India v England, 5th Test Day Three: Five Things We Learned

India take the spoils of a long, drawn-out day three, as England look to home. Here’s what we learned from Chennai…

MAN OF THE DAY – KL Rahul (199)

India fans haven’t quite accepted KL Rahul, yet another precocious talent on the country’s batting conveyor belt, as a Test-worthy player. He is a bit flash: the sort of player whom through the IPL, can be construed as being all about “his brand”. That can jar with the purists. But aside from the haircut and the bling, his Test numbers have also been used to do him down. occasions. In 19 Test innings, KL Rahul has been dismissed for less than 25 in 11 of them. However, whenever he has gone past 50, he has made it to three figures. He did so again today for a fourth time, before marching to a second score in excess of 150. With a huge, monstrous straight six off Moeen Ali, he set a new record for the highest score by an Indian opener against England at Chennai. The pitch was flat, the bowling unspectacular, but this high-class innings could get KL Rahul on a more consistent path. That is when he gets over the trauma of becoming the ninth Test batsman to get out for 199. Still, not bad for a bloke who opened the batting, thus spending 259 overs in the field since the start of day one!

KOHLI IS HUMAN

You might want to sit down before you hear this – Virat Kohli didn’t score a hundred. In fact, for the first time this series, he was dismissed for less than 40. Finally, a plan worked. Stuart Broad hammered away on a driveable length outside off stump, with two fielders staggered at short cover, a mid on and a cover-point. After leaving and hitting the ball straight into the wall concocted on the off side, Kohli stepped across to hit the ball straighter. But then, in chasing a wider delivery, drove straight into the midriff of Keaton Jennings on the drive. Credit to Cook and Broad for the former’s plan and the latter’s execution. Kohli’s series average PLUMMETS to 109. If only they’d “worked him out” a few weeks ago…

THIRD THINGS FIRST

Yet again, Alastair Cook looked to his third spinner ahead of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, as Liam Dawson was used to kick things off after the breaks. Up until Moeen Ali caught up with him in the last half-an-hour of play, Dawson had the most overs under his belt. While he bowled with good control and, occasionally, got the ball to bite out of the area in front right-hander’s off stump, it seemed a club cricket move: “Oh, he’s come here for a game, I might as well make it worth his match fees.” The same happened with Zafar Ansari in Bangladesh and with Jake Ball in the previous Test, leaving Chris Woakes, England’s best bowler of the year, twiddling his thumbs.

AN END OF SERIES DAY

Remember the last day of school – come in your own clothes, bring a toy, leave at 2pm? Somehow, those days felt the longest: eyes fixated on the clock for the entirety of that long last hour. That’s what felt like in the final session, as the day ambled to his conclusion and Rahul and Karun Nair tired-out an already weary England. Jonny Bairstow spent most of the day fielding throws on the bounce, which either clanged into his pads or took bits of his fingers off. Alastair Cook dropped a catch at first slip when Nair was on 34. Even Rahul got lured into the lethargy, hitting a terrible ball from Rashid straight to Jos Buttler at point when a double hundred was a sensible push away. It seems everyone, even India’s high-scoring batsmen, just want to go home.

WHAT NEXT

If you’ve got money on the draw, take the next two days off. If you’re playing, bring a book. That being said, this could be one of those old-fashioned Indian decks that springs into life on day four, usually, causing an English collapse. That, though, may be wishful thinking. While India’s spinners have turned the ball more than England’s, it’s worth noting that they only took five wickets between them for 344 runs. Then again, it would rather aptly sum up the tour if England managed to fashion defeat from the jaws of a draw.