted word for word at 14.14hrs tomorrow, too.”
I won’t call you a pessimist but I have one or two questions about how the 10th maiden of an innings that already includes 10 maidens will be bowled in 24 hours time.
28th over: India 61-1 (Rohit 35, Pujara 14) India are scoring at 1.93 runs per over in this match, their lowest in a Test since that feelgood classic at Cape Town in 1993.
Ollie Robinson replaces Jimmy Anderson, who bowled a mixed spell of 4-2-15-0, and is a bit unlucky not to pick up a wicket with his third ball/ Rohit shaped to drive an inswinger that hit high on the bat and looped over Moeen Ali at mid-off. Rohit skims the next ball through point for four, which prompts a brief exchange of unpleasantries with Robinson. Put the needle on the record.
27th over: India 53-1 (Rohit 29, Pujara 14) Rohit survives his one for the over - a play and miss, that is, when he is drawn towards another trampolining leg cutter from Overton. Yet another maiden, the 10th of the innings.
26th over: India 53-1 (Rohit 29, Pujara 14) This is the first time in the match that Anderson has bowled at the Kirkstall Lane End. He doesn’t look entirely happy and doesn’t make Pujara play quite enough in that over.
25th over: India 53-1 (Rohit 29, Pujara 14) Batting is starting to get a bit easier, though these things are relative. For the eighth time in eight innings this summer, Rohit has down the hard work by getting past the new ball - but only once, so far, has he scored more than 36.
24th over: India 53-1 (Rohit 29, Pujara 14) Anderson produces a stunning delivery to beat Rohit, who nods down the pitch. The respect is surely mutual after Rohit’s performances against England this summer. Had you said a few years ago that he would score consistently as an opener in English conditions, you’d have been laughed out of town.
Rohit thick edges to third man for three, and then Pujara gets another ball on the pads. This time he rolls his wrists to flip it through square leg and move to 14 off 13 balls. At one stage in the second innings at Lord’s he was 13 not out from 117 balls.
23rd over: India 46-1 (Rohit 26, Pujara 10) Overton rams another back-of-a-length delivery past Rohit’s outside edge. But then he strays onto Pujara’s pads, just like Anderson in the previous over, and is put away through midwicket for four more.
“Hello Rob,” says Tim Sanders. “Further to Gavin Gerard’s praise for Joe Root’s leadership (17th over), I would add his challenge to Shannon Gabriel’s homophobic remark (Feb 2019); and Azeem Rafiq singling him out as a supportive team-mate at Yorkshire.”
Yes, great points. As Nasser Hussain says all the time on Sky, he’s a heck of an ambassador for the game.
22nd over: India 41-1 (Rohit 25, Pujara 6) Pujara gets off the mark with a boundary, clipping a loose ball from Anderson (yep) through midwicket.
21st over: India 35-1 (Rohit 25, Pujara 0) Another LBW appeal, this time from Overton against Rohit, is turned down by Alex Wharf. Like most of Robinson’s appeals earlier in the day, it was bouncing over the top. Overton is mixing up his length a bit more ethan Robinson, though, and later in the over Rohit digs out an attempted yorker. Another maiden gives Overton impressive figures of 6-3-5-1. Not that 5-2-5-1 is unimpressive, but 6-3-5-1 feels even more like a Sir Curtly Ambrose tribute.
20th over: India 35-1 (Rohit 25, Pujara 0) Anderson replaces Curran, who bowled a single over before lunch. He has a fine head-to-head record against Pujara - no bowler has dismissed him more often in Tests - but is slightly off line in that over. Pujara, who wants to play as little as possible at the start of his innings, only has to do so at two of his five deliveries.
Here come the players. Jimmy Anderson has the ball in his hand; Cheteshwar Pujara is the new batsman.
“Somerset fans have endured the barbs about our Craig on Sky and other media outlets so far, but after his three-for in the Indian innings, his very useful runs and now taking the first wicket of the morning can we start being nice about him?” says Charles Sheldrick. “Certain former England captains continue to say he is just a placeholder until others return from injury, buy to my mind (and, to borrow a song from our Cornish friends):
A good bat and a trusty hand!
A merry heart and true!
The ECB’s men shall understand
What West Country lads can do!
And have they fixed the where and when?
And shall Trelawny play?
Here’s twenty thousand Somerset men
Will know the reason why!”
It’s odd that, at a time when England are scratching round for top-order batsmen, they have at least 10 strong contenders for a seam-bowling place: Anderson, Broad, Woakes, Archer, Wood, Stone, Robinson, Overton, Curran, Mahmood plus that fella I’ve forgotten.
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Lunchtime reading
Genius on genius.
LUNCH: India trail by 320 runs
19th over: India 34-1 (Rohit 25) That was the last ball of the over and the morning session. Rahul made 8 from 54 balls, a reflection of the grim struggle that was imposed on India’s openers by some ferocious England bowling. Rohit Sharma played a little more fluently to reach 25 not out from 61, but he had moments of fortune as well. England bowled beautifully, with icy hostility, and fully deserved that wicket.
WICKET! India 34-1 (Rahul c Bairstow b Overton 8)
Craig Overton doesn’t look a particularly pleasant bowler to face, with bat-jarring bounce and sharp seam movement. We can’t say yet whether he is Test class, but we do know that he has earned a recall. His form in county cricket in the last two seasons has been spectacular - 67 first-class wickets at an average of 13. He has a mouth on him, too, and he empties it in Rahul’s direction during another challenging over.
Rahul has worked so hard to survive until lunch - but he can’t manage it! He edges a shortish delivery from Overton to the right of Root at first slip, only for Bairstow to dive across from second slip and take a spectacular one-handed catch. It probably would have carried to Root but Bairstow got there first. That was a blinder, and Bairstow can’t stop beaming as he walks off the field.
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18th over: India 34-0 (Rohit 25, Rahul 8) Sam Curran replaces Ollie Robinson. Immediately the pressure on India feels a little lighter, and Rohit gets his third boundary with an elegant flick through midwicket.
“Perhaps Root will give Moeen the typical one-over-from-the-spinner-before-a-break,” says John Starbuck. “But how often does that work, in terms of getting a wicket?”
If you can just bear with me for a couple of years, I’ll provide a comprehensive analysis of the tactic based on 2,432 Test matches played since 1877.
17th over: India 30-0 (Rohit 21, Rahul 8) Rahul shapes to cut, then realises Overton’s delivery is following him and has to adjust desperately to bottom-edge the ball past leg stump.
“Joe Root is an incredible character - the first to take responsibility on any disappointments and the last to accept any praise for success,” says Gavin Gerard. “So fortunate to have this opportunity to watch one of our greatest batsman and bowlers play in the same side.”
One of the nice things about Root’s purple patch is that, for the first time since maybe the summer of 2015, he looks like he’s having fun almost every time he bats. There’s no more infectious smile in English cricket.
16th over: India 28-0 (Rohit 20, Rahul 7) Robinson is bowling so well that Joe Root has given him an eighth over. Rahul taps his first delivery into the off side and pegs it to the other end; somewhere in the crowd, Sir Geoffrey Boycott nods approvingly.
Rohit, hitherto strokeless, gives the scoreboard a jumpstart by leaning back to uppercut ashort ball for six! That’s the first boundary Robinson has conceded in the innings, and it might be the last for a while - I’m sure we’ll see a bowling change at this end.
15th over: India 20-0 (Rohit 14, Rahul 6) Rohit edges Overton short of third slip, where Burns dives to his right to save a boundary. Rohit has 14 from 48 balls, Rahul 6 from 42. They are just over 20 minutes away from a well-earned lunch. Never mind the food, it’s the break they deserve, and need.
14th over: India 18-0 (Rohit 12, Rahul 6) Robinson has another LBW appeal turned down when KL Rahul falls over a big inswinger. It’s pretty hard for Robinson get LBWs because of his length; on that occasion there was an inside-edge anyway. The next ball turns Rahul round and flies of a very thich edge to gully.
Rahul vibrates his bottom lip and widens his eyes in an attempt to sharpen himself up. This is seriously challenging bowling and, though they have had moments of fortune, he and Rohit have done brilliantly to survive. Plenty of teams would be 20 for three right now.
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13th over: India 18-0 (Rohit 12, Rahul 6) Overton is getting some extravagant bounce and seam movement, with one ball almost going over Buttler’s head. “Wowee!” says Shane Warne on commentary, “are we at the Waca?”
Another superb delivery leads to a big appeal for caught behind when Rohit is squared up. Alex Wharf, who has had a fine debut, rightly says not out. There was a noise but it was ball on trousers. An extremely good maiden from Overton.
Talking of which, never mind Derek Underwood’s 12 consecutive maidens that probably didn’t happen: the Indian spinner Bapu Nadkarni once bowled 21 in a row.
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12th over: India 18-0 (Rohit 12, Rahul 6) Robinson is giving Rahul quite a working-over. A big appeal for a bat-pad catch is turned down by Richard Kettleborough, with England deciding not to review. Replays confirm there was no bat or glove involved.
“Looking at that 1966 scorecard, maybe Peter in Brittany was thinking of the second innings?” says Mark Hooper. “Underwood bowled 15 maidens, so could have started with 12 on the trot?”
He could, though it’s unlikely given his overall figures of 43-15-86-0. It would mean his last 31 overs went round the park! The Wisden Almanack report confirms a parsimonious spell, if not quite 12 straight maidens:
Underwood, left arm medium over the wicket, who bowled unchanged from 3.30 p. m. till 6 o’clock had the figures 22-13-17-0 but he failed to take his first wicket in Test cricket, D’Oliveira missing a slip catch from Kanhai, who was then 36.
11th over: India 17-0 (Rohit 11, Rahul 6) Craig Overton replaces Anderson, who bowled a good opening spell of 5-2-8-0 without threatening the devastation of Wednesday morning. Overton hits a full length immediately and beats Rahul with a fine delivery that straightens off the seam. Rahul is having to work pretty hard to survive; Rohit looked more comfortable.
“Hello Rob,” says Geoff Wignall. “A couple of other points of interest for the cricket tragic from that scorecard: Boycott hitting a second innings six and having the highest run rate of the specialist batters; and Sobers opening the bowling in both innings with Hall and Griffiths in the side (though he was the quickest of the three when he felt the need).”
10th over: India 16-0 (Rohit 10, Rahul 6) Robinson ends another majestic over by snapping one the other way to beat Rahul’s outside edge. Just before the LBW review, Nasser Hussain showed that only a few of Ollie Robinson’s deliveries in this match would have hit the stumps, and encouraged him to bowl a bit fuller. Tellingly, the ball that almost got Rahul out would have hit the stumps on length.
It brings to mind a Test, possibly the first innings at Edgbaston in 2001, when Hawkeye showed that none of Glenn McGrath’s 100-odd deliveries would have hit the stumps - and he still got two LBWs.
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REVIEW! India 16-0 (Rahul not out 5)
Well I never. KL Rahul was given out LBW to a lovely, fuller delivery from Ollie Robinson, and reviewed reluctantly with only a second or two remaining. It looked out for all money, but replays showed it was just slipping past leg stump.
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9th over: India 14-0 (Rohit 9, Rahul 5) Rohit Sharma continues to repel Anderson with soft hands and expert judgement of what to play and what to leave. He has been a bit of a revelation this summer - not so much in his run-scoring (though that has been fine) as his ability to bat time against the moving ball.
8th over: India 14-0 (Rohit 9, Rahul 5) Robinson jags one back sharply to hit Rahul in a sensitive area. That’s why they call it Test cricket. It’s an outstanding over from Robinson, who hits Rahul again with a huge nipbacker and gets another delivery to kick extravagantly outside off stump.
“I think I need professional help in dealing with the ups and downs of
English cricket,” writes Ross Dawson. “Too often I find myself kicking the cat and screaming at the tele’ when our lads have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of a draw. Other times I’m dancing naked around a fire and sacrificing oxen in tribute to our brave boys. Some consistency would be soothing.”
7th over: India 13-0 (Rohit 8, Rahul 5) India may have no interest in attacking Anderson, but some offers can’t be refused. Anderson starts his fourth over with a wide, swinging half-volley that Rohit times through the covers for four. The rest of the over is immaculate - both the attacking bowling and the defensive batting.
“Hello Rob,” says Tim Sanders. “Talking of Jacques Kallis reminds me of the moment when Richie Benaud christened Darren Gough ‘Bobby Dazzler’. The South African cricket machine had, to be fair to him, already made 132 before he was bamboozled at high speed. It’s thirty seconds into the BBC’s Benaud tribute, which is always worth watching.”
6th over: India 8-0 (Rohit 3, Rahul 5) Rahul survives a pretty big shout for LBW from Robinson. It looked outside the line - replays confirm that it was - and might have been high as well. But it was a nice delivery from Robinson, whose length has been a bit fuller in this over. He finishes with a more muted LBW shout against Rahul, who was again outside the line.
5th over: India 6-0 (Rohit 3, Rahul 3) Anderson bowls consecutive, hooping inswingers to KL Rahul. The first hits him on the thigh, the second is tucked off the pads for a single. Rohit survives the rest of the over without alarm. India rightly have no interest in attacking Anderson, they just want to get through his opening spell.
4th over: India 5-0 (Rohit 3, Rahul 2) A quiet over from Ollie Robinson. He hasn’t bowled particularly well with the new ball in this game, though his second spell on Wednesday was excellent.
“One of the problems with comparisons of players across the ages is that conditions are not always the same,” says John Starbuck. “With Deadly Underwood, he was excellent on a sticky dog, but might not fare so well now that pitches are covered more often. Fast bowlers are perhaps more willing to be intimidatory (yes, I know the ‘70s and 80’s West Indians were terrifying all the time) because batters are better protected now. The fast bowlers’ union no longer exists, for instance. There ought to be some caveats built into the stats tables, though I don’t know how you’d do it.”
Thankfully, that’s where Twitter comes in #underwoodout #wgwho? #garfieldwasacatmate
3rd over: India 4-0 (Rohit 3, Rahul 1) Rohit is beaten by a gorgeous outswinger from Anderson. He played the line, with very soft hands, and missed the ball by a distance. Those Fairy Liquid hands save Rohit twice later in the over when he edges short of Overton at third slip. As Dinesh Karthik says on Sky, a stiff-wristed opener wouldn’t have survived that over.
“Double century for Basil Butcher on that scorecard and he didn’t get the MoM?” says Joe Carter. “Very harsh.”
That’s a great spot. It’s not quite John Abrahams in 1984 but still a surprise choice.
2nd over: India 4-0 (Rohit 3, Rahul 1) This feels like a good time to bowl. It’s chilly, the lights are on and India have 352 units of scoreboard pressure to deal with. Make that 350: KL Rahul gets off the mark with a measured drive off Ollie Robinson, and then Rohit works a single to fine leg.
“I was sad to read the latest news on Chris Cairns,” says Tom van der Gucht. “I think the summer of 2004 was my summer of cricket: the year I fell in love with the sport. I was trapped in a call centre with limited things to do except draw pictures using MS paint and follow the cricket between calls. It was the first time I discovered the OBO and used to race out of work to catch the end of play in local ale pubs with colleagues on C4. Cairns was such an exciting player and watching him go toe-to-toe with Flintoff in the battle of the big all-rounders was a highlight.”
It feels like he didn’t always fulfil his potential but his Test statistics (34 with the bat, 29 with the ball) are extremely good. My strongest memory is that spectacular assault at the Oval in 1999, which set up a famous series victory. It’s desperately sad news.
1st over: India 2-0 (Rohit 2, Rahul 0) An excellent first over from Jimmy Anderson, with every ball curving gently aaway from Rohit Sharma. He is beaten by one delivery, and then gets off the mark with a thick, soft-handed edge towards the third man boundary. The diving Haseeb Hameed does well to save a couple of runs.
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Play is about to resume. Joe Root has his team in a huddle by the boundary, and here come the Indian openers.
There’s a bit more drizzle at Headingley, and the umpires are discussing what to do next.
“Re: yesterday’s comments on Underwood, I seem to recall his first 12(?) overs in Test cricket being maidens, vs West Indies,” writes Peter in Brittany. “Has old age nostalgia struck?”
As somebody whose principal joy in life is old age nostalgia, I take no pleasure in directing you to this scorecard.
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“That’s such a brilliant spiel by Root,” says Pete Salmon (see 10.39am). “Love the thing about Steve Smith and problem solving. During the Ashes over here last time my friends and I played a game during one of his innings, where we weren’t allowed to get up until he hit an attacking shot to a fielder. After several hours we just had to give up as it had become silly. Every single time he hit it off the square it went past the fielders. Hitting it to a fielder seemed his equivalent to getting out, which he didn’t do much either.”
Ha, that’s great. England should ask whether they can have 14 fielders as a handicap. He’s probably say yes, the twisted, problem-solving genius that he is.
TMS link
“The BBC helpfully provide the link themselves on the BBC Sport page these days,” writes Eva Broer. “Otherwise it’s here on YouTube.”
Thanks Eva (and the rest of you who emailed the link). I’ve going to scrawl a note on my wall as a reminder to post the new link every morning.
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Virat Kohli waits by the boundary edge so that Mohammed Shami, who bowled beautifully to take four for 95, can leave the field before he does. Shami has had so many hard-luck stories in England that nobody should begrudge him those wickets. He goes under the radar sometimes but he is a masterful all-weather bowler.
WICKET! England 432 all out (Robinson b Bumrah 0)
With Jimmy Anderson at the crease, Jasprit Bumrah comes into the attack, a gesture of [insert your own adjective here] malevolence from Virat Kohli. On Sky, Mike Atherton wonders whether Joe Root should declare. It’s moot, because Ollie Robinson lasted only three balls. He tried a one-day slap, missed and was bowled. That’s the end of the innings, and England lead by 354 runs.
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132nd over: England 431-9 (Robinson 0, Anderson 0) Does anyone have the TMS overses link? Ta!
WICKET! England 431-9 (Overton LBW b Shami 32)
This is only Overton’s fifth Test but he has already played some decent innings. He helped England past their lowest Test score at Auckland in 2018 and almost stopped Australia regaining the Ashes at Old Trafford two years ago.
PS: he’s out. I knew there would be trouble if I started writing about how good his batting had been. He pushed around a good delivery - a terrific delivery in fact - from Shami that nipped back to hit the top of the pad and would have hit middle and leg. Overton reviewed, as England have three left, but he knew.
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131st over: England 431-8 (Overton 32, Robinson 0) Ravindra Jadeja starts at the other end to Robinson, who survives a couple of gentle LBW shouts. With Jadeja bowling over the wicket, both deliveries pitched outside leg stump. The general gloom is such that the lights are coming on, which could be good news for Jimmy Anderson.
130th over: England 431-8 (Overton 32, Robinson 0) A confident start from Overton, who hits the last two balls of Shami’s over for four. The first was a hearty back-foot slap through the covers, the second a crisp flick thorugh midwicket.
The players are out in the middle, and Mohammed Shami is going to bowl to Craig Overton.
There has been a bit of drizzle at Headingley. Looks like we’re going to start on time though.
“On the Root thing, touching to see his comments yesterday about advice from Ted Dexter (named after the small cows) - keep sideways on, don’t get turned,” writes Bill Hargreaves. “I think TD might have been the first to coin the phrase ‘bat imagining you’re standing in an upright bathtub’ - i.e. as little lateral movement as possible. Looking forward to yet another superlative day.”
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“Jack is... Jacques (Jack) Kallis,” says Patrick Bailey.
Ach, of course it is! Thanks. If ever there was a ruthless batsman...
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“India need not be too discouraged by the events of yesterday,” says Shankar Mony. “Root was absolutely brilliant and has been all year. The batsmen need to show up and bat time, even if the draw is out of play, they should treat it as an extended net and put miles into Jimmy’s legs. Oh, and also the other bowlers’ legs.”
It’s a really important third innings, for all sorts of reasons. I know Maurice Mentum has been discredited by the turnaround from Lord’s to Headingley, but I still think it’s important, particularly on an individual level. India can score points before next week’s game at the Oval, especially if some of their struggling middle order get big runs.
There was a really good interview with Joe Root on Sky a moment ago, where he discussed his recent form and the changes he made during lockdown.
“[On his dismissals, LBW and bowled, by Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins] If you watch both of them, I do my initial trigger movement and then there’s an extra movement. If you watch how I move now there’s more flow in the way I go backwards and forwards - I’m moving straight back [mimes rocking backwards and forwards] and I’m really working hard at keeping my front shoulder as side on to the bowler as possible.
“Any extra movement now is to push me into position, whereas before I felt I was getting stuck after the extra movement against Hazlewood and Cummins. More than anything it’s about getting in better positions - trying to go forward and back straight, and staying as side on as possible.
“[On improving his conversaion rate from 50 to 100] A lot of came down to not reading the game well enough, and feeling like I was playing extremely well - sometimes better than I am right now - but not recognising certain passages of play. Almost being naive... I wasn’t going up and down the gears; I was just happy to keep trying to score quicker and quicker and quicker, not reading what the opposition were trying to do. More than anything I wanted to have more clarity and a better understanding of how teams were trying to bowl to me.
“Steve Smith’s the perfect example. He’s the best at it in the world. His way of batting is that he’s problem-solving all the time, trying to find a way of getting the ball where the fielders aren’t and taking as much risk out of the game as possible. Learning from your peers is really important and something I’ve tried to do. Jack told me that the first hundred is for the taxman, so you only make your money after that.”
Who’s Jack? Have I forgotten someone really obvious?
Brunchtime reading
Preamble
Put the cigars away. Take those bloody beers out of Jimmy’s ice bath. England have some hard yakka ahead before they can celebrate victory in the third Test. India will - spoiler alert! - play a whole lot better in their second innings, on a pitch that has become pretty good for batting. While it’s not beyond the realms that the match will end today, the likelier scenario is that India will make England work very hard for the ten wickets they need.
Before the real business begins, England’s lower order have the chance to increase India’s collective agita. They will resume on 423 for eight, a lead of 345, after another century of charming brilliance from Joe Root. He certainly deserves a good celebration.
