India have strength in depth. Their “B” team batter who has scored back to back test double centuries.Batterred by the B Team.
I am flying out for the fifth test and hope we can avoid defeat in the next test to make it a meaningful game result wise. That said England will give it all they have even if it’s a dead rubber.It’s worth noting that India are very strong at home too. We were certainly the masters of our own downfall yesterday but let’s face it, we don’t have a spinner anywhere near the level of Kuldeep, who’d be at best, India’s 3rd or 4th choice spinner.
Rehan is still learning but he’s not a big spinner of his leg break. His Googly turns more than his stock ball leggy but he’s got so much to learn.
All our spinners are massively inexperienced and that makes a big difference across 5 Test matches. They just aren’t consistent enough to build pressure.
Kuldeeps spell yesterday was brilliant and created lots of pressure. We didn’t soak it up and lost a couple of cheap wicket in the process.
If we lose this series it’ll be the first one we’ve lost since McCullum and Stokes took charge. Considering how awful we were before they came in, that in itself is some achievement.
Yes but there’s nothing that can stop that happening. India feel confident enough to ensure when he did return they hadn’t lost wickets. That’s rare.Not sure I agree about a batsman “retiring hurt” then coming back out to bat the next day when he’s had a nice rest.
I think you can probably say that the fact that it is so rare means that it is universally acknowledged to be a disadvantage and not an advantage to break your innings unless you genuinely are injured or ill. Otherwise you can pretty much guarantee it would be gamed.Not sure I agree about a batsman “retiring hurt” then coming back out to bat the next day when he’s had a nice rest.