India vs England Fourth Test Day 2 Oval Match Report 2021

Ollie Pope and all rounder Chris Woakes scored respective half centuries as England fought their way back into the contest by taking a slender lead of 99 at the end of Day 2 of the fourth test at Oval on Friday. Continue reading “India vs England Fourth Test Day 2 Oval Match Report 2021”

India vs England Fourth Test Day 1 Oval Match Report 2021

Pace bowler Shardul Thakur scored a quickfire half century to keep India in hunt at the end of Day 1 of the fourth test at Oval on Thursday.

England made couple of changes in the playing XI with Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes coming in for Jos Buttler and Sam Curran, while India on the other hand included Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav for Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma.

India Playing XI vs England at Oval 2021 (1)

England Playing XI vs India at Oval 2021 (1) Continue reading “India vs England Fourth Test Day 1 Oval Match Report 2021”

Talking Points & Analysis- India vs England 3rd Test 2021 Headingley

After the euphoria of a fine victory at Lord’s, India were brought down to earth at Headingley as England won by an innings to level the series. Here are our talking points from the clash.

India’s batting fragility exposed: The signs of a fragile batting lineup were always there earlier in the series, but were masked by the tail being able to wag at both Trent Bridge and Lord’s. Bumrah and Shami added 41 between them in Nottingham and were involved in that famous partnership at Lord’s on the final day. However their past batting averages suggested the two innings were an anomaly, rather than the norm, and they failed in Leeds.

India’s pace quartet are fine bowlers, but their places are unfortunately under threat because their batsmen aren’t consistent enough, and batting depth is a must for any world class team.

This could probably necessitate the return of Shardul Thakur and/or Ravi Ashwin, but there’s a lot of pondering that Kohli has to do to get the balance of his side right.

One of the reasons for India’s success in Australia was their batting depth- both Thakur and Washington Sundar played key roles with the bat, as did Rishabh Pant. Continue reading “Talking Points & Analysis- India vs England 3rd Test 2021 Headingley”