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India v England, 4th Test Day Two: Five Things We Learned

Cricket - India v England - Fourth Test cricket match - Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India - 9/12/16. India's Cheteshwar Pujara plays a shot. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui (REUTERS)

England reach 400 but India fightback to finish 146-1 at stumps on day two. Here’s what we learned from Mumbai…

MAN OF THE DAY – JOS BUTTLER (76)

Those who have been championing Buttler for a place in England’s line-up can stand a little taller today. But that’s not to say those uneasy about the move were proved wrong beyond doubt. England’s most dynamic modern batsman looked anything but when he was fumbling around on the evening of day one, playing the turning ball with all the finesse of a drunk stumbling through a garden full of rakes. One thing both sides agree on, though, is that, once set, his input can be game-changing. His sixth Test fifty has put the tourists in a comfortable position. Once he took on the role of senior partner upon Ben Stokes’ dismissal, he reverse swept, used his feet to manufacture more hittable lengths and even boshed Ravichandran Ashwin out of the ground. Without wishing to be the one at the party on Friday night who starts talking about work on Monday, we know Buttler is capable of this kind of late flourish. His defensive work, particularly early on, wasn’t convincing and that, ultimately, is where the reservations stem from and why they will remain. Without a doubt, though, this was his finest Test innings to date.

ASHWIN’S ANALYTICS

A 23rd Test five-wicket haul – his six for 112 saw giving him 241 in 43 Tests, with one innings still to go. No one has more after as many and only three other bowlers have five or more six-wicket hauls in a calendar year. The numbers go some way to showcasing the genius of the man but it’s the man himself who fills in the rest. The phrase “student of the game” used to be reserved for Daniel Vettori, or any other cricketer in glasses, but Ashwin’s diligence to his craft borders on PhD territory. Away from the nets, he reads and watches footage incessantly, formulating plans along the way. And even in a series in which India and their spinners have been well on top, he still looks to develop. Having enjoyed limited success against Joe Root, Ashwin hit the tapes once more. He watched how South African off spinner – a modest turner of the ball – got the better of Root by preying on the right-hander’s check-drive to mid off to get him caught at slip in the second innings of the fourth Test at Centurion. So, with Root steady on 21, Ashwin exposed the same flaw, drawing him forward into a drive to a ball that pitched a touch shorter and did not turn as expected. It was the wicket that Ashwin said gave him the most satisfaction and is one that underlines why he looks set to become India’s greatest spinner.

VIJAY’S RETURN

Since starting the series with a century, Murali Vijay’s scores have been on the slide: 31, 20, 3, 12 and, finally, a duck. He was even given both barrels by Nasser Hussain, during his analysis on Sky in the previous Test. While championing the work of England’s seamers getting the better of Vijay, Hussain wondered whether the opener might be done for the series. Not so. Aided by a home deck that had the quicks operating on a straighter line and in shorter bursts, he was able to spend most of his time scoring off the spinners (53 of his 70 unbeaten runs came against them). As well as he has played for his 15th Test fifty, England will no doubt look to bombard him with pace to build pressure tomorrow morning.

EXTRA EXTRA!

An extra spinner, an extra batsman – Alastair Cook went for an extra seamer. In the end, it only seemed to provide him with an extra headache. On the face of it, the need for six options and four seamers seems more for his peace of mind. Instead, it seemed to leave him a tad lost. As good a bowler as Jake Ball is, it was odd that he bowled ahead of Ben Stokes, who is coming off the back of a five-wicket haul. Of the 52 overs, 21 were bowled by seamers – a workload that could surely have been shared between Stokes, Chris Woakes, James Anderson. To call it wildly and prematurely, England have misread this pitch, or else they would have gone for the left-arm spinning allround option of Liam Dawson instead of Ball (who to his credit pitched in with a valuable 31). An important caveat for Cook is how disappointing Adil Rashid and – to a lesser extent – Moeen Ali were. Just as Cook was learning to trust them both, they put in the sort of performance that may have set them back in the England captain’s mind.

WHAT NEXT

Straight second-innings shootout, by the looks of things. The manner in which Ali span one through KL Rahul’s defence should have been the starter pistol for an onslaught. Instead, Vijay and Pujara put on the game’s first century partnership and set a decent platform for first innings parity. As we saw in the first Test and second Test, India’s middle order can fall in a cluster. However, this pitch is not offering the pace and carry of Rajkot or Vizag. Rashid and Ali need to recollect themselves tonight and dig deeper for more control and incision tomorrow.