Key events
107th over: India 443-8 (Kuldeep 14, Bumrah 2) Murali Kartik, commentating on TV, is lauding Bashir’s unwavering enthusiasm and lust for battle. At tea he had grim figures of 26-4-127-1; since then he has taken 3-26 from 12 overs. Good lad.
106th over: India 441-8 (Kuldeep 13, Bumrah 1) Kuldeep, who would be a shoo-in for player of the series were it not for that pesky pair of Jaiswal and Bumrah, sweeps Hartley for four to move into the double figures. Bumrah gets off the mark by clunking just short of mid-on.
“All it needs is for Stokes to win this Test and all the obituaries will be converted into coronations,” says Krishnamoorthy V. “That shows the kind of life these sportsmen need to live EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.”
Very true, which makes the drastic shortage of empathy in modern society even more… interesting.
105th over: India 435-8 (Kuldeep 8, Bumrah 0) Bashir beats Kuldeep with a jaffa, similar to the delivery that bowled Padikkal, then does it again two balls later. For good measure, he beats Bumrah later in the over as well. We shouldn’t get carried away, but we should be excited about what Bashir might achieve in this thing of ours.
104th over: India 434-8 (Kuldeep 7, Bumrah 0) “I don’t think this tour has gone too badly,” says Felix Wood. “India are very good, and England did well to even get to positions that they could throw away – and while I’d have preferred they didn’t implode, it’s hard to ignore quite how good India are. England simply havent been good enough with the bat as a team – but looking at their averages that shouldn’t really be a surprise. I wonder how long Pope can hang on for, and I worry that Brook will revert to his career average before his purple patch. There are some big gaps to fill in the team, can we play a game of next cab off the rank to pass the time?”
I agree – when the dust has settled and the sneering has stopped, I think history will judge that England’s performance was above par. The frustration comes from the opportunities they had and the unforseeably poor performance of the middle order.
Next cab off the rank: which rank are we talking about? I suppose No3 is the position I would be most concerned about. Josh Bohannon is probably the next in line, though I think he batted No4 for England Lions against India A.
103rd over: India 433-8 (Kuldeep 6, Bumrah 0) It’s very hard to see this game going to a fourth day now, and if England get a wriggle on it might be over tonight. Stokes cocks up a run-out chance with a weird throw that is well off target. Root, smiling, seems to motion that the ball might have got stuck in the crooked finger.
“Getting the odd window of opportunity to catch up on the cricket with the OBO whilst ostensibly teaching in sunny Naples,” says Colum Fordham. “If nothing else, this tough end-of-term Test is giving excellent practice for our young spinners Bashir and Hartley against top batsmen in the subcontinent. Beats a cloudy day in Northampton. Really enjoyed seeing Bashir’s beautiful ball (in my break).”
Yep, it’s invaluable. If one of them goes on to make it at Test level, you’d imagine they’ll cite this tour as a crucial rite of passage.
102nd over: India 428-8 (Kuldeep 1, Bumrah 0) Those wicket mean Hartley has overtaken Ashwin as the leading wickettaker in the series, 22 to 21, though Ashwin has another innings to come.
WICKET! India 428-8 (Ashwin b Hartley 0)
Two wickets in the over! Ashwin getse a duck in his 100th Test, and I don’t think he’ll be batting again. He pushed defensively down the wrong line and was gated by a ball that didn’t turn.
Drinks
England are having a dignified session: in the face of certain defeat, they’ve taken four wickets for 51 in 17 overs.
WICKET! India 427-7 (Jadeja LBW b Hartley 15)
Tom Hartley roars with delight – and relief – after taking his first wicket. Jadeja pushed around a delivery that turned sharply to hit him on the knee roll in front of off and middle. The umpire gave it out LBW and, though Jadeja reviewed, technology was England’s friend.
101st over: India 427-6 (Jadeja 15, Ashwin 0) Shoaib Bashir came into this series with 10 first-class wickets at an average of 67. He’s now one wicket away from consecutive five-fors agianst India.
The new batter is Ravichandran Ashwin, who gets a nice ovation to mark his 100th Test.
WICKET! India 427-6 (Jurel c Duckett b Bashir 15)
Another wicket for this highly impressive young spinner. Jurel charges Bashir and swishes the ball high towards long on, where Duckett steadies himself to take a comfortable catch.
Jurel is annoyed with himself as he walks off. Sometimes you eat the bear…
100th over: India 426-5 (Jadeja 14, Jurel 15) Jadeja comes down to Hartley, who sees him coming and drags the ball much shorter. Jadeja improvises to bat-pad the ball to safety on the off side. Hartley looks a little tired, and his returns with bat and ball have diminished as the series has progressed, but overall 20 wickets at 39 is a fine effort in the circumstances. And as with Bashir and Rehan, the education is priceless.
99th over: India 421-5 (Jadeja 10, Jurel 14) Bashir has an LBW appeal against Jadeja turned down, and again he dismisses talk of a review, this time because of a probable inside edge. That’s such an impressive quality for any bowler to have, never mind a 20-year-old. India lead by 2034.
“This is an interesting observation,” says Krishnamoorthy V.
Is this the first time ever that four different players are playing in their 100th Test at the same time? Ashwin, Bairstow, Williamson, Southee.
— Thejaswi Udupa (@udupendra) March 8, 2024
Good point. I think Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock and Stephen Fleming all played their 100th Test in the same game but I don’t think four have done so simultaneously.
98th over: India 420-5 (Jadeja 9, Jurel 14) Jurel cuts Hartley elegantly for four to move into double figures. The performance of India’s newbies in this series is a little chilling for the rest of world cricket. Okay, the rest of the world cricket apart from Australia, who are dealing with it just fine.
97th over: India 414-5 (Jadeja 8, Jurel 9) Bashir has taken plenty of tap in this innings, including eight sixes, but his puppy-dog enthusiasm has never waned. He bowls another good over, mainly to Jadeja, and there’s one run from it. This is an incredibly valuable education.
“Of the three young spinners on this tour, I am interested in the fact that Rehan Ahmed – before the tour – commented that he sees himself primarily as a batter who bowls,” says Mark Slater. “The future would indeed be bright if he could establish himself as an all-rounder in the team, especially if his ability to score runs would cancel out the usual habit of leggies being expensive. Of the other two, it might come down to whether Hartley’s better batting will keep out Bashir’s fantastic action to accompany Rehan. Personally, I would love to have all three operating in England in a few years’ time along with a couple of seamers (Jimmy?) plus a batter who turns over some military medium.”
Somewhere up above, Ray Illingworth is nodding with approval.
96th over: India 413-5 (Jadeja 8, Jurel 8) Both Jadeja and Jurel are taking time to get their eye in. India have lots of time, more than three days of the stuff.
“There’s a debate ongoing in my cricket WhatsApp about the closeness of this series,” says Max Williams. “I fear a 4-1 which will include two almighty thrashings weakens the case for the defensive. Yet in the 4th Test, we’re 180 ahead on a tough batting surface with three wickets to take – surely you win from that position 8 or 9 times out of 10. At that point, even if we get slaughtered in the decider, the team emerges with immense credit. There’s also the argument that we’re one Ollie Pope innings away from 5-0 and abject humiliation…”
Nuance lives! My instinct is that 4-1 is a par score but England’s performance has been slightly better than expected. It’s really complicated, though, not least because the Bazball Wars mean there are two different areas of criticism: approach and performance. That’s always been the case to some extent, though it has been amplified in this era of English cricket.
95th over: India 412-5 (Jadeja 8, Jurel 7) “If England had a B team, would Liam Dawson finally get a game?” says Victor Manley. “The other problem is, I expect India could also field a pretty competitive C team, and perhaps even D. How far down the ranks would we have to go before, say, Sri Lanka would give them a game? India Q?”
That’s a good and slightly scary point. And unlike the 1980s West Indies and 1990s Australia, they have frightening depth in every position.
94th over: India 410-5 (Jadeja 7, Jurel 6) Hartley replaces Root as there’s a right-hander at the crease now. Jurel cuts his first ball for four thanks to a sloppy misfield from Crawley, who chunters angrily at himself.
93rd over: India 406-5 (Jadeja 7, Jurel 2) This match may determine whether Hartley or Bashir play for England next summer. I think Bashir is edging ahead of Hartley and Rehan, so it could depend on a) Jack Leach’s fitness and b) how England balance the present, the future and their sense of loyalty to Leach.
WICKET! India 403-5 (Padikkal b Bashir 64)
Every cloud has a silver lining; England’s is Shoaib Bashir. He has just bowled Padikkal with a gorgeous delivery from around the wicket. It curved onto the stumps and straightened sharply to beat Padikkal’s defensive push and hit the off stump.
Padikkal made an accomplished, clear-headed 65 on debut. India A have found another one!
92nd over: India 403-4 (Padikkal 65, Jadeja 6) Root skids one on to hit Padikkal on the pad. He instinctively turns to appeal for LBW, but after his body has moved approximately 135 degrees his brain registers that it would have missed leg.
The DJ celebrates with a blast of It Wasn’t Me by Shaggy.
91st over: India 400-4 (Padikkal 63, Jadeja 5) India’s top five have all reached fifty in this innings. The last time that happened in a Test against England was at the Oval in 2001, a real funfest for England fans. Australia 641-4 dec (S Waugh 157* on one leg, M Waugh 120, Langer 102*, Hayden 68, Martyn 64*, Ponting 62)
Patiddar nods respectfully after playing and missing at a fine delivery from Bashir, then taps a single to bring up India’s 400. The match is over but we’re all contractually obliged to be here unti the end so don’t even think about it.
90th over: India 399-4 (Padikkal 62, Jadeja 5) With two left-handers at the crease, Root replaces Hartley. He’s milked for four runs, and the over is done in about 150 seconds.
“I’ve been thinking about two India teams for a while now,” says Deepak Puri. “Rather than an India team vs an India A team I’d go N India vs S India, or W India vs E India. You’d know the squads then and there would be no problems with players wanting to graduate from the A team to the full team. Perhaps not though, it’s a bit hubristic.”
Yes, in practical terms I doubt it would work but it would be so much fun. I loved watching England lose to Australia A in 1994-95.
89th over: India 395-4 (Padikkal 60, Jadeja 3) One run from a nice Bashir over. Here’s a question: of the three young England spinners on this tour, who will (not who should) play the most Tests? Right now Bashir looks the best of the three. He’s also the weakest batter, though, and he’s not a wristspinner.
I guess it’s a blank canvas, as it was for the four England debutants at Trent Bridge in 1993. They had their whole lives ahead of them. Those lives have included two Test caps for Mark Lathwell, three for Martin McCague, five for Mark Ilott and 100 for Graham Thorpe.
88th over: India 394-4 (Padikkal 60, Jadeja 2) A double misfield from Bashir and Crawley allows Padikkal to get four more off Hartley. “There’s a definite end-of-tour feel against Engnaldn today,” says Graeme Swann on commentary, although he does so with empathy rather than entitlement. Paddikar classily cuts another boundary later in the over.
87th over: India 386-4 (Padikkal 52, Jadeja 2) Padikkal reaches a debut half-century in swaggering style, launching Bashir back over his head for six. It’s an even more eye-catching stroke because of how serenely he has played until that point. This generation of Indian batsmen have a scary level of confidence and certainty. The Kohli generation aren’t exactly Mark Corrigans either.
86th over: India 379-4 (Padikkal 45, Jadeja 2) It’s spin at both ends, with Tom Hartley returning ot the attack, so Jimmy Anderson will have to wait for his 700th wicket.
85th over: India 377-4 (Padikkal 44, Jadeja 1)
WICKET! India 376-4 (Sarfaraz c Root b Bashir 56)
Blimey, a wicket straight after tea! Sarfaraz opened his face and steered Bashir’s first ball straight to Joe Root at slip. I think some extra bounce undid Sarfaraz, maybe a bit of drift too, so that’s a nice wicket for Bashir to take – especially as it came with the new ball.
I haven’t thought this through, at all, but should we consider adding India A to the World Test Championship? Instinct says no, everything says no really, but just imagine India v India A.
Tea: India lead by 158
That was another draining session for England, despite the best efforts of Ben Stokes’ scriptwriter. He bowled Rohit Sharma with his first ball since June, a laughable jaffa, and Jimmy Anderson cleaned up Shubman Gill soon after.
The new boys, Devdutt Padikkal and Sarfaraz Khan, soaked up the pressure and then put it back on England with a classy, confident partnership of 97 from 21.4 overs. It was exemplary cricket from a frighteningly good team.
84th over: India 376-3 (Padikkal 44, Sarfaraz Khan 56) Anderson continues to hunt his 700th wicket, an achievement that is almost beyond comprehension. Sarfaraz gets two bonus runs when a futile direct hit, I think from Bairstow, ricochets past the man backing up. That’s tea.
83rd over: India 373-3 (Padikkal 44, Sarfaraz Khan 53) A fairly harmless over from Bashir. England started the afternoon session well but India have restored ordure in the second hour: 12 overs, 58 runs, no wickets.
As Nick Knight says on commentary, Sarfaraz’s innings has not just been about the exhilarating strokeplay. He did his due diligence at the start, especially against Mark Wood. He just looks a fantastic player, with lightning-fast hands, feet and brain.
The next 18 months – Australia away, England away – will tell us where he stands on the TendulKambli scale, assuming he can get into the team. I hope it’s a long way to the left because watching him is a joyous experience.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
