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[tim2000s]

Personally I think that for this series, cricket is the sideshow.  the real story is the bcci restriction and charging on press outside the icc rules. Need taking down a peg or two...

[paulkatich]

Agree with you on this. India can't win in swinging conditions and England can't win on spinning tracks. Apart from south africa and australia all test playing nations are one dimensional.

May I ask, at the risk of being yelled at and put in my place, why oh why are ppl complaining about the pitch...

If you are playing at the top most level then you are supposed to be able to bat on any pitch and make runs, similarly take wickets. When India tour Eng and get blown out of the park the normal stance is "well you should be able to play swing and seam, T-20 (IPL) is ruining cricket",,,along the same lines should england not be able to play and bowl spin??

now I agree this pitch is a shame for test cricket but common I don't think WI greats would worried too much about the pitch or Mcgrath would have grumbled...they knew how to take wickets...prob is most teams today are one dimensional i.e. they perform well when conditions suit them and struggle against even small adversities...If Eng had won the toss, played 2 spinners and add KP as part timer managing to win the match then the pitch would have been "Okay"

Also most nations tailor their pitches to their teams needs

Eng is seaming/swinging, SA has bounce, Aus used to be fast, India has always been a dustbowl, spinning tracks so why so much surprise!!

[Buzz]

Agree with you on this. India can't win in swinging conditions and England can't win on spinning tracks. Apart from south africa and australia all test playing nations are one dimensional.

given that neither aus or SA have a spinner of note, I would say they are pretty one dimensional. the Saffas have the advantage due to having Amla, Kallis and AB who are phenomenal players of spin.

the aussies have Clarke who is also a brilliant player of spin.

[trypewriter]

I agree. Surely this pitch hasn't come as a shock to anyone in the England set-up?

Yep. It's not really as if any other sort of pitch can be prepared is it?

[nikunjind]

I think firstly saying India are poor abroad and can only win at home is not right, if people look at stats in the last decade we have won more tests abroad then England and although we got thrashed in England and Australia two tours do not make you a bad team abroad much like England getting whitewashed in UAE and losing badly to SA a bad team. This is international sport and test cricket being one of the hardest tests of a players skill, patience and endurance and many other factors too.

England today made a mess of some pretty simple chances today which could have changed the complexion of the game...then you have Trott trying to claim that catch that never was.. what a joke it was embarrassing to watch the replies..

Why do India not have a right to play to its strengths and play home advantage, England great Ian Botham and Alex Stewart said India have every right to do this..If India come to England do they get spinning tracks??

If people have watched Cricket in India in the last 7/8 years (test cricket) which I have you will know that the pitches have in general been so docile and flat that watching the games for people has been so boring and dull with teams racking up 500 and games being drawn..hence why the crowds are so poor!! I remember in the 90's when the grounds were full and pitches used to spin and bounce..like Dhoni said he would love to see pitches in India where spinners hit the ribcage..I do agree that this should not happen from day one but from day three I think the pitches should be made so they spin or bounce..from my point of you it is great seeing a quality bolwer like Swann and Ashwin getting turn and bounce and testing the batsmen otherwise it would be boring to watch...

I do not think this game is over..I think England could dig dip and score some big runs too as the pitch is slow hence the spin slow turn which can be played easily..maybe not by England..

[Manormanic]

only thing I would say is that I think it is a shame when winning the toss presents such an obvious advantage in terms of chances of winning the game

[paulkatich]

you forgot Mr cricket there who is brilliant player of spin as well.

given that neither aus or SA have a spinner of note, I would say they are pretty one dimensional. the Saffas have the advantage due to having Amla, Kallis and AB who are phenomenal players of spin.

the aussies have Clarke who is also a brilliant player of spin.

[Buzz]

you forgot Mr cricket there who is brilliant player of spin as well.

black mark to me! you are of course totally correct.

[Cover_Drive]

I've got no time for sloggers in test matches!!!!

And last night Piers Morgan named Sehwag in his Test XI, LOL!

[jw17]

And last night Piers Morgan named Sehwag in his Test XI, LOL!

If the game was to be played on a motorway then he would be in everyones, not quite got the footwork for anything other than roads

[legger123]

I've got no time for sloggers in test matches!!!!

Thank you! Someone who is on the same boat as me, its just boring to watch, you know what he's going to do. I'd much rather watch someone construct an innings more so than blaze their way. I wrote on twitter, and got some tweets back claiming I was idiotic. However the person who tweeted was a sunday slogger with no technique whatsoever.

[PM7]

I hate sloggers, Beefy, Gilchrist, Sehwag, Flintoff, Dhoni, Gibbs,Jayasuriya, Gayle ... silly chaps they are,never enjoyed watching them bat, lol

[yvk3103]

Sloggers these guys might be, but then they present their teams an opportunity to set-up a game in their favour or even turn around a game on its head and change a assumed loss to a win.

Slogger or a technically sound batsman, it takes talent to play at this level and scorin a 100 against any opposition on any sort of track. If this wasn't the case them most of us on this forum would be playing international cricket.

[PM7]

That was tongue in cheek Yash . Very few things can beat watching Viru or Gilchrist punishing the opposition and changing a Test match in the space of a session?

[Cover_Drive]

This Pujara guy has some shades of Rahul Dravid, looks very similar at times.