Tag: Shubman Gill

India Level the Series in Emphatic Style

A look at happenings in the last four sessions of the test match at Edgbaston and a large photo gallery.

Early yesterday evening Brydon Carse holed to Shubman Gill off Akash Deep for 38 and India had won the second test match of this series for the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy by 336 runs. It was an appropriate finale, since Gill was unquestionably Player of the Match, and Akash Deep, whose 10th wicket of the match this was had been the best bowler on either side. I had taken the story up to tea on the fourth day here. This post picks up the story from that point.

THE DECLARATION

India scored a such a rate post tea that by the time they called a halt to the slaughter, at exactly the sort of time expected by most people their lead had mushroomed to 607, meaning England needed 608 to win. Only twice has 600 been topped in the final innings of a first class match, both in timeless (played to a finish however long it takes) matches. At Durban in 1939 England scored 654-5, but their travel arrangements for the journey home from South Africa intervened, forcing an abandonment of a supposedly timeless match, the last test match to be designated as such. Just under a decade late Maharashtra scored 604 in the last innings against Bombay, but such was the preposterous scoring in that match (2,376 runs for 37 wickets!) that they still lost by 354 runs. Shubman Gill has achieved the second highest test match aggregate ever, following his 269 in the first innings with 161 second time round, the first time anyone had a 250+ and 150+ in the same test match (the record match aggregate, 456 by Graham Gooch for England against India at Lord’s in 1990, was comprised of 333 in the first innings and 123 in the second).

ENGLAND’S START

By the close of day four England were 72-3, still 536 short of a target that even the greatest of optimists surely had to admit was by then purely nominal. The three batters dismissed were Crawley, Duckett and most importantly of all Root. Akash Deep had two of them, both clean bowled, while Siraj had been gifted Crawley’s wicket courtesy of a catch to sub fielder B Sai Sudarsan. Barring rainfall of Noachian intensity it was hard to see any way out for England, and frankly they did not deserve to escape defeat either.

THE FINAL DAY

It did rain on the fifth morning, but cleared up in time for play to get underway at 12:40PM. Akash Deep made the first break through when a delivery from hit Pope’s arm and rebounded into the stumps for a dismissal recorded as ‘bowled Deep’. That was 80-4, and three runs later the other overnight batter, Harry Brook was on his way, pinned LBW by Deep for 23. I had a commitment early in the afternoon which necessitated me leaving the cricket (see here for more details). In the time I was out England lost only one further wicket, that of the skipper Stokes for 33. Smith batted superbly for the second time of the match. Woakes after resisting for a while was well caught by Siraj off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna to make it 199-7. Smith hit two successive sixes off short balls from Akash Deep, but when he tried to give a third short delivery the same treatment it was slower than its predecessors had been, he misjudged the pace and Washington Sundar held the catch. That was 226-8 and heralded the last rites of the match. Tongue scored two before he gave Siraj a catch of Jadeja. Shoaib Bashir now joined Carse and they provided some entertainment, adding a rapid 25 which included a six and a four hit by Bashir. Then came the poetic justice moment referred to in the introduction when Carse gave Gill that catch off Deep to end proceedings. Deep had 6-99 for the innings and 10-187 for the match. Siraj had 7-126 for the match, 6-70 and 1-56. This makes it almost certain that Prasidh Krishna will be the one to miss out when Bumrah comes in for the match at Lord’s that gets underway on Thursday morning, though given the remarkable disparity in his records when Bumrah is and is not in the side there is case for it being Siraj to miss out. For England two As, Archer and Atkinson are likely to play, with Tongue and Carse likely to miss out (Woakes is a virtual cheat code at Lord’s, so he will play unless actually injured, and Stokes always wants a spinner in the side). With the weather due to be blazing hot it really should be mandatory for whoever wins the toss at Lord’s to bat first.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

India in Total Control at Edgbaston

A look at developments at Edgbaston where India now have pretty much a complete stranglehold on proceedings and a photo gallery.

When I wrote yesterday’s post the sixth wicket stand between Harry Brook and Jamie Smith was still in progress. This post takes the story forwards from there.

THE END OF THE ENGLAND FIRST INNINGS

The great partnership between Smith and Brook that had partially revived England’s fortunes ended at 303 when Brook fell for 158. England were exactly 200 runs adrift at that point, needing one more to eliminate any chance of being made to follow on (India probably would not have enforced it anyway). They managed that, but not a whole lot more, as Mohammad Siraj and Akash Deep bowled magnificently with the second new ball to slice through the England lower order like a hot knife through butter. The innings ended when Siraj disposed of Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir in successive deliveries, his fifth and sixth scalps of the innings, giving him 6-70 on an absolutely plumb pitch. Deep had the other four wickets, also impressively cheaply on such a surface. England’s 407 was the lowest all out test innings to feature two 150+ scores (at Headingley in 1948 Australia scored 404-3 on the last day to win by seven wickets, with Morris scoring 182 and Bradman 173 not out, the last of his 29 test tons), and was also unique in featuring both two 150+ scores and six ducks (this is itself a joint test record, and unsurprisingly most of the totals to feature that number of ducks have been a lot smaller than 407). India thus had a lead of 180 on first innings.

INDIA PUSH ON

England managed one wicket before the close of play yesterday, by which point India were over 240 ahead. Thus today started with England in urgent need of early wickets. They did not get them, with Karun Nair and KL Rahul being the only casualties of the morning session. India took lunch on 177-3, with Pant and Gill both playing well in their respective styles. The afternoon began at rapid tempo, with Pant in particular going hard. Pant had been badly dropped by Crawley early in his innings, but the other England opener Duckett made no mistake when Pant failed to get quite enough on an attempted big hit off Bashir having hit 65 off 58 balls. That was 236-4, and in order to keep the left/ right handed combination going Jadeja was promoted ahead of Reddy to number six. Just before tea Gill reached his second hundred of the match, only the second Indian to have a double century and a century in the same test match (Sunil Gavaskar scored 124 and 220 against the West Indies in Trinidad in 1970). India went in to tea on 304-4, 484 ahead – already 66 runs more than any side has scored in a test match fourth innings to win. They have just resumed, probably planning to bat another hour, then have a go at England tonight, resume tomorrow with the ball still fairly new and the bowlers having had a night’s rest, and then be able to have a burst with the second new ball at the end of tomorrow if they have not already finished things by then. England are still talking about going for the win, which will surprise no one familiar with this iteration of England, but the truth is India are indeed in total control, and an England win from here would be an almighty shock.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Five hoverflies in one frame – three on the large dandelion head and two hovering nearby.

IN

A Story in the Making

A look at goings on at Edgbaston where England and India are engaged in a test match. Also a huge photo gallery.

As we approach tea on the third day of the second test match of the series between England and India for the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy we have already seen some remarkable cricket.

THE PRELIMINARIES

England named an unchanged side, with the plan being to introduce Archer, fit again after many injury woes, at Lord’s, the second match of these two back to back tests. India made a number of changes. Karun Nair was moved up from number six to number three, B Sai Sudarsan was dropped, and Nitish Kumar Reddy, a batter who bowls medium pace came in at number six. Thakur was dropped, and Washington Sundar brought in to strengthen the batting (his off spin could not be accounted a major factor on an English pitch). India also decided that Jasprit Bumrah could not play both matches of a back to back sequence and reckoned that he would fare better at Lord’s, Akash Deep replaced him at number nine. The Indian line up was loaded with batting depth, but a little light on bowling. Ben Stokes won the toss, and in spite of neither pitrch nor conditions suggesting it, and in spite of India’s batting strength he chose to bowl, the tenth time he has done so out of 11 toss wins on English soil.

THE GLORY OF GILL

Shubman Gill came into this match with a test average in the upper 30s, with many reckoning he had the talent to be doing far better than that. His effort in the first innings here underlined exactly why. With some notable support, chiefly from Jadeja and Sundar at numbers seven and eight in the order Gill, who never previously topped 150 at test level scored 269 from number four in the order, propelling India to a score of 587. A score of that magnitude has sometimes been a prelude to a defeat – at Sydney in 1894 Australia lost after racking up 586 first up, while in a three-day match at Chesterfield in 1904 Essex lost by nine wickets after running up 597 in the first innings, and 78 years later at Southport Warwickshire scored 523-4 declared on day one of three, had Lancashire a wicket down by the close, and lost by ten wickets two days later. However, for all these examples it was not looking bright for England.

HITTING THE FLOOR AND REBOUNDING

England were three wickets down by the end of day two, though Brook and Root had fared reasonably after the top three all got out to bad shots. Root fell early this morning, edging behind to make it 84-4, still 503 adrift. One ball later that was 84-5, Stokes only able to offer a catch to the keeper off a brute of ball from Siraj. Jamie Smith hit the hat trick ball for four, the start of a blistering counter attack that saw him reach three figures before the lunch interval. Brook also went to a hundred, and Smith has now moved past 150, and has so far hit 19 fours and three sixes in the course of his innings. The sixth wicket stand is currently with 252 unbroken, though England are still over 250 short of first innings parity. Mohammad Siraj has three wickets, Akash Deep two, and no other Indian bowler any, and there has not been much threat from any of them either. There was a crazy passage this morning when Krishna attempted to test Smith with “bouncers”, which were at his pace and on this pitch medium paced long hops off which Smith helped himself to a succession of boundaries. This sixth wicket partnership is massively impressive, but am still 100% certain that Stokes should have chosen to bat first. He has chosen to bowl first in both matches, got away with it at Headingley because India had batting collapses in both innings after strong starts (430-3 to 471 all out and 333-4 to 364 all our) but does not look like getting away with it here. I also feel that India’s selection was fundamentally defensive – if they were resting Bumrah then left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav should have been selected to give the attack a bit of bite. The tea interval has arrived while I have been preparing this for publication, with England 341-5, still 246 short of first innings parity.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This oystercatcher was on the roof of the church of St Peter and St Paul in Fakenham, an inland town.
These four pictures showing a large group of Greylag geese were taken through the window of a bus, while it was stopped opposite Great Massingham’s village green.
Four into three does not go – four hoverflies and three dandelion heads in this case.
A European peacock butterfly on a buddleia about 100 yards from King’s Lynn station.
A squirrel running along a high wall (it is a surviving section of town wall)
Two for one on dragonflies by the Gaywood river.

India Level the Series

A look back at the last two days of the second test match of the five match series between India and England and some thoughts about the composition of the England XI. Also a photo gallery.

After many twists and turns India won the second test of the five match India v England series at Vizag when Jasprit Bumrah clean bowled Tom Hartley for 36, making England 292 all out, and India victors by 106 runs. This post looks back at the last couple of days.

THE INDIAN SECOND INNINGS

India started day three of a possible five 28-0 in their second innings, 171 runs ahead with all their wickets intact. Shubman Gill enjoyed a charmed life, surviving one LBW due to an edge that was as much news to him as it was to the rest of us and another on umpire’s call when not quite enough of the ball was deemed to be hitting the top of middle stump. He made the most of this, going on to a century which was instrumental in India getting to 255, a score that meant England would need the highest total of the match batting last to win. Their target of 399 was also over 100 more than any visiting side had ever scored in a fourth innings in India, though four previous tests elsewhere have been won after higher run chases, and in the 99th and last ‘timeless test’ at Durban in 1939 England scored 654-5 before weather and the arrangements for their journey home led to the match being abandoned as a draw with England 42 runs short of the target. However England under Stokes have produced so many surprises that no one was consigning them to defeat just yet.

THE ENGLAND SECOND INNINGS

England lost Duckett just before the close of day three, and Rehan Ahmed was sent in at number three (Pope is a nervous starter, so it makes sense to protect him from having to do so twice over, and Ahmed is good enough with the bat that the possibility of a major innings from him could not be entirely discounted). England closed on 67-1, needing 332 more to win.

The fourth morning (this morning) started with news that James Anderson had said England were in a very good position and that Shubman Gill had assessed India 70-30 favourites, an assessment that in itself spoke volumes for the approach of this England team compared to the last one to visit India in 2021, and the extent to which they have ripped up conventional test standards.

Ahmed was the second to fall, contributing 23 before he did so. Pope exactly matched this score, and his dismissal brough Root to the crease. Root played a frenetic, almost frantic, innings, wildly at variance with the methods that have brought him over 11,000 test runs at an average of 50, and was out for 16 off 10 balls. Crawley, who had batted impressively, then fell to a controversial LBW, which was sent upstairs. At the point the ball hit Crawley’s pad two stumps were exposed and part of the third was visible, which raised questions over whether the impact was truly in line with the stumps. However, the technology ruled that it was out, and England were 194-5. With the score still at 194 Bairstow was pinned by a beauty from Bumrah, LBW for 26. Stokes and Foakes played well for a while, until Foakes edged one behind the wicket but on the floor, Stokes judged that a run was on and was beaten by Shreyas Iyer’s direct hit throw to make it 220-7, this being Iyer’s most significant contribution to the match. Foakes and Tom Hartley then crafted a solid partnership for the eighth wicket, which ended when Foakes gave Bumrah a return catch. That was 275-8. Two landmarks were possible at this stage, Ashwin’s 500th test wicket and a 10-wicket match haul for Bumrah. However Bashir edged one from Mukesh Kumar through to keeper Bharat to make it 281-9 (this was Kumar’s only wicket of what was in truth a wretched match for him) and rule out Bumrah’s 10 wicket match haul. Bumrah then produced a superb delivery to get through Tom Hartley’s defences and end the match. That gave him nine wickets in the match (6-45 and 3-46), and 155 career test wickets at 20.19. Bumrah was named Player of the Match, his marvellous bowling being deemed even more crucial to India’s success than Jaiswal’s double century. I agree with this assessment, though I would have been inclined to give a shared award to both players. England though comfortably beaten in the end were in no way disgraced, though there were too many 20s and 30s in that fourth innings effort, and only Crawley’s 73 as a score of real substance. I think that the ‘three spinners and one seamer’ approach England have taken thus far needs changing – with Leach injured the remaining spinners are all very inexperienced and none are capable at the moment of providing control. I believe that England’s 8,9,10,11 for the third match of this series should read: R Ahmed, T Hartley, OE Robinson, JM Anderson, and if England want to increase the back up spin options available to them in the XI they can drop Bairstow, who has not been impressive this series, and select Dan Lawrence in his place, giving them two part time spin options (Root being the other).

PHOTOGRAPHS

India Zindabad!

An account of the spectacular denouement to the Border-Gavaskar trophy series at the Gabba, a look at cricket formats and to upcoming test series, and some photographs.

This post is mainly about the amazing conclusion to the battle for the Border-Gavaskar trophy, the last day of which ended early this morning UK time. I will also be comparing the various formats that cricket now has and looking ahead to upcoming test series.

THE INJURY STREWN ROAD BACK FROM 36 ALL OUT

India took a first innings lead in the first test of the series, before that game underwent a shocking turnaround, as an hour of Cummins and Hazlewood at their best routed India for its lowest ever test score of 36, and Australia knocked of the target of 90 for the loss of two (see here for more details) wickets. At that point, with Kohli departing on paternity leave and injuries already making themselves felt an Indian series victory looked a long way away.

In the second match at the MCG India, captained by Rahane in the absence of Kohli hit back hard to level the series, but their injury list continued to lengthen.

In the third match of the series at Sydney, India continued to suffer injuries, with their two best spinners, Ashwin and Jadeja joining the crocked list. Also injured was Hanuma Vihari. However, in a display of determination that was a foretaste of what was to come at the Gabba, Vihari and Ashwin carried India to a hard fought draw in this match.

The final stop for India, with a bowling attack so depleted that those selected in bowling spots had one test cap between them, was the Gabba, where Australia were unbeaten since 1988, when a full strength West Indies, featuring one of the most awesome collections of fast bowlers ever seen, did the job.

Australia won the toss and chose to bat first (a number of sides of been lured in by the prospect of early life in the pitch and chosen to bowl, normally with terrible consequences – Hutton’s England leaked 601-8 in 1954-5 and lost by an innings and 160, Border’s Aussies conceded over 450 in 1986, were made to follow on and ended up beaten by seven wickets, Hussain’s England allowed Australia to reach 367-2 by the close of the opening day, and thereafter there was only going to be one result), and they tallied 369, a very respectable effort. Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar each featured prominently in the bowling figures, as did Siraj. At 186-6 India looked in colossal trouble, but Thakur and Sundar followed their bowling exploits with some excellent batting, making 67 and 62 respectively, and in the end the deficit was just 33.

India did well to restrict Australia’s 2nd innings to 294, which left them 329 to get and just over a day to do so. The weather which had intervened several times, did so once again, ending day 4 early with India 4-0, needing 324 off 98 overs on the final day to win, with a draw also sufficing to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

By lunch on day five India had lost only one wicket, and Gill and Pujara were going well. The afternoon session was better for Australia, but they still did not capture many wickets, and Pant was batting well by the tea break.

When Mayank Agarwal fell for a skittish nine it still seemed that only two results were possible. Sundar joined Pant, and they were still together going into the mandatory last 15 overs, with 69 needed. By the ten over to go mark this was up around a run a ball, but they were still together. Briefly the ask went above one run per ball, but then Sundar hit a six and a four in quick succession, which in turn encouraged Pant, and suddenly the target was approaching at a rapid rate. Cummins, who had toiled heroically and picked up four wickets on the day gave way to Hazlewood, while Lyon was wheeling away at the other end. There was a brief wobble when Sundar fell essaying a reverse sweep and then Thakur got himself out cheaply, but the target was close to being achieved by then, and not long later a straight driven four for Rishabh Pant ended the chase, India winning by three wickets to take the series 2-1 and retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy in style. Pant had scored 89 not out, backing up Gill’s earlier 91 and a determined 56 from Pujara.

Pant was named Player of the Match, while his 20 wickets earned Cummins the Player of the Series award. Personally I would have given the match award to Thakur who made significant contributions to all of the first three innings, without which India would never have been in the contest, but I can understand why it went to Pant.

Of all the test series I have followed closely enough to comment on from personal experience (dating back to the 1989 Ashes debacle) this one between Australia and India has only one remotely serious rival, the 2005 Ashes series, which featured three of the greatest matches I have ever been witness to plus Pietersen and Giles’ heroics at The Oval.

ON CRICKET FORMATS

Top level cricket these days has four principal formats with a fifth in the pipeline, and this match just concluded at the Gabba, plus events at Galle prompted to me to write a little about each:

  • Test Cricket – these two matches in their differing ways provided excellent case studies as to why the five day format is the best of the lot for cricket. Both matches featured fight backs which could not have been mounted in a shorter version of the game.
  • First class cricket – played over either three or four days (one of the definitions of a first class cricket match is that it must last at least three days), and like test cricket the longer time frame enables things to happen that could not in a short match.
  • One day cricket – played over the one day, usually one innings per side, although various split innings formats have been tried, and each side is limited to a certain number of overs, and at least five bowlers must be used. It has its great moments, notably the 2019 World Cup final, but the great majority of games in this format do not stick in the memory any longer than it takes to play them.
  • T20 – One innings of 20 overs per side, various fielding restrictions and other gimmicks according to the exact competition. These can be cracking entertainment while they last, especially if they get close, but again few stick in the memory.
  • The Hundred – 100 balls per innings for each side, to be bowled in some combination or other of blocks of five and ten balls. Nobody really knows why this joke of a format was invented, though after being delayed for a year by the pandemic it is expected to make’s it appearance in the 2021 English season. I feel that tampering to the extent that is involved in the design of this new format is unacceptable. The number of balls in an over has changed through cricket’s long history – it was four in the early days, five in the 1880s and 1890s, then six, then eight for a time (briefly in this country, for about 50 years in Australia) and then back to six, but it has always been fixed and constant within each match. Just as I refused to pay any attention to the Stanford extravaganza, rightly seeing it as fundamentally bad for cricket, so I plan to ignore the Hundred.

FUTURE TESTS

England have two series coming up against India, first in India, then in England, and an Ashes series down under at the end of the year. I now feel having seen an injury ravaged India fight like tigers and beat the Aussies in their own back yard that England will be lucky to win either series against India, but for all that no England team not holding the Ashes have won in Australia since 1970-1 they have a decent chance of winning that series. I noticed that Axar Patel, a left arm spinner, is in India’s squad for the upcoming series in India, and given the ‘rabbits in headlights’ responses of Messrs Crawley and Sibley to Lasith Embuldeniya taking the new ball for Sri Lanka I can see exactly how India might use him to their advantage! Overall, test cricket is in fine health, and has once again dealt very effectively with premature rumours of its sad demise, by producing a couple of amazing games that overlapped with one another.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Time for my usual sign off…