NO ZIP. NO BUZZ. NO CHANCE
Flat display from very first ball leaves Cook’s men staring at defeat
The stage was set and the rallying call had been provided by Alastair Cook who spoke to his team and backroom staff in a huddle on the outfield before play. Then Chris Woakes delivered a gentle leg- stump half-volley with the very first ball and saw Ravichandran Ashwin guide it effortlessly through mid-wicket for four.
The worst possible tone had been set and the third day of this third Test swung inexorably towards India and horribly away from an england side who had started it with genuine hopes of forcing their put out of his misery by Ashwin. There was no buzz about england. No zip. They were just flat when the Test and surely even the series was on the line and they simply had to make sure India did not get a significant lead when faced with the prospect of batting last.
Perhaps the ridiculous schedule that sees them in their fifth of seven Sub-continental Tests in little more than two months is catching up with them because england looked weary and mentally shot. None more so than Cook.
The england captain seemed happy to go on the defensive when faced with the Indian tail but his conservative instincts played into the hands of a side whose home record has taken them to the top of the world rankings.
It may have been a spectacularly poor score of 283 in the first innings after winning the toss that had put england into trouble in the first place, but they had dragged themselves out of it when they reduced India to 156 for five.
Yet by the time Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Yadav, such an important addition to the India side since the first Test, were finished, India had made the sort of first-innings score england should have and had a lead of 134.
even then there should have been no reason why england could not bat to at least a draw on a pitch that has defied all expectations. We have reached the end of day three and it is still perfectly decent for batting.
But where england struggled to gain swing or spin, suddenly there seemed demons in the surface. India’s spin trio looked far more dangerous than england’s, even with Adil Rashid blossoming into a Test-class leg-spinner.
Rashid had ended up with four wickets, with the exemplary Stokes pipping him to a fifth as India were eventually dismissed for 417, their last four wickets more than doubling the score after the supposedly decisive dismissal of Kohli.
Yet there was far too little support for the pair among england’s attack, with the decision to play three spinners backfiring as Gareth Batty toiled and an under-used Moeen Ali kicked his heels.
By the end Cook appeared to be giving overs to Batty that Moeen could easily have bowled simply to justify the Surrey man’s inclusion over an extra seamer or batsman. Batty has surely come to the end of his unlikely renaissance as a Test bowler unless he somehow bowls england to victory here tomorrow. For now thatth t can beb putt i in theth ‘highly unlikely’ category because, going into the fourth day, it was not even certain england were going to gain a big enough lead to give him the chance to bowl.
What to make of Cook’s struggles against spin? It is out of character but here he was, groping against turn and somehow surviving two reviews before he missed a straight one from Ashwin.
Cook had also dropped another slip catch to reprieve Umesh Yadav and the best thing he can do now is race to Dubai at the end of this game to see his family, including his new-bornb daughter,d ht in i th the b breakk before the fourth Test. The absence of haseeb hameed had forced a damaging rejig to the england order and Moeen Ali, finally batting in his county position of three, was out horribly before Jonny Bairstow and Stokes fell before the close.
It left england down and almost out. They are effectively five down with hameed surely nursing a series-ending broken finger — why else would england be so secretive about his injury? — and only Joe Root holding it together. The first four-day finish in this series is nigh.
To rub salt into their wounds thereth was theth sighti ht off K Kohli,hli nott exactly the most popular figure in the england camp, lording it over Stokes with more jubilantly unedifying behaviour after he was given lbw on review just before the close to leave england 78 for four and still 56 behind.
The superstar of Indian cricket is surely about to have the last laugh by leading his side to a 2-0 lead with two matches to play and england about to go the same way as everyone else who has played here in the last four years.