England vs India 3rd Test: 27-31 July 2014 played at The Ageas Bowl, Sothampton

The teams may have us let down but the series is certainly living up to its hype. It's good that it's a 5 Tests series, rather than the usual 2-3 Tests series we have. 5 Tests are definitely enough to test the teams. While England looked to be all over the place after the Lord's Test, they have come out good in this one and have proved that they really are a good team in Tests. I would not say I was wrong in criticizing them. They were certainly worthy of all the criticism bestowed upon them by everybody. And sometimes, it's exactly what's needed. England must have realised that they need to get their act together and experienced batters like Cook and Bell need to take responsibility rather than depending on newbies and all-rounders for runs.

Cook and Bell responded well to the call. Cook, with a 95 in the 1st innings and 70* in the 2nd. And Bell with 167 in the 1st. England, after having declared at 569/7 and getting India all out for 330, leading by 239 runs, choose not to enforce a follow-on, presumably to give their fast bowlers some rest. In the 2nd innings, after Robson was caught out on 13, Ballance, Bell and Joe Root, all batted with a strike rate better than Cook, as England needed to score some quick runs to set up a total India could not achieve and also to have enough time to get India all out again. While Cook was holding one end nicely, other batsmen did their job well, particularly Joe Root, scoring 56 runs in 41 deliveries.

People are coming up with all sorts of reasons, but in my opinion, Cook's runs are what have changed the course of the series. The captain is more important than many might believe. It's the captain which leads the team and thus, the captain's intent, hunger for victory and form matters a lot. In the same way, I feel India's loss has a lot to do with their captain, MS Dhoni who looks like he might as well be an engineer in a software firm. That is how Dhoni looks to me - old and uninterested.

It should not come as a surprise that India lost. England were very disappointing at Lord's and as soon as they notched up their game, India lost theirs completely. India looked quite dispirited post their victory in the 2nd Test, like it hardly mattered that they won and I suppose that's the reason. If it hardly matters whether you win or lose, why would you put in so much effort as to defeat a team playing well? I do not know what the reason behind this is, but clearly their captain does not look passionate anymore and possibly it's because he has played too much cricket for his like. Or that his interest lies more in the IPL and he has lost interest in playing for India or at least Test cricket.

That will be all for now, dear friends. Tune in to catch the 4th Test match between England and India live from Old Trafford, Manchester, James Anderson's home ground on August 7 at 10 am GMT (15:30 if you are in India). I'd also like to mention that Jimmy celebrated his birthday by taking 5 wickets on July 31 and he has been found not to be guilty in the hearing held on August 1 so he will be playing in the remaining two Tests unless England decides to rest him for the 5th. They may not need to, as England won't be playing a Test match post this until next summer, that is May 21.

England made everyone happy today. They made Indian team and fans happy by preferring to lose, the Test squad by sending them home, the youngsters by giving them a chance. I doubt if anyone watching the match ever felt England would win or even try to win. This isn't anything new. I remember the one-day series during Sri Lanka tour of England 2006, in which England lost gladly. They simply don't care about winning sometimes. Tests have always been the pinnacle. The series which was just concluded was said to be right up there with the Ashes by England captain Alastair Cook, but I doubt if that would be said when England wins the one-day World Cup.

Am I against them on this? Well, not really. I'm myself a fan of Tests and got annoyed by the Twenty20 today. I didn't like that a Twenty20 was held 2 days after the final Test in a 4 Test series. It takes time to get out of the Test mode. The England players didn't really have to switch their mindset though. The only player who played both the Tests and the Twenty20 is Tim Bresnan. Steven Finn and Stuart Broad are still recovering from injuries and the rest and rested. Even Andy Flower is rested. I'm not against their rotation policy but the war between BCCI and the ECB is doing cricket much damage.

The ECB clearly prefers Tests and the BCCI prefers Twenty20s. Where does this leave one-day though? ICC needs to intervene and try to reduce the number of meaningless matches.

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I'm personally with Tests. India focuses far less on Tests than England. One or two years ago, India were playing much were Tests than other teams and the comments from players, both current and former forced the BCCI to increase them. The great players that India speaks of, they aren't going to have more of them. You don't hear of great players smashing boundaries, you hear of great players who bat all day. Even their captain, M S Dhoni captains in Tests just like he does in the shorter formats. He gave all-rounders a chance in Tests, the result of which we have all seen. Tests are a game of pure batsmen and bowlers rather than handy bowlers and batsmen.

Let me talk a little about today's clash before I go. Eoin Morgan looked like a better captain than Stuart Broad. Debutant Meaker was impressive. I don't want to see Dernbach ever playing again for England. Dernbach's behaviour is as disgraceful as his bowling.

India have made a joke of themselves by losing the 'revenge' Test series by 2-1 and celebrating a Twenty20 win against England 2nd XI wildly. For more mockery, tune in on 22 December, Saturday at 19:00 local (13:30 GMT).

Guest Post

India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni has heaped praise on Monty Panesar after the spinner delivered a match winning performance to help England level the series at 1-1. The 30-year-old took eleven wickets in the game as he ripped through the Indian batting line-up in both innings to hand England a convincing win in Mumbai.

The ten wicket victory marks a remarkable turnaround for an England side that were outclassed in last week’s first test in Ahmedabad, where the hosts cruised to a nine wicket triumph. The post-match dissection led to many pundits calling for an extra spinner to be introduced to the side for the clash in Mumbai, and Panesar answered those calls in spectacular fashion after delivering an accomplished display.

Dhoni had expected England to turn to Panesar to help out Graeme Swann on India’s notoriously big spinning wickets prior to the game and he admitted that he was more than impressed with the Sussex man’s contribution: "None of the other bowlers troubled the batsmen in the way that Monty did. All the other bowlers got turn and bounce, but the pace Monty was bowling at made it so much more difficult. I wish we could have bowled fuller ourselves because Pietersen and Cook played really well off the back foot" he said.

With the series delicately poised, attention will now turn towards the third test in Calcutta next week where England will probably once again look to their two front line spinners to make dents in India’s batting line-up. Graeme Swann also had a fantastic game in Mumbai, bagging eight wickets overall, but Alastair Cook will be hoping for more from his pace-men who have yet to really find their feet in this tour. James Anderson and Stuart Broad only managed to claim one Indian dismissal between them in the second test, and with Steven Finn approaching fitness, the selectors could be faced with some difficult decisions ahead of the Calcutta showdown. Perhaps they will relax with a Fruit Machine or two and ponder their decision. Ian Botham is one of many backing Finn’s selection should be he available.

India tour of England
The much awaited encounter between England and India has brought excitement but so far, the two Tests haven't been hard fought. England couldn't have asked for a better showdown. The clash between these two teams was exaggerated because this will decide whether India will stay on top of ICC Test rankings or if England will overtake them. But, what we have seen at Lord's and Trent Bridge so far has been far from an epic battle of best teams.

India's casual attitude
At Lord's, while England declared in both of their innings (474/8 and 269/6), India were bundled out for 286 in the 1st innings and 261 in the 2nd innings. India have failed to reach 300 in these two Tests. But you don't even need figures to tell you. India's body language has been as if they are thinking, "We just had to come here because we had to. Let's just survive this and hopefully the one-dayers will be here before we know it. We'll get through this. Hopefully the critical Indian fans will be as laid-back as us. Hopefully they'll enjoy their life for once and let us enjoy ours. Our performance shouldn't be taken too seriously, we don't even know how we are the No.1 side when we don't even want to play Tests, we had to lose this spot anyway"

The centre of attention - Kevin Pietersen
However, England's faults cannot be overlooked. Declaring at 474 as soon as Kevin Pietersen reached 200 was an early declaration. Pietersen was in full flow and England would have benefited from his swashbuckling style of batting. England had to come out and bat again, 474 were certainly not going to be enough at Lord's. The difference between scoring the runs in the 2nd innings and the 1st innings is that as KP was at his best, he would have scored the runs in no time. From a spectator point of view, it's always good to see the man score as he entertains as much as anyone can. But this knock also provided relief and happiness. Although, he made 72 and 85 against Sri Lanka earlier this summer, its the double centuries which make us proud of him and prove that he can bat in any way he wants. Sure he performs every now and then, but it's hard to be satisfied with the success of someone as flamboyant and as talented as him. He has the backing up of Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss thus it was great to prove them right.

Of Cook and Broad
This series has seen a turnaround of form as Alastair Cook, who was unstoppable for 10 months prior to this, has seen a slump in form. And the blonde, Stuart Broad, whose inclusion in the Test side has always been met by my fury and curiosity (I could never understand why he was picked!), has been the star of the series. Quite appropriately, Kevin Pietersen was awarded the Man of the Match at Lord's and Stuart Broad at Trent Bridge.

Another attention getter - England's substitute fielder
Another interesting sight was Scott Elstone, England's substitute. Most teams have a 12th man who is close to being picked but not England. Elstone has only played 9 List A matches and 15 Twenty20s for Nottinghamshire. He is 21, but looks no more than 12. He played a role in England's victory by taking two catches. If you are wondering why I'm talking about him, it's because he got a lot of attention as apart from taking two catches, he also dropped one, Praveen Kumar at 1. Alastair Cook and Matt Prior consoled him, which caught Saurav Ganguly's attention, who is an improving commentator.

The controversy which won Dhoni applause
One thing which cannot be neglected about this Test is Ian Bell's dismissal at Tea on Day 3. He assumed it's Tea before the umpire called so, and started walking off but since ball was still in play, the Indians took the bails off. Eoin Morgan and Ian Bell waited near the boundary rope as the on-field umpire handed the decision to the 3rd umpire. He was declared out. The English were hit by a jolt when all was going well and obviously were not happy. There was a clear air of despair in the England balcony. During tea, Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower went to the Indian dressing room and requested the Indian captain MS Dhoni and coach Fletcher to withdraw their appeal. And their request was not turned out by Dhoni. Having seen the circumstances on TV, I do think what Dhoni did was incredible. But, in my view, Bell should have been given out as it was his fault. After tea, there was a lot of confusion as the commentators and the crowd did not know who took the decision to call Bell back. It could have been the umpires.

There is a lot of time for the 3rd Test, which starts on August 10 so we have time to ponder upon these selections, performances and the controversies. See you later!

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