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Well looks odds on the series will be 1 - 1 at the end of this test. After losing the toss, England really needed to bowl India out for 200 on a pitch that was throwing up puffs of dust on the first day, but a combination of inconsistent bowling and an outstanding innings by Rohit allowed them to get up to 330. Then today the English batsmen were no match for Ashwin and Co. Foakes was actually the best equipped to handle the spinning delivery and he was the only batsman who didn't look like getting out any ball.
At the end of day 2 the Indian lead is 250 which is probably more than enough but the home team will endeavour to pile on the pain tomorrow to put at least another 150 on top of that.

Mike considering how each side has handled the first 2 days here do you think we can expect similar pitches served up as this current one in Chennai for the next 3 Tests in Ahmadabad?
Especially seeing as India need to win the series comfortably to be playing NZ at Lords for the Test Championship?!

Beasley Hutton wrote: Mike considering how each side has handled the first 2 days here do you think we can expect similar pitches served up as this current one in Chennai for the next 3 Tests in Ahmadabad?
Especially seeing as India need to win the series comfortably to be playing NZ at Lords for the Test Championship?!

I think we can expect similar conditions in the last 2 tests (I think its only a 4 test series). England demonstrated yesterday that they were pretty clueless when they are facing high quality spin on these types of pitches. The only exception was Foakes who showed the rest of his mates that it is possible to score runs on these tracks with a mixture of soft hands, patience and a bit of luck.
The only positive out of this game for England is the performance of Ollie Stone who with Archer could make life very uncomfortable for the Australians next summer.
I think England will be serving up some green tops for India next time they tour the UK

Think the likes of Bumrah, Siraj, Shami etc wouldn't complain one bit if the English served up a few green decks next time India tours the UK mate....plus the likes of Pujara, Kohli and Rahane have compact techniques to handle the moving ball....reckon Gill, Sharma or a Shaw would struggle though....

Be interesting to see how Eng rotate their bowlers in the Ashes series...can see Anderson, Broad and Woakes play in the day/night test and the GABBA...whilst Archer, Wood or Stone for the Optus match perhaps...as for Sydney and Melbourne...Leech and Bess for the former and a mixture of fast/swing maybe....at 39 and 35 there is no way Broad and Anderson will play more then 3 tests each....hopefully Langer will use his noggin and devise a similar rotation policy....because all 4 of Lyon, Starc, Cummins and Hazelwood were cooked by Brisbane day 5 when the series was up for grabs....

Yep spot on Freeze, it was extremely obvious to all bar those in the Australian Cricket Team set up that Starc was cooked in Sydney and yet they pressed ahead with him again in Brisbane only 3 days later, end result he had no impact on the Test whatsoever.
Just as concerning was the poor lead up most of our Test squad had in the lead up to the recent Test Series vs India with most away playing silly Buckethead cricket in the IPL and virtually having no red ball cricket at all heading into Adelaide which funnily enough was our only win and with a pink ball not red!
If they (CA, Langer, Bowling coach etc) have not learnt their lesson and have ALL players playing all of the Sheffield Shield cricket lead up games heading into the Ashes next Summer they should ALL be sacked immediately!

unsure why you would change a winning team; good posts, all - ironically, Foakes should be in the team every test match; Buttler can be saved for KFC cricket.

Wonder if Paine sent Ashwin a well done txt for his 100 yesterday...yep Foakes should be playing test cricket over Buttler every day of the week Ark....composed wearing both types of gloves mate....

After Indias inevitable victory today I have 3 questions

1. Will the ICC sanction the Chennai authorities for producing a sub standard test wicket that was obviously doctored to assist India to get back into the series?

2. Will the ICC instruct India to produce a fairer wicket for the last two tests that give both teams a chance of playing their best cricket?

3. Will the ICC sanction Kohli for his disgraceful behaviour in this test in that he showed blatant dissent to an umpire on the ground when a Video decision went against his team ( the Joe Root one) and also bullied an umpire into referring a decision to the third umpire even though it was obvious to everyone apart from Kohli that he had been clean bowled by Moeen Ali?

I suspect the answer to all these questions will be No as the ICC appears to stand for the Indian Cricket Council

Freezin: you will have to coonvince Buttler to play first, it seems
Mikkeh: your right; England should have also done better with the bat

If the pitch was doctored, how did Ashwin make a 100 then?...Eng batted poorly in both digs....just goes to show get a side under the pump and that's when the true test of ability begins. India got contributions right across the board with the bat...bar Pujara and Gill across both digs....Eng got none...Ali and Leach took wickets, same as Ashwin, Patel etc....just India's batsmen dug in more......luck of the toss perhaps...day nighter now, so I guess the spin won't be as much a factor....as much as India improved, England regressed.....that's cricket I guess.