Cricket

Seems very late in the day to confirm that. I take it they'll just be receiving a video feed from the Indian broadcasters and adding their own commentary/analysis from the studio here in the UK.

Ch4 have bought the rights from Star TV of India and have to use Star's commentary team (basically those from Sky plus a few local commentators). However Ch4 will have UK studio based pundits for added insights.
 
Crawley out possibly means England's massive tail will be huge again, Bairstow who may have come in at three is being rotated and at home in England. Imagine when another of our specialists against spin, Jos Buttler, is rotated after this test how reliant we'll be on Root making a double or even triple century to counter balance that potentially huge tail.

We'll have Burns and the walking wicket opening now. Together with the IPL being a fact of life in the cricketing calendar and the stars having to be released for it, life in the bubble takes its toll over such a ridiculous schedule of 17 tests, (no other nation is even in the same ballpark) so rotation is essential for mental well being. However It does look like they've already sacrificed this series for more winnable ones ahead.
 
Ch4 have bought the rights from Star TV of India and have to use Star's commentary team (basically those from Sky plus a few local commentators). However Ch4 will have UK studio based pundits for added insights.
I'm just relieved Amazon prime didn't go for it as I know the head of their live sports coverage, Alex Green (ex BT), is a big fan of Test cricket, having wiled away many hours watching Lancs at Old Trafford.
 
If Channel 4 don't use Mambo no.5 again as their theme song, then I'm going to be heartbroken

All about the 05 nostalgia and getting into cricket for the first time

They are using the same theme song so that's Mambo again.

Buttler goes back after the first test and Ben Foakes will just weaken the batting even further. His batting has fallen off a cliff domestically and they'll just bring the seamers on to get rid of him, it'll be another tailender swapped for one of our premier batsmen.

Realistically our spinners aren't good enough and I've written this series off before a ball is even bowled. I do think we could still beat them (as usual) in England but have absolutely no chance whatsoever over there. In India you really need a decent spin department and ours is possibly weaker than its been for years, Adil Rashid is easily our most dangerous and he doesn't even play red ball.

Tbh I think it'll be very one sided and predictable - I'm just resigned to heavy losses and won't be making any effort to get up earlier to watch.
 
They are using the same theme song so that's Mambo again.

Buttler goes back after the first test and Ben Foakes will just weaken the batting even further. His batting has fallen off a cliff domestically and they'll just bring the seamers on to get rid of him, it'll be another tailender swapped for one of our premier batsmen.

Realistically our spinners aren't good enough and I've written this series off before a ball is even bowled. I do think we could still beat them (as usual) in England but have absolutely no chance whatsoever over there. In India you really need a decent spin department and ours is possibly weaker than its been for years, Adil Rashid is easily our most dangerous and he doesn't even play red ball.

Tbh I think it'll be very one sided and predictable - I'm just resigned to heavy losses and won't be making any effort to get up earlier to watch.

Reckon 3-1 India.

I fancy England to win a match but not much more. I dont see any team with Stokes going 4 without a win.
 
Crawley out possibly means England's massive tail will be huge again, Bairstow who may have come in at three is being rotated and at home in England. Imagine when another of our specialists against spin, Jos Buttler, is rotated after this test how reliant we'll be on Root making a double or even triple century to counter balance that potentially huge tail.

We'll have Burns and the walking wicket opening now. Together with the IPL being a fact of life in the cricketing calendar and the stars having to be released for it, life in the bubble takes its toll over such a ridiculous schedule of 17 tests, (no other nation is even in the same ballpark) so rotation is essential for mental well being. However It does look like they've already sacrificed this series for more winnable ones ahead.

It's a big loss for Crawley, but I sense it could be the best thing for him and England in the medium term he misses out. He struggled in Sri Lanka and it could quite quickly become a case of "better out of the team" with him and he may not regret missing this. I think I've been quite open about my view on Bairstow, Sibley and Burns. Particularly with the openers, we will need to cut them some slack. Burns is not going to be the answer in these conditions.

It wil be a goodlearnign series for Pope and it's a shame we may not see more Dan Lawrence.

Either way, this will be as hard as it gets for England. I think Bess and Leach are good honest cricketers but are not really match winners. Alli should probably play as a 3rd spin option if fit (for Curran in my view) but again his best days are probably behind him.

It will be a good test, and learning exercise for where England are. They defeated India when they came to England, but it was competitive. That should be the aim for this series, be competitive, play some good cricket, and hopefully learn something about some of the younger players.
 
Depends on the toss for me as far as predictions go. As so often on turning wickets lose the toss and you're up against it, especially England, as they have no real quality spinners to exploit any potential advantage from winning one. India have seamers and spinners and are equipped to win either way.

England have dominated India results wise in home tests - 11 wins to only 2 or 3 losses in their last three tours, but the opposite is the case over there. I think losing most if not all the tests is highly probable especially if Joe keeps up his form with calling the toss. Being competitive and trying hard despite losing, as India did here when losing 4-1 last time, is about the best you can hope for.

I'll go for 4-0
 
Obviously great that Joe won a big toss, gives us a chance of not being absolutely dominated here. With the wicket likely to deteriorate, batting first was always key to being competitive.
 

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