Musings

The first test between India and England has been won by England against all odds after conceding first innings lead of 190. Ollie Pope played the innings of his life, aided by two dropped catches. India was faced with a daunting target of 231 on a turning track. It was a bit of a shock for them because the script had been re-written. England had turned the tables on them. India lost first two wickets of Jaiswal and Gill to poor batting. Rohit played well for his 39 but was undone by some clever bowling by the debutant left arm spinner Hartley. India never counter attacked the English spinners and never seemed to be playing with a plan. K L Rahul looked good till he got out to Root. The runout of Jadeja by Ben Stokes was simply brilliant. The lower order of Ashwin and Bharat and the tailenders fought gallantly to reach 200 but in the end India fell short by 28 runs. It is a co-incidence that Australia lost to West Indies in Brisbane Test in much the same way by just 8 runs with debutan...

After a long time, a five tests series will begin tomorrow. It is between India and England. Due to white ball cricket and considerations of commerce, test cricket has been dwindling over the last few years. Fewer and fewer tests are being played. Nobody seems to be interested in it including the players. However, for the connoisseur of the game, nothing can match the thrill and class of test cricket. It is an equal battle between the bat and the ball. The real class and talent of a player is revealed in test cricket. The loss of Virat Kohli for the first two test matches is a setback for India. Lot will depend upon the skipper Rohit Sharma. Shubhman has been somewhat inconsistent of late. Yashasvi and Shreyas are quite inexperienced. But K L Rahul will be a key player. India has a good attack though, with Bhumra and Siraj at the top, and the spin of Ashwin and Jadeja. It promises to be a good contest. Ravindra Shenolikar