Indian team enters final of the World Test Championship with back-to-back series wins over Australia and England. - Onkar Karandikar

 

India Vs England, 4th Test Match, Day 3:

Finally Indian cricket team has entered into the Final of World Test Championship!! Well done!! 

They have been magnificent throughout. Despite the changes in calculation rules mid-way through the WTC, they have still managed to reach the final with series wins over Australia and England

Final frontier is facing NZ at Lord's. India have only lost one series in WTC and that was against NZ, so they'll have chance to set that record straight too.

Of course qualifying for WTC was important, but these two coming-from-behind series wins- one in Australia and now in India haven themselves been extraordinary. 

Today, once again it was the duo of #Ashwin and #Axar who finished the job with 5-wicket hauls each. India's close-in fielders have been brilliant too. As far as slip-catching is concerned, Ajinkya as has been magnificent. Overall Indians have been good in the field in last 3 games. 

In the first session #Sundar and #Axar put on brilliant partnership and made sure that India got lead of more than 150, sadly both missed out on milestones. 

#WashingtonSundar really deserved the hundred!! 💔 He was left stranded on 96* as he ran out of partners from other end.  Absolutely brilliant knock nonetheless. Well played Sir! Earlier in this series also he had remained not out on 85. Today, #AxarPatel was playing well and accompanying Sundar, but he unfortunately got run out and then it was just a matter of time before Ishant and Siraj got out easily.Axar himself missed out on well deserved fifty. #BenStokes kept it simple, he bowled full and straight; and finished the job.

Yesterday, when India were in deep trouble and under pressure, #Pant and #Sundar played the situation perfectly, pulled India out of trouble and later attacked tired English bowlers. 

This has been a wonderful series for many reasons. Certainly Rishabh Pant's batting and wicket-keeping on these tracks have been simply brilliant. #Rohit made some really important runs including that 161 in Chennai. Of course Ashwin was brilliant throughout with ball as he ended up with 32 wickets in series and with bat as he got hundred in Chennai. Axar had amazing debut series with 27 wickets in 3 games. Sundar has proved himself invaluable with his batting and showed he can bowl well too whenever called upon. 

Form of three senior players #Kohli, #Rahane and #Pujara certainly is a big worry for India. They did play some good innings here and there, but by their standards, this has been a bad series. Of course this is not the time to talk about it. This is the time to enjoy the series win. Despite not being in good form himself, Kohli as captain in last three tests has been really good and Rahane captained brilliantly in Virat's absence in Australia too. Of course Pujara was fantastic in Australia and one bad series doesn't make you a bad player, but these home conditions are his bread and butter, so I kind of expected loads of runs from Pujara especially. 

England certainly made selection blunder in this game by picking only 3 proper bowlers in such testing conditions and even among those 3, Dom Bess is not that experiencd and bit under-confident at the moment. It was always going to backfire despite Ben Stokes bowling his heart out. One extra fast bowler and things could have ended differently. Also on this wicket, there was no vicious turn or extra help for spinners, so no excuses. Of course English team themselves and captain #Root himself never complained too much, it was the loud noise from outsiders only. 

- Onkar Karandikar 

The ultra-defensive approach from England backfiring in the 4th test match! - Onkar Karandikar

Day 1, 4th Test match between India and England: 

Ultra-defensive approach from #England here.

They have picked 8 batsmen and 3 bowlers. Yes Stokes and Root can bowl, but this can backfire. 

Now, look at the first wicket #AxarPatel got today, there was nothing wrong with pitch, ball didn't even turn, it's all in the mind of the batsman #DomSibley who just stood there doing nothing and got bowled inside-edge to a straight ball. After that, #Crawley threw wicket away by trying to go over the top before getting set. If this is how they are going to bat, then Axar will get them out even on glass or cement.

Some former English players have been unfairly critical of the wickets. Especially their former captain #MichaelVaughan really needs to stop this nonsense, he is just looking for attention and embarrassing himself. 

You can't blame the wicket all the time. Technique and temperament of the batsmen are needed to be questioned. 

#Sundar and #Siraj got prized wickets of #BenStokes and #JoeRoot respectively. 

#Ashwin and #Axar bowled the rest of the side out without breaking much sweat and restricted England to only 205 on Day 1.

Day 2, 4th Test match between India and England: 

Once again #RishabhPant and #WashingtonSundar came in when India were in deep trouble and they have bailed us out. 

Unbelievable hundred by Rishabh Pant and equally well supported by Sundar from other end who himself has gone past 50. That reverse sweep boundary over slip cordon hit by Rishabh Pant off #Anderson was unbelievable, the second new ball had just been taken 2 overs ago and he was facing swing king Jimmy Anderson. Once the new ball was taken, Pant hit two fours in Anderson's first over and Sundar hit two boundaries in Stokes's over. So the onslaught had started before Pant played that shot, still to play that shot while on 89 is just incredible, audacity and talent of different level.

As I predicted before -England going in with only 3 bowlers might backfire and it has backfired despite #BenStokes bowling his heart out and getting wickets of #RohitSharma and #ViratKohli, because in these hot conditions you always need an extra bowler and they went with one bowler short, also their two main spinners #Leach and #Bess haven't been effective enough and haven't bowled enough, so that put more pressure on Anderson, Stokes and #Root who employed himself as fifth bowler. Ben Stokes is tired beyond limit and yet he is asked to bowl again and again, this is only helping Indians as they are milking runs off him. 

Pant and Sundar wore bowlers down with patient approach early on and then attacked to take India's lead to 50+ now. Incredible temperament from both young players. Sundar also got the wicket of Stokes yesterday with beautifully bowled arm ball. So great all round contribution from him in his short career so far. 

Hope #AxarParel will provide something with bat today and take India's lead close to 100. 

Now India is in driver's seat to win this game. India's bowlers will be fresh tomorrow to attack English Batsmen in third innings and it's not going to be easy at all for the English team.

- Onkar Karandikar 

India bounce back with massive win in 2nd test match at Chennai!

Big test match win for Indian Cricket Team!

Of course the series and chances of getting into World Test Championship final are still hanging in balance. So, the job is not yet done, but incredible performance from India to bounce back after  to England defeat in first test.

Rohit Sharma gave India the head start with high-class and big hundred on first day. He played a Sehwag-like knock on difficult turning track. Rohit is kind of an impact player, the longer he stays at the crease the more damage is done to the opposition, because he played with intent and wasn't afraid to play shots. He  scored very quickly; he brought out sweep shot and put English bowlers under pressure. 

Rohit was well supported by Ajinkya Rahane after India lost Pujara and Kohli quickly. Moeen Ali clean bowled Kohli for 0 with an absolute beauty. It was a dream delivery for an off-spinner. Once again Ajinkya Rahane showed how crucial he is for this Indian team, he came in when India had lost two quick wickets and he just calmed things down. He rotated strike well with Rohit and also played some crisp shots. Partnership between Rohit and Rahane was crucial in first innings as it put India in comfortable position on day one itself. Rishabh Pant also scored crucial fifty to take India over 300 while wickets were crumbling at other end. 

Indian bowling attack bowled England out cheaply in first innings with Ravichandran Ashwin leading with 5-wicket haul as he so often does. Debutant Axar Patel bowled really well too.

In second innings India batted a bit longer than expected and needed, but there was lot of time left in game, so nothing wrong with that. It was not just about setting the big target for England, but also about keeping England players on the field for long time and wearing them down mentally and physically.

While India's second innings was crumbling captain Virat Kohli gave a master class of how to play on turning track and later was joined by Ashwin who went on to score a brilliant hundred at his home ground.  Partnership between Kohli and Ashwin was crucial in second innings as it clearly took game away from England.

Great all round performance from Ashwin (8 wickets and 100) and is now close to milestone of 400 test wickets. Only Sir Ian Botham has achieved this feat of taking five wicket haul and scoring hundred in same test more times than Ashwin. 

Sometimes we don't recognize what is in front of our eyes and don't give enough credit to it. Ravichandran Ashwin is an absolute legend in modern-day test cricket and one of my all-time favourite cricketers. 

He is intelligent, he has mastered his craft and more than anything else, he has big heart. Just a little bit of help from the wicket and he can run through the line-ups. Even on flat wicket in previous test, he bowled more than 70 overs and took 9 wickets, that shows his stamina and patience. More often than not, he takes the wickets of best or impactful batsmen in opposition team. He is currently on 394 wickets in 76 test matches and closing in fastly towards that elite 400 test wickets milestone. Along with his bowling master class, Ashwin also scored a hundred on very difficult wicket. The important thing is he has solid technique so he can defend and grind it out if needed like we saw in Australia and can also play shots and score quickly like we saw in this game against England. Hope he plays many more games, takes many more wickets and scores many more runs for India. 

In second inning Axar took 5 wickets and justified his selection and was well supported by Ashwin and Kuldeep who was under-bowled a bit, but that can happen to a third spinner when other two are already doing so well. I am happy for Kuldeep that he eventually got two wickets. Axar bowled well with great control and created chances regularly. Towards the end he was hit for 3 sixes by Moeen, but by that time game was already over. 

Most important thing was- Indians were brilliant in the field, except for one catch dropped by Siraj in the end, they held on to almost everything.
Rishabh Pant kept wickets really well and has certainly improved his glove work. He took two brilliant catches while keeping for fast bowlers and then contributed with two stumpings while keeping for spinners. Also throughout the game he was really comfortable and in control while keeping except for one sharp edge from Burn's bat, that he did put down off Ashwin's bowling. It is great to see that he is performing well with both bat and gloves. That's what happens when players are backed by captain and team management. 

England's wicket keeper Ben Foakes also gave a wicket keeping master class; he was brilliant with his technique, almost let nothing past him.

Of course this wicket was friendly for spinners, but it is expected in India, no one says anything when they make seam and swing friendly grass-wickets in England.There was a lot of talk from former English captain Michael Vaughan about how this wicket was really terrible and unplayable, but Rohit, Ajinkya and Pant in first innings and Kohli-Ashwin in second innings showed that it's not unplayable, if you apply yourself, give respect to bowlers early on and later start playing shots, you can score runs. Hope this wicket will not be judged as a bad one, because India being the host team might lose test championship points because of it.

There has been a lot of controversy with umpire's call rule when it comes to impact in DRS's LBW decisions, hope ICC does something about it, because it has been really frustrating for both batting and bowling sides on multiple occasions. Once decision is referred to third umpire, on field umpire's call should not be considered or they should figure out a way to balance it. Because it is okay to use technology, but common sense should prevail in some situations, like in Joe Root's case yesterday when you could clearly see that he was trapped in front and was plumb LBW.

Overall massive win for India and an important win from world test championship perspective. If they lost this test, it was over. Now they sit at the second place. Still can't afford to lose remaining games or even draws.

Let's hope Indian team wins remaining two games and gets into World test championship final comfortably, because they really deserve it, they had been leading the table since the start and they won away series in Australia and West Indies, also they have played so many games and have won lots of games. If Australia hadn't cancelled their South Africa tour, New Zealand wouldn't have automatically qualified for final, not that they don't deserve to be in final.

- Onkar Karandikar