Rob Smyth's Blog, page 196

India v England: Fourth Test notebook

MS Dhoni's six off Graeme Swann was the best boundary of day three, while Jimmy Anderson had the biggest lift-off

SHOT OF THE DAY

There weren't many boundaries to choose from – just 19 fours and one six all day. The best was probably the only maximum, beasted over long-on by MS Dhoni off Graeme Swann.

SHOCK OF THE DAY (1)

Virat Kohli's dismissal at 10.07am GMT was almost a JFK moment. For a long time it seemed Kohli and MS Dhoni would become the first pair to bat all day against England since Mark Taylor and Geoff Marsh for Australia at Trent Bridge in 1989.

SHOCK OF THE DAY (2)

The fourth delivery with the second new ball, from Jimmy Anderson, actually bounced. When it beat MS Dhoni's outside edge Matt Prior took the ball above waist height on one of the few occasions all day.

NOSTALGIAWATCH

The run-rate of 2.27 per over in this match so far is the lowest in a Test involving England since they played Sri Lanka at Galle in 2001 (when they lost by an innings).

MISCHIEF OF THE DAY

David Gower to Mike Atherton: "Do you have any sympathy for a batsman run out for 99 in a Test match, Michael?" Atherton: "It's a terrible thing to happen in a Test match, isn't it David."

ROB SMYTH'S STATWATCH

MS Dhoni was the first Indian to be run out for 99 in a Test … Dhoni and Virat Kohli batted together for 507 balls, the longest fifth-wicket partnership in Tests for any country since Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman batted for 563 balls against Australia at Adelaide in 2003 … Kohli has scored 2,091 runs in international cricket in 2012, more than any other player … Dhoni faced 246 balls, his longest innings in Test cricket … Malcolm Marshall is the only non-Asian fast bowler to take more Test wickets in Asia in a calendar year than Jimmy Anderson, who has 30 in 2012 Marshall took 33 in 1983 … Anderson set a record for the most balls bowled in Tests in a calendar year by an England fast bowler (3,362, surpassing the record of 3,338 set by Ian Botham in 1981.

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Alastair Cook: England's hungry run machine devours Test records

Even Sachin Tendulkar's Test statistics are under threat from England's prolific captain, who has taken India by storm

His name is Alastair Cook and he is an addict. For those connected with England cricket it is the healthiest of addictions, for Cook's only vice is batting. In three Tests in India he has fed the habit for 1,565 minutes, 1,164 balls and 548 runs. Cook's Pataudi Trophy does not have the same ring as Botham's Ashes but if England go on to win this series it will be associated with Cook every bit as much the 1981 victory over Australia was with Sir Ian Botham.

The scale of Cook's batting is unmatched. Since his Test debut on 1 March 2006, he has scored more runs, made more centuries and faced more balls than anybody else. Since the start of the decade he tops all those charts as well. In the 2010s he has faced 7,045 deliveries in Test cricket – over 1,750 more than anyone else and over 3,300 more than any other opener. This is partly because England have played more Tests than anyone else but it also testifies to the attitude Cook learned from his mentor, Graham Gooch. Like another man with the initials GG, Gordon Gekko, Gooch will tell you that greed is good.

Cook has been positively gluttonous this winter. No England captain has had such an influence over a Test series since 1990, when Gooch scored an astonishing 752 runs in three Tests at home to India. The VHS of that series was entitled Gooch's Indian Summer; the DVD of this might be called Cook's Indian Winter. Cook already has the record for Test centuries by an England batsman and it seems inevitable that he will take Gooch's record for the most Test runs for England. Cook has 7,103 and needs a further 1,798 to overtake Gooch; he is well on course to do it before his 30th birthday. He is not just going to beat every major England batting record, he is probably going to increase them by 50%. Even Sachin Tendulkar's records of 51 Test hundreds and 15,643 runs are not safe.

Cook's ascent to the cusp of greatness is somehow both pre-ordained yet a little surprising. He has been marked for the top since scoring a double century against Australia in 2005, when he was 20, yet until this series he was recognised as an extremely good player who had enjoyed one famous purple patch in 2010-11.

At times he can look technically vulnerable, especially when his head falls over to the off side, but he more than compensates for that with an abnormal mental strength. There is a compelling logic to Cook's batting and his temperament allows him to recognise that modest spells are part of the job description for an opener, especially an England opener.

Few other players could follow scores of 1, 2 and 5 with 294, as Cook did in 2011. Just as his body is famously free of perspiration, so his mind is free of panic and extraneous thoughts. He has the innocent face of a choirboy and looks almost gauche at times, yet when it comes to batting he is as merciless as a mafioso.

If Cook is surely the best opener in the world right now, it is not so easy to judge him in a historical context. All modern batsmen have to put up with the accusation that they never played on uncovered pitches, or against West Indies' four horsemen of the apocalypse, or in the golden age of fast bowling around the world in the 1990s. Yet Cook is so resourceful that he would surely have found a way to score runs in any era. For now he is, depending on your viewpoint, England's best opener since Gooch, Geoff Boycott or perhaps even Sir Len Hutton. His average as an opener (49.80, a fraction down on his career average of 50.02) is England's highest since Dennis Amiss in the 1970s.

Cook already has a career's worth of achievements, yet his best years should be to come. He has improved enormously in the last two years and continues to meticulously add layers to his game, from an improved range of sweeps to elegant lofted drives for six off the spinners.

Gooch, the main reference point for Cook's career, did not peak until his mid-30s, and no Test batsman, not even Tendulkar, has scored so many runs before their 28th birthday.

Many of the great openers were still getting to know their off stump at a similar age. Boycott, Gooch and Hutton had not even scored 2,500 Test runs; Jack Hobbs, England's greatest opener, had not reached 1,000. It is the same around the world: on their 28th birthdays Sunil Gavaskar and Gordon Greenidge had 2,776 and 1,641 Test runs respectively. Matthew Hayden, the most productive opener of the modern era, had scored just 261 runs at an average of 22. Cook has scored 27 times as many runs.

The most important aspect of Cook's future should be how he handles the twin pressures of captaincy and batting. In recent times Michael Vaughan has been the only significant exception to a pattern of England captains starting very strongly with the bat, when they are empowered rather than embattled, before their form fades away.

Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart and Andrew Strauss all had their most productive series leading the side in their first series as captain; Nasser Hussain's average of 62 in his first full series was the best of his tenure. If anyone can buck that trend, it is Cook. Just as legends like Botham wrote their own scripts, so Cook draws his own gradients. For now, they are going in only one direction.

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India v England - as it happened | Rob Smyth

England suffered a slight collapse on the final day but still cruised to a seven-wicket victory over India

Preamble Morning. Wherever you are in the world, whatever time it is, pour yourself a glass of booze. Let's be honest, it's the only way you'll get through however long remains of the day. What England are about to achieve deserves to be toasted with something other than an Evian chaser. Before this winter they had won one Test in India in 27 years; in a couple of hours' time they will have won two more in 17 days.

This series has been a genre-bender worthy of Ben Wheatley. It started as a revenge movie and has morphed into a gruesome horror for India. The focus on their geriatricos, for whom this is the end of the line, has partially obscured a performance from England that would be outrageous on its own terms; when you consider the backstory, the first Test of the series and a generally hideous 2012, it is something VVS. Hic! Cheers!

The first triumphalist email of the morning, from Stephen Cottrell "Can I be the first to mention Danny Morrison?"

Fifteen years on, that still makes not a solitary bit of sense. Adelaide and Abu Dhabi you can kind of understand, even Headingley and Kolkata, but Danny Morrison batting three hours to save a Test? Nah, I'm not having that.

Just the facts, Jack India will resume on 239 for nine, a lead of 32. R Ashwin, who has batted with pride, purpose and considerable class, needs 17 more for his second Test century. Most England fans, never mind the Indian supporters, will surely hope he makes it.

84th over: India 247-9 (trailed by 207 on first innings; Ashwin 91, Ojha 3) Steven Finn starts to Ashwin, who turns down singles off the second and third ball of the day and then times the fifth through the covers for four. That was a beautiful back-foot drive. He moves into the nineties next ball with an excellent pull through midwicket for four more. The good news for England is that Ojha is on strike for the next over.

Here's Adam Webber. "Following yesterday's resolute failure to produce any OBOer who'd had an interesting Friday night, thought I'd let you know that this evening I watched a variety of James Bond scenes in a Camden bar, incorrectly poured a large amount of Moet, danced what I think was some Gangnam style with the first girl I kissed during freshers' week at university some six years ago (and damn me if she didn't look rather good), had someone be sick on me on a night bus near Guardian Towers, and was shouted at by my street's resident 'character' while I fumbled with my front door keys. Thankful now to be in front of the OBO with a cup of tea..."

That certainly counts as an interesting night, and you win extra points for finishing it in septuagenarian style, with a cup of tea and the cricket. Do you have Werther's Original too?

WICKET! India 247 all out (Ojha b Anderson 3) Ojha has gone, bowled by Jimmy Anderson, so poor Ashwin is left stranded in the nineties. It was a strange dismissal: England went up for caught behind on noise, but in fact the ball had skimmed the off bail, which stayed still for a good couple of seconds before doing an Ashley Young. It was not unlike this incident involving Dale Steyn. England were still appealing when they realised the ball was lying on the turf. "That is the original top-of-off-stump," says Nasser Hussain on Sky. That's really sad for R Ashwin, who played a wonderfully accomplished innings of 91 not out and deserved a century as much as any man can ever deserve a century. England need 41 to go 2-1 up in the series.

INNINGS BREAK

WICKET! England 4-1 (Cook st Dhoni b Ashwin 1) Breaking news: Alastair Cook has failed. He decided to be positive, as England were during the short run-chase at Mumbai, and this time it cost him his wicket. He came charging down the track to Ashwin and tried to smear one over midwicket, but he was beaten by some sharp turn and MS Dhoni completed an easy stumping. Cook out!

1st over: England 4-1 (target 41; Compton 3, Trott 0) You spend all that time – literally minutes – researching how often Cook has hit the winning runs in Tests, and then he does that. Ungrateful swine. (Once, since you didn't ask, at Dhaka in 2009-10.)

"What pitch will Dhoni/BCCI want for the next Test?" says John Leavey. "Fast and bouncy? A slow turner? A batter's flatter? Is this a lose-lose situation for them?" I assume they'll want to take their chances on a vile turner. The smartest move might be a low turner. Don't be surprised if Dhoni gets booted before the Test, though.

2nd over: England 4-1 (target 41; Compton 3, Trott 0) A maiden from Ojha to Compton. "Trott and Compton," says Simon Brereton. "37 runs, 377 balls. You must be delighted."

3rd over: England 7-1 (target 41; Compton 3, Trott 3) Trott sweeps Ashwin for two and then one. Thirty-four to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. "Interesting that England did a lot of damage with the seamers, although also worthy of note that Monty's figures are not representative – just like Jimmy's in many another Test," says Scott Dunlop. "Does it even out?" It probably does. (Although I didn't think Monty bowled that well personally.) Anderson has bowled much better than his figures suggest this year.

WICKET! England 7-2 (Trott LBW b Ojha 3) Trott pushes defensively outside the line of an arm ball from Ojha and is plumb LBW. Thank goodness England aren't chasing 60.

4th over: England 7-2 (target 41; Compton 3, Pietersen 0) Pietersen is beaten by some sharp turn and bounce from Ojha. "Still need 34..." says Bumble.

"When you're covering a Test through the night or early morning, do you note a steady change in atmosphere in the kind of emails you receive?" says my colleague James Walsh. "I'm guessing tonight the match''ll be done and dusted before you move from the tipsy should-have-gone-to-bed UK contingent, reeking of kebab and disappointment, to the early hour missives from followers in unusual corners of the globe. Just back from an indie-pop night in Dalston full of Grauniad sub-editors and a lot of drunk men shouting for unlikely Britpop requests, if that helps categorise this message."

I hope you/they played Bluetonic. As for the first question, yep. We get a few jaunty emails around this time and then none, jaunty or otherwise, between around five and seven. That's when introducing your eyeball to the sharp end of a pencil becomes a useful device for staying awake.

WICKET! England 8-3 (Pietersen c Dhoni b Ashwin 0) Sometimes two letters are all you need: ha ha ha. Pietersen has gone for nought, caught behind off Ashwin. It was a nothing shot really, a defensive poke, and Dhoni took a sharp catch up to the stumps.

5th over: England 14-3 (target 41; Compton 3, Bell 6) Adelaide 2006 and Abu Dhabi 2012: the halcyon days of English cricket. If England lose this, Alastair Cook has to go for that shot. End of. England were almost four down then, with Bell chipping a full toss just wide of the diving midwicket.

6th over: England 14-3 (target 41; Compton 3, Bell 6) A maiden from Ojha to Compton. No, England can't lose this, so there's no need to hate yourself and everything your country stands for, at least not today. That's not the say this little spell is without significance. The beauty of a Test series is that you can win some important psychological points, even in the face of inevitable defeat. The partnership between Broad and Swann at Headingley in 2009, for example. And Trinidad 1994, when the ninth-wicket partnership of five between Chris Lewis and Andy Caddick broke the will of the West Indies. Would England have won the next Test in Barbados without it? You be the judge.

7th over: England 14-3 (target 41; Compton 3, Bell 6) Another maiden from Ashwin to Bell. "Out of interest," says Duncan Smith, "what is the lowest run-chase failure??" In terms of target, I think it's the Spofforth game of 1882, when England failed to chase 85. In terms of total for which the team was dismissed, it might be that game in the Caribbean when Zimbabwe were rolled for 63, chasing 99.

8th over: England 18-3 (target 41; Compton 5, Bell 9) Four from the over, a veritable orgy of runs.

9th over: England 29-3 (target 41; Compton 9, Bell 16) Bell waves a full toss from Ashwin down the ground for four and then drives three through extra cover. He's played nicely here. Compton completes an expensive over with a thick edge to to the third-man boundary.

"Maybe it's just my sleep-deprived brain seeing things, but is it just me or does Nick Compton vaguely resemble Jesse Pinkman under his helmet?" says Eleanor Stanley. "Has a cricketer ever addressed an umpire as 'yo bitch' before?" Well, it is the gentleman's game. Yo bitch, how the devil was that?

10th over: England 30-3 (target 41; Compton 9, Bell 17) As Chris Finch once said, nearly done. "Ian Bell, the man for a crisis..." says Andrew Hurley.

11th over: England 35-3 (target 41; Compton 9, Bell 22) This, as Nick Knight says on Sky, has been the 2010-11 Ian Bell. He's played with arrogant authority, and he eases Ashwin through the covers for four more. He has 22 from 25 balls, a nice innings in the context of those early wickets and his recent form.

"It's coming up to 9pm here in Denver Colorado. I'm moving to NYC tomorrow (to be that Englishman in New York), and I really should be packing now then heading to bed soon, but instead I'm following the OBO," says Tobias Peggs. "Luckily, it doesn't look like i'll be distracted for too much longer... In two weeks, I head to Mumbai for the 20-20. I used to live there in 2002, and haven't been back since. So it will be the first time I see my friends there in a decade – and, in the nicest possible way, I hope we give them a walloping on that day as well."

12th over: England 40-3 (Compton 9, Bell 27) Bell skips back in his crease to force Ojha square on the off side for four. One to win.

12.1 overs: England 41-3 (Compton 9, Bell 28). ENGLAND WIN BY SEVEN WICKETS Ian Bell hits the winning run for England. What a victory! Alastair Cook calmly shakes the hands of everyone on the England balcony. There are none of the wild celebrations we saw in Mumbai, yet in many ways this was a much better performanec. In Mumbai they were dependent on four players; here it was a team effort. That said, one man inevitably stands out, and the Barmy Army are straight into a chorus of 'Ali Ali Cook'. His performance has been almost without precedent, quite ridiculous really. England lead 2-1 with one to play, but this series surely won't finish 2-1. We have a dinging hummer (or is it a humming dinger? Cut me some slack, it's 4.30am) to come on a result pitch in Nagpur, starting on Thursday morning. See you then.

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The Joy of Six: Ricky Ponting | Andy Bull and Rob Smyth

From his youthful fighting spirit, to his omnipotence with the bat, via phenomenal pull-shots, catches and displays of humility
• In pictures: the retiring Australia legend's Test highs

1) The early years

One shot, that was all it took. Or so the story goes. Ricky Ponting arrived at the Australian Cricket Academy when he was 16, his local cricket association having stumped up A$1,000 to pay for him to get from Launceston to Adelaide. Rod Marsh was in charge, and by way of a welcome he stuck Ponting in the nets against a 6ft 6in quick called Paul Wilson, a 20-year-old who was trying to talk Marsh into giving him a place at the academy. Wilson's first ball was a bouncer, which Ponting pulled away in front of square. "This bloke," Marsh said, "will play for Australia."

Ponting was a seriously talented teenager. He needed to be, because he had some serious handicaps to overcome, like his taste for up-country mullets and ludicrous beard-and-moustache combinations. He made his first-class debut when he was 17, and scored his first century six games later, making 125 out of a total of 292 against New South Wales. Some bloke called McGrath took five for 79. Back then Ponting was rangy and whippet-thin, a little like one of the greyhounds he loves so much.

The audacity of his strokes off the back foot still take the breath away, his bat moving so quickly that it was a blur till it came to a stop somewhere up behind his head at the end of his follow-through. Ponting made his Test debut for Australia in late in 1995, against Sri Lanka. He almost got out for a golden duck. Muttiah Muralitharan bowled him his very first ball, and Ponting skipped down the pitch and tried to drive, but edged it through the slips and away for four. He ended up making 96, but ended up on the wrong side of a ropey lbw decision.

As polished as his play was, the man himself had a larrikin streak. He lost the rough edges in 1999, when he was banned for three matches after getting into a fight with a bouncer. "I was punched in the face," he said afterwards, his black eye just about concealing his blush, "and that's basically all I can remember from the whole evening." It was only after that when his average began to creep above the low 40s. "I wish Ricky had realised how good he could be earlier in his career," Marsh said, "when he was averaging a mere 40." But then he was a hard taskmaster, Marsh. "I'm disappointed he's only averaging 60 in Test cricket: he's better than that." AB

2) The batsman

"He's given it out! Out! Ricky Ponting is out! It's impossible to know what to say." Mark Nicholas's spine-bothering commentary came in the most extreme circumstances, during the coronary-inducement denouement at Old Trafford in 2005, yet it hinted at a wider point. For much of the 2000s, Ponting's omnipotence was such that his wicket was the major event of a day's play.

When Ponting made 142 against England at Adelaide in 2006 he became the only man in Test history to average more than 60 after 100 or more games. It's testament to his capacity to score huge runs over a prolonged period of time. Even for the great players, purple patches tend to last a series or a season; Ponting could extend them well over a year, such was his remorseless, almost inhuman consistency. When Ponting was at his best, bowlers did not bowl to him in hope, never mind expectation.

Two periods stand out. The first came during 2002 and 2003, when Ponting visibly went from very good to great: he scored 2,567 runs at 82.48 with a murderous fifties-to-hundreds conversion rate of 65%. His form dipped a little when he inherited the Test captaincy from Steve Waugh; then, in the 15 months that England held the Ashes in 2005 and 2006, Ponting played with terrifying purpose as he sought to retrieve what belonged to him and his country.

This time he scored 2007 runs at 83.62, including 10 centuries – six of them in only three Tests. Only one man, Sunil Gavaskar, has ever scored two hundreds in the same Test on three occasions during an entire career. Ponting did it three times in five months. When we consider that, and all his other achievements, it's almost impossible to know what to say. RS

3) The all-rounder

I could sit here straining my brains to try and do justice to Ricky Ponting's fielding. But really, when Richie Benaud reckons that "this is one of the great catches you will see", what more do you need to know?

Ponting has taken more catches than any other player in the history of Test cricket bar Rahul Dravid, and while he's not famous for his fielding in the way that Mark Waugh and Jonty Rhodes were, over the years he has done things that, as Benaud says, are as spectacular as anything the sport has seen. This one, off Graeme Smith, is almost as good, and this one, to remove Jamie How, might even be better. The thing is, Punter could do it in more positions than exist in the Kama Sutra. He could do it at point, he could do it in the deep, he could do it at midwicket and, best of all, he could do it at short leg ("He's done it again," Benaud says. "Would you believe it?").

Then there were the run outs, like these gems to remove Geraint Jones and Marvan Atapattu. Robelinda, the lunatic responsible for most of his YouTube Punter-porn, has even uploaded a compilation that he says includes every run out Ponting ever made in international cricket. It is an hour long. No, really. Ponting's run-out highlights reel is pretty much as long as Aftab Habib's entire Test career.

And he could bowl, too. Filth, mainly, but that only made it all the funnier when it worked. Brian Lara was the pick of the wickets, but he must have enjoyed having Michael Vaughan and Arjuna Ranatunga caught behind too. AB

4) The puller

There has been a tendency to put most of the great modern batsmen in one of two categories: the blessed ones and the cussed ones, those who were born great and those who achieved greatness. It's a bit of an oversimplification, if not without merit. Ricky Ponting was right in the middle of that Venn diagram, both golden boy and grizzled streetfighter. He had the natural talent to play astonishing shots like this but could also will his way to runs, as he did in the 2011 World Cup quarter-final.

That fusion of qualities was reflected in his signature pull and hook strokes. Ponting's instinct and talent were evident in the hand-eye co-ordination, judgment of length, timing and reaction speed. But, in playing the most physically dangerous shot in the coaching manual, he was also asserting his masculinity and strength of will. You and me, pal, let's do this. It was a thrilling and decisive reversal of the normal relationship between the chin musician and his subject. He was the most intimidating puller since Viv Richards. Clear 18 minutes of your lunch hour for this wonderful Robelinda video of Ponting doing what he did best.

Ponting put his own spin – or, rather, his own swivel – on the pull shot with that inimitable, graceful movement into the ball, and the range he had within one basic shot made him like a programmable boundary-pulling machine. You could vary the length of the ball (anywhere from thigh to face height), the part of the boundary he would hit (long leg to midwicket, even mid-on occasionally), the arc of the ball (Ponting could go up and over or spank devastating flat sixes) and the speed of the bowler.

It looked and sounded best at home, the whipcrack off the bat before the ball disappeared into one those huge outfields. Towards the end of his career, as his powers waned, the pull became a bit of weakness. It was the cruellest way of informing Ponting of his own sporting mortality. Yet it will always be the shot that defines him. RS

5) The innings

Ponting gave his Australian team a new motto before the 2003 World Cup. It was, he explained afterwards, "intent and intimidate", which doesn't actually make much sense. But then when you bat like Ponting did, grammar doesn't matter all that much, people soon got his gist.

Sourav Ganguly put Australia in to bat in the 2003 final, a decision Wisden reckons was "born out of fear of Australia's bowlers". As if their batsmen were any less scary. Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist put on 105 from the first 14 overs, which allowed Ponting the luxury of a little time to play himself in.

He took 74 balls to score his first 50 runs, and only hit a single, solitary four in that time. And then, rousing from his slumber in the 39th over, he launched the most extraordinary assault, kick-starting things by striding down the wicket and launching a six over midwicket off Harbhajan Singh.

Ponting made 90 off the next 47 balls, a streak that included eight sixes, all through the leg-side, and took 10 runs off the last two balls of the innings. "It was," reckoned Greg Chappell, "the most compelling, destructive cricket performance I have ever seen."

Australia finished with 359. India were bowled out for 234. As much as Ponting's credentials as a Test captain were called into question as his career wore on, he led the single most successful ODI team in history. Under him, Australia won 26 World Cup matches in a row, winning every game they played in both 2003 and 2007. AB

6) The human being

He smiled. Ricky Ponting had just become the first Australian captain to lose an Ashes series since 1986-87 and, when Mike Atherton interviewed him on the podium at The Oval, his weary face broke into an amiable, boyish half-smile. Ponting had become a pantomime villain (cliché bingo, but it's true) earlier in the series, when he misplaced his rag after being run out by Gary Pratt, and would retain that status for the rest of his career. He was booed by some English crowds – a gesture that was at best ill-judged banter and at worse a complete disgrace – and lost it again during the 2010-11 Ashes, this time when Kevin Pietersen was given not out at Melbourne.

There is a danger that, in England, Ponting will be remembered for those indiscretions. At times he crossed the line with umpires, yet there seems an unusual inclination to dwell only on Ponting's imperfections; to punish him for his humanity. In reality it isn't noteworthy that Ponting cracked twice during Tests against England; it's noteworthy that he only cracked twice. Consider the level of pressure he was under. He would be remembered as the man who lost the Ashes – not once but thrice – and who presided over Australia's fall from grace and greatness, even though those failures were almost entirely beyond his control, a simple case of nature taking its course. Imagine how you and me and everyone we know would have coped under such pressure. Day after day there wouldn't have been a toy left in the pram, and we'd have quit in tears within weeks.

For 99.94% of the time Ponting conducted himself with humour, decency, dignity and fairness . His interviews after surrendering the Ashes, particularly in 2005 , were wonderful demonstrations of his enormous generosity of spirit. Ponting adored the Baggy Green, but he adored cricket even more. Some might conclude that this generosity was simply a case of Ponting the politician saying the right things. Except he could not play that game. He could not and he did not want to. It would betray who he was. In the increasingly disingenuous world of modern sport, the words coming out of Ponting's mouth were ones you could trust. He showed it again with his brutally candid explanation of his retirement. That speech also reminded us that Ponting is a much underrated orator, all piercing honesty and pithy eloquence.

One thing he couldn't do was write his own scripts. The generosity with which the gods treat the greats was not always extended to Ponting. There were umpteen wonderful days punching the air or belting out Under The Southern Cross, of course, but Ponting's career was a compromised fairytale, with plenty of dark moments. "I've given cricket my all, it's been my life for 20 years," he said earlier this week. "There's not much more I can give it." Cricket has been good to Ponting, and at times it has been downright sadistic. Yet he never stopped loving it. RS

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England's dust devils Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann emulate spin twins | Rob Smyth

The former Northants spinners wreaked havoc on their perfect pitch in Mumbai to emulate immortals of the past

It is one thing for England to beat India in their own manor, quite another to beat them in their own manner. India's apparently foolproof bunsen burner experiment blew up in their face in Mumbai, with Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann sharing 19 wickets.

The highlights could have come from a Pathé newsreel, for this performance had no precedent in the modern game. Panesar and Swann have been described as England's best pair of spinners since Jim Laker and Tony Lock in the 1950s. Now that perception has quantitative validation: this was the first time two England spinners had taken as many wickets in a Test since Laker and Lock did so against New Zealand at Headingley in 1958, and only the fourth time overall.

James Anderson dismissed Gautam Gambhir from the second ball of the match but from then on all the wickets fell to England's slow bowlers. Not that pace was unimportant: Panesar crucially bowled a few miles per hour faster than India's spinners, which exacerbated the bite and spite in the pitch. England's spinners also pitched the ball up further, luring the batsmen forward fatally; in the second innings in particular, the full Monty had a new, different meaning. The dismissal of MS Dhoni, caught at slip pushing at a ball of beautiful length, was straight from the textbook.

No India side has been ground into a dustbowl quite like this. India beaten in India on a raging turner, with two slow bowlers sharing 19 wickets? It just does not happen. It never has happened before. Phil Edmonds and Pat Pocock shared 13 wickets when England, equally improbably, won the second Test at Delhi in 1984-85, but this was on another level. Pakistan's Tauseef Ahmed and Iqbal Qasim split 18 in a famous victory at Bangalore in 1986-87; four spinners from New Zealand took 19 wickets at Nagpur in 1969-70, as did three from England at Kanpur 18 years earlier. But this is the first time two spinners from anywhere have taken so many wickets to win a Test in India – and the first time two non-Asian spinners have shared 19 to win a Test anywhere in Asia. It was one of the great spin-twin performances.

Mumbai became a little slice of Wantage Road, Northampton, where Swann and Panesar grew up on turning pitches before developing their game at Nottinghamshire and Sussex respectively. They rarely played together for Northamptonshire and, until this match, their partnership had not been particularly successful at Test level.

This was quite a way for Swann and Panesar to break their Test duck. It was the first time in eight attempts that they had been on the winning side together. In truth, that statistic is a little deceptive. The first four of those came in 2008-09, when Swann was finding his way at Test level and Panesar was losing his. The other three took place earlier this year, when England's defeats were almost entirely down to the batsmen. There is clear evidence that Swann and Panesar can be very effective together. In those four Tests in 2008-09 they took 25 wickets at 46.24; in four this year they have shared 50 at 22.26. Twice the wickets at half the price. As spin pairings go, they are second only to Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman of Pakistan.

Their success has prompted suggestions that England might make two spinners the norm rather than a tactic to be used in Asia and, on occasion, the West Indies. A balance of three seamers and two spinners is persuasively romantic, and would certainly be the choice of purists and aesthetes. But the change in pitches and the importance of lower-order runs means that, like 4-4-2 in football and serve-and-volley in tennis, such a tactic feels a little antiquated.

Swann said that the Mumbai pitch was the most helpful he had encountered "by a country mile" in his Test career. Therein lies the problem. Most pitches around India, never mind the rest of the world, will not give anywhere near as much assistance. The one time Swann and Panesar played together in a Test at home, against Australia at Cardiff in 2009, they had combined figures of one for 246, which can only partially be explained by their poor form. The last time England consistently picked two specialist spinners outside Asia was in 1996-97, when Robert Croft and Phil Tufnell played four of five Tests in Zimbabwe and New Zealand.

Panesar and Swann will surely play together for the rest of the series. After that, it is hard to say. England are not due to tour Asia again until 2015, by which time Swann will be 36. But however many Tests he and Panesar play together in the future, they will always have Mumbai.

England in India 2012-13England cricket teamMonty PanesarGraeme SwannIndia cricket teamCricketRob Smyth
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India v England: day four – as it happened | Rob Smyth

England raced to a target of 57 to thrash India and square the series in Mumbai

Preamble/Heartfelt plea to the England cricket team Please, gentlemen, no coronaries. No playing buggers of the silly variety. No allowing India to extend their lead to 72 or more. No alarms and no surprises. Please, just win this game with the minimum of fuss so we can all celebrate your most joyously improbable Test victory since Durban 09/Mumbai 06/Sydney 03 (delete depending on how giddy/proud/patriotic you are feeling).

The story so far India will resume this morning on 117 for seven, a lead of 31. Their first target is to get the lead to 72 in the hope it will give England some Abu Dhabi flashbacks. In reality, however, being dismissed for 72 when you are chasing 145 to win is a lot more likely that being dismissed for 72 when you are chasing 73. To have any chance, India surely need to set England a three-figure target.

There's a compelling struggle going on in Adelaide, where South Africa are attempting to Tavare their way to a draw. Just as they did on the same ground 19 winters ago, when, as now, a No5 called De Villiers batted for hours without scoring a boundary. South Africa have five wickets remaining; Australia have around 40 overs to take those wickets.

Every girl loves a 4am statgasm, so here you go. If Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann take the last three wickets, which you'd expect, it will be only the fourth time – and the first since the days of Jim Laker and Tony Lock – that England spinners have taken 19 or 20 wickets in a Test. It would be a form of quantitative confirmation that these are England's best spin twins for 50 years.

"All set for the day?" chirps Sean Boiling. "We can get this knocked over in one session today can't we? But 'No Surprises', really?

'A job that slowly kills you...
You look so tired and unhappy'

Ah yes, I see what you've done there."

34th over: India 127-7 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 58, Harbhajan 6) Monty Panesar is going to start the day. He has two lips and a short leg for Harbhajan – who sets the agenda by spanking the first ball of the day over mid-off for four! That has the be the correct approach in what the hip kids call the circs and the rest of us call the circumstances. It's only three extra syllables after all. This hasn't been a great first over for England; later in the over Monty drifts onto leg stump and is touched fine for four by Gambhir. Ten from the over. Where's that eek emoticon?

"Good morning from Mumbai," says Mark Hannant. "What a cracking weekend!
KP has now replaced Sachin in the hero rankings for half-English, half-Indian, six-year old Milan you kindly gave a mention to on Saturday morning. We're due to meet the England team on Wednesday at a dinner hosted by the British Deputy High Commission. The other star turn is Boris Johnson who's in India tom-tomming London and, assuming a win today, will no doubt lay claim to that success along with the Olympics."

WICKET! India 128-8 (Harbhajan c Trott b Swann 6) Good lad, Swanny. Good lad. He has strick with a vicious delivery that turned, bounced and followed Harbhajan as he tried to make room to cut. It went off the glove and looped to the left of slip, where Jonathan Trott took a comfortable tumbling catch.

35th over: India 128-8 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 59, Zaheer 0) "Morning Rob, morning nobody else," says Alex Netherton. "So, what coat are you wearing?" I'm doing this from home so no need for a coat. I'm in my statement grundies.

36th over: India 129-8 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 60, Zaheer 0) Gambhir nudges Panesar for a single. He is a very good player one-day player but I don't know if he has a one-day mode for the purposes of batting with the tail in Test cricket. England will be happy if he continues to nurdle.

37th over: India 131-8 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 61, Zaheer 1) Gambhir takes a single off the first ball of the over, which gives Swann a go at Zaheer. There's no silly point, which is more than a little surprising, but just as I type that Cook brings the man in. Zaheer inside edges wide of short leg for a single. The lead is 45.

"If we're looking down the long bleak corridor of English music's miserabilist icons, then Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want would be preferable," says Ian Forth. "Let's avoid New Dawn Fades at all costs."

WICKET! India 131-9 (Zaheer c Prior b Panesar 1) Monty has his 11th wicket of the match. Zaheer Khan slog-sweeps straight up in the air and is comfortably taken by Matt Prior. That was a bit of a risible stroke in the circs.

38th over: India 131-9 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 61, Ojha 0) "'He has two lips and a short leg'," quotes Zaph Mann from an earlier entry. "Please leave it as is - the best opening over I've ever read. If you need a riff it reminds me of my blind-dad reply text to my 14 yr old daughter to tell her I couldn't pick her up because I was in Portland (Oregon, which I abbreviated to PDX – the airport code). Predictive text rendered this as 'Can't pick u up I'm in SEX'."

Two lips and a short leg! Makes him sound like Stanford Blatch. There have been some embarrassing OBO typos at 4am. I recall one from the tour of Bangladesh in 2010 when somebody played a cut stroke. Let's move on.

39th over: India 131-9 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 61, Ojha 0) Ojha survives a huge shout for LBW from Swann. It turned too much. "Good Dawn Rob, can we just declare victory and then go back to bed?" says Jeremy Bunting. "Panesar has his two five-fors and Pietersen has remembered how to bat. Cook is a genius and so all is well in the world". If England win this match they will have basically done so with four players: Cook, KP, Swann and Panesar.

40th over: India 136-9 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 62, Ojha 4) Gambhir takes a single off the first ball of Panesar's over. Steve Waugh got a lot of praise for that approach – trust thy partner and all that – but I'm not sure it's a great idea. The decision to expose Ojha should have been costly but I'm afraid Aleem Dar has had another shocker. Ojha inside-edged Panesar onto the pad and round the corner to leg slip. England barely appealed, cutting straight to the celebration, and were shocked to see Aleem Dar shaking his head. Monty stared at him with wide-eyed bemusement. That was a big inside edge. It's quite distressing to see an umpire as freakishly brilliant as Aleem Dar performing so badly. It surely can't be coincidence; he must have been unsettled by the absence of DRS.

41st over: India 136-9 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 62, Ojha 4) A maiden from Swann to the weirdly strokeless Gambhir. Maybe he fancies carrying his bat. Only three Indians have done so: Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid, the latter at The Oval in 2011.

42nd over: India 139-9 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 64, Ojha 5) Gambhir, finally showing a bit of urgency, comes back for a second, and the non-striker Ojha would have been out with a direct hit. He was almost short anyway when Cook broke the stumps, and, although Aleem Dar's not-out decision was the correct one, it was sufficiently tight to make it a surprise that he chose not to go upstairs. He seems a little frazzled right now.

"Lunchtime in Hong Kong," says Daniel Cullen. "Can't find anywhere in Central showing the cricket though. So it's a bowl of wanton noodles and OBO on the crackberry. Living the dream."

43rd over: India 140-9 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 64, Ojha 6) Swann beats Gambhir with a disgustingly good delivery that dips onto middle and then bursts past the outside edge. A maiden. India lead by 54.

44th over: India 142-9 (trailed by 86 on first innings; Gambhir 64, Ojha 6) South Africa have made it to tea with five wickets down in Adelaide. Australia are a man short, with James Pattinson injured, so you'd perhaps make the draw the favourite there. If South Africa do avoid defeat they will be indebted to an immense performance on debut from Faf du Plessis.

In other news, Shane Warne has put the boot into Aleem Dar on social-networking fiasco Twitter: "Players get dropped if they have poor form, Aleem Dar has had 2 shockers in India & always has been a bad decision maker ! Poor umpire...." That seems extremely harsh. Dar has been the best umpire in the world for a few years, but he has been very poor in this series. Warne, of course, worked over an umpire every bit as much as he worked over a batsman. It was wonderful theatre. But from memory Aleem Dar was one of the few he generally couldn't work over, so maybe it's something to do with that.

WICKET! India 142 all out (Gambhir LBW b Swann 65) That's the end of the innings. It was another bad decision, this time from Tony Hill. Gambhir, playing outside the line of a ball that didn't turn, inside-edged Swann back onto his pads and was given out LBW. It wasn't a shocker but would certainly have been overturned with DRS.

Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann lead England off after sharing 19 wickets in the match, the first time a pair of England spinners have done that since the 1950s: 11 for Monty, eight for our Graeme. England need 57 to square the series. What's the worst that ca- oh.

INNINGS BREAK

"Please tell Daniel (42nd over) he should go up to The Globe, Graham St who should be showing it – a well as the other Test," says Simon Reid-Kay. "I'll see him up there. Just leaving my office now…."

1st over: England 8-0 (target: 57; Cook 4, Compton 0) A pretty eventful first over. The first ball of the innings, from R Ashwin, goes between Dhoni's legs for four byes. That's followed by a huge appeal against Cook, although I'm not sure whether it was for LBW or a catch at short leg. He certainly inside-edged it, though we haven't seen a replay so I'm don't know whether it carried. Cook completes the over by slicing a cut stroke up and over for four.

"Re Warne 'putting the boot in' concerning Aleem Dar," says Sue Taylor. "That wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that he's working with the Indian commentary team would it? OK Dar (& Hill) have had a relatively poor Test, but Dar has consistently been a top umpire for many years now and I respect and admire him enormously. If India insist on not having DRS then it's their own fault if they suffer from bad decisions."

2nd over: England 13-0 (target: 57; Cook 4, Compton 5) England have clearly decided to play aggressively. Compton charges both his first and third deliveries from Ojha, battering the latter through mid off for four.

"Tea here in Adelaide and I reckon South Africa are gonna pull it off against us Aussies," says Jennifer Roesler. "It's been an absolutely gripping Test, not least because of some Tavare-ing of the highest order."

3rd over: England 21-0 (target: 57; Cook 4, Compton 13) Compton places a low full toss from Ashiwn between midwicket and mid on for four, an excellent stroke. Compton has hardly played a stroke all series but now he is almost playing a shot a ball. Later in the over he reverse sweeps neatly for four. This is excellent stuff.

4th over: England 25-0 (target: 57; Cook 7, Compton 14)
"I seem to recall that yesterday, before the Indian innings even got started, someone suggested Gambhir would be the key wicket – turns out it doesn't matter if you can rip through the other ten," says Matt Dony, breezily ignoring the fact Gambhir was actually dismissed. "Also, No Surprises; #Bring down the government.# Chipping away at the coalition, one over at a time." Omnishambles-by-omnishambles report.

5th over: England 31-0 (target: 57; Cook 11, Compton 16) England's openers are batting without a care in the world, picking up runs with ease. The life of the mind, eh.

6th over: England 38-0 (target: 57; Cook 11, Compton 22) This is fascinating stuff from Compton, who is playing like his grandfather. He charges Ojha and drives a sweet, flat six over long on. He has 22 from 18 balls, having scored 75 from 271 in his first three knocks of the series.

"Have you noticed the huge revival in mentioning Kent's swashbuckling Chris Tavare?" says Mark Deveney. "Should be a statue in Trafalgar Square to him." An immovable object would be appropriate I suppose.

7th over: England 43-0 (target: 57; Cook 15, Compton 23) Harbhajan comes into the attack and has a pretty big LBW appeal when Cook misses a sweep. He was outside the line.

8th over: England 45-0 (target: 57; Cook 15, Compton 24)
"Yeah, hmm, about that Gambhir dismissal," says Matt Dony. "Thing is, I'm not watching, just following your coverage, and for some reason my petty phone decided not to find any updates for about ten minutes. I sent the email, only to then be told he'd been gotten out. Thus making me look like an idiot. Such is life."

9th over: England 50-0 (target: 57; Cook 18, Compton 26) Tell me why I don't like Mondays? Whatever Geldof! This will be a seriously rousing victory for England. They need seven more runs.

"I know it's fashionable to put down Indian commentators, especially after Ravi Shastri's 'they're jealous...' outburst, but Warne's comment against Dar was borne out of his personal egoistic perspective... as it usually is," says Gaur. The Indian commentary team, with guys like Dravid, Ganguly, Manjrekar, Collingwood, Gavaskar and Shastri have been excellent this series ... fair, balanced, incisive. And no one apart from Warne has had a go at Aleem Dar.
Oh, and outstandingly played England!"

ENGLAND WIN BY 10 WICKETS! 9.4 overs: England 58-0 (Cook 18, Compton 30) Compton cuts Ashwin for four, with Harbhajan lumbering wearily after the ball. England need three to win – and there it is! Ashwin spins one down the leg side for four byes and England have squared the series at 1-1. Compton growls with delight, punches the air and embraces Cook, who, on the outside at least, looks as calm as ever. His heart must be racing, however, because this has been an emphatic, stirring win for his England side.

It was scripted by four exceptional individual performances from Cook, Monty Panesar, Graeme Swann and of course Kevin Pietersen. England will enjoy a glass or five of Victory Juice tonight, and so they should. This has been fantastic stuff, only England's second Test victory in India since 1985. It's a proud day for those who love English cricket. Thanks for your emails throughout the match. See you next week for the third Test.

England in India 2012-13England cricket teamIndia cricket teamCricketRob Smyth
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Eric Cantona: 20 years on from the phone call that changed football

Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United were a mess before the arrival of a mercurial Frenchman from Leeds 20 years ago
Eric Cantona: a career in video

When the Premier League was introduced in 1992, Sir Alex Ferguson described it as "a piece of nonsense" that sold supporters "right down the river". Twelve Premier League titles later, Ferguson has found greatness and a knighthood amid that nonsense. He may not have won a single title, however, without a serendipitous phone call 20 years ago this week . It led to the signing of Eric Cantona, who would catalyse Manchester United to an extent that still boggles the mind.

With Cantona at the club, United won four titles in five years and would surely have won a fifth had he not tried to kick xenophobia out of football at Selhurst Park in 1995. The titles gave Ferguson a job for life and the chance to build further great teams. If he had lost his job, who knows what would have happened. Liverpool are proof that big clubs have no right to win the Premier League. It is not entirely inconceivable that, without Cantona, United would this season be chasing their first league title in 46 years.

It is often forgotten that, when Cantona arrived United were a mess. They had gifted the title to Leeds the previous season and the whole club was afflicted with PTSD. The team had basically forgotten how to score goals. United were eighth in the table and out of two cup competitions. They had won only two of the previous 13 games, scoring nine goals in that time. The big summer signing, Dion Dublin, had broken his leg, while attempts to sign Alan Shearer and David Hirst had failed. Mick Harford and Lee Chapman were also considered.

Instead of signing a proven English striker who worked the penalty area, Ferguson thought outside the box. It was the ultimate demonstration of the willingness to take risks and trust his instinct that is one of the key elements of Ferguson's genius. He had been given a glowing reference for Cantona from the then France manager, Gérard Houllier, who was keen for Cantona to play first-team football after he fell out with Howard Wilkinson at Leeds. Fate put two and two together. On Wednesday 25 November, so the story goes, Ferguson met his chairman, Martin Edwards, to discuss transfer targets. Just after Ferguson lamented the fact United did not go for Cantona before he joined Leeds, Edwards's phone rang. It was Bill Fotherby, the Leeds managing director, to inquire about the possibility of signing Denis Irwin. "The timing was weird, absolutely uncanny," Ferguson said in the book Just Champion.

Edwards dismissed the approach for Irwin but asked if Leeds might consider selling Chapman. As he did so, Ferguson started whispering and making frantic hand signals. When that didn't work, he scribbled the name of Cantona on a piece of paper. Edwards inquired, Fotherby said that Cantona was unsettled and that he would get back to him within 24 hours. In fact he got back to him within one hour to confirm the deal was on. Leeds asked for £1.6m; Edwards worked Fotherby down to somewhere between £1m and £1.2m, depending on which account you believe. When Ferguson's assistant, Brian Kidd, was told about the fee, he wondered whether Cantona had "lost a leg or something".

Surprisingly for such a seismic event, the tale is not consistently told. In the book Glory Glory!, Edwards says he was alone when Fotherby called and acted on his own initiative before presenting the option of signing Cantona to Ferguson. Even Ferguson's tale has changed a little: when Cantona was unveiled to the media, Ferguson said: "I was talking to Howard and I popped the question."

Either way, once the question had been popped the whole thing was done with the speed of a Vegas wedding. As such, there was little time for it to leak to the press and when the news broke 24 hours later it came as an almighty surprise – one of the three JFK moments in Cantona's English career, alongside the kung-fu kick and his retirement. Where were you?

Gary Pallister was called at home by a journalist who wanted to hear his thoughts on the club's new striker. "He put me through a guessing game in which I mentioned any number of strikers before I gave up," Pallister said in his autobiography, Pally. "When he mentioned it was Cantona, I was stunned." Lee Sharpe was doing an autograph-signing session for his boot sponsors in Leeds. When he was told United had signed Cantona, his reaction reflected those of fans around the country. "I replied: 'Yeah, right – absolutely no chance!' I turned on the radio and there it was: total shock. Then there were all the media stories about his past and we were like: 'This bloke's a total nutter, what are we doing?'"

Cantona would elevate his new team-mates to a new level of performance, with Ferguson describing him as "the can-opener". At the time, however, many felt Ferguson had opened a can of worms. "The players weren't convinced that it was such a good signing," Bryan Robson said in his autobiography."Eric had a reputation for flitting from club to club, staying nowhere very long and generally causing trouble. He was nothing like the guy we feared he would be." Mark Hughes said he "wondered whether it would end in tears".

Some even felt it might be Ferguson's last mistake as United manager. The former England captain Emlyn Hughes, writing in the Daily Mirror, was particularly critical. He said Cantona was a "flashy foreigner" and a "panic buy" who could "either win Alex Ferguson something this season, or cost him his job". The former Leeds captain Johnny Giles said he was "very sceptical" that the move would work out and that Ferguson should have signed Hirst or Dean Saunders.

At the time, the only people crying were Leeds fans, who had lost their cult hero. Despite his relatively peripheral role, Cantona was immensely popular in Leeds; the Chalutz bakery even sold Cantona bagels for 20p. As the dust settled on the transfer, however, Ferguson wondered whether he had spent his money wisely. "After attending the press conference, I started to get the jitters about the whole business," he said. "Not quite panic, but uncertainty as to whether we had done the right thing.I began worrying about all the controversial stuff being traded around about Eric's past. The situation upset me, but not for more than a few hours … from that point the slate had to be wiped clean."

The same was true for United's season, which effectively started with a 1-0 win at Arsenal on 28 November. Cantona watched from the stands, having not been registered in time, but soon began to enlighten and liberate the team. "Gradually," Pallister said, "it dawned on us that he was having a profound impact on the side." And on the whole club. Cantona instinctively felt what it meant to play for Manchester United. He could not have understood the club better if he had born on the Stretford End.

"If ever there was one player, anywhere in the world, that was made for Manchester United, it was Cantona," Ferguson said. "He swaggered in, stuck his chest out, raised his head and surveyed everything as though he were asking: 'I'm Cantona. How big are you? Are you big enough for me?'"

Cantona's desire for extra training each day opened the eyes of team-mates used to clocking on and clocking off at the usual time. The manager, too. "He opened my eyes to the indispensability of practice," Ferguson said.

Cantona's on-field imagination made a group of experienced, hardened players think about the game differently, to try to express themselves in ways they would not have previously considered. In short, he took away the fetters. In no time, the rest of the team were fluent in Cantonese. United, in abysmal form before he signed, won eight and drew two of his first 10 games. He sealed a startling comeback from 3-0 down at Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day and presided like a lord over a 4-1 thrashing of Tottenham in January. When Cantona made the second goal for Irwin with an outrageous pass, the BBC commentator John Motson said: "This man is playing a game of his own." United went on to win their first title for 26 years in memorable style.

Cantona was a player of such style that it is almost insulting to try to quantify his impact. The numbers are pretty persuasive nonetheless. In 1992 United played 37 league games before Cantona, collecting 54 points and scoring a miserable 38 goals. In the next 37 league games they took 88 points and scored 77 goals. Faites des maths.

If Cantona was the last piece of Ferguson's first great Manchester United jigsaw, he was also the first piece of his second one. His swagger, imagination and professionalism influenced a generation of young players including Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Gary Neville; when those players won their first trophies in 1995-96, it was primarily thanks to Cantona. In an eight-game, five-week spell in March and April, Cantona scored four times in 1-0 wins, an injury-time equaliser in another and the opening goal in two other wins. His biographer Philippe Auclair described it as "one of the most astonishing purple patches enjoyed by a player in the history of English football, to which, in all honesty, I have been unable to find any equivalent".

Alan Hansen was kind of right; without Cantona, United would not have won anything with kids. The Double, said Neville in his autobiography, was "almost single-handedly down to him".

"The young lads had always been in awe of him," Neville saud. "None of us got to know him well, although there was a vast, unspoken respect for him. We were desperate to impress him." That feeling lingered. When Nicky Butt returned to Old Trafford with Newcastle in 2005 and shook Cantona's hand before the match, he excitably told his team-mates about it.

Butt was a team-mate of Cantona but he was also a fan. Cantona's part in the twin success – he also scored the winning goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup final – cemented his relationship with United supporters.

Cantona developed a relationship with United supporters of such an enduring and spiritual nature as to bear legitimate comparison with any in the game's history. "I cannot explain it," said Cantona in Manchester United: The Biography. "And I don't want to explain it. It's like love. You know when you are in love, you don't need to explain how you feel or why you feel like that. I think if you want to explain what was going on between me and the United fans, it would take six months. Sometimes it's better not to explain." It is also hard not to seek explanations for such a significant relationship. "People loved him because he did, and said, things that they would love to have got away with," Neville said. Not everyone had been enamoured with the idea of signing a Leeds player, however. "Ooh aah Cantona'?" sniffed one United fan during a voxpop. "They won't sing it here." Twenty years on, they are still singing it. They will probably never stop.

Eric CantonaManchester UnitedSir Alex FergusonRob Smyth
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India v England – as it happened | Rob Smyth and Simon Burnton

Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen batted England back into the match after India were bowled out for 327

Preamble Good morning. For years and years, England's woes could be summed up in two words: Margaret Thatcher 20 wickets. If they didn't take 20 wickets they couldn't win Test matches; working out how they might do so kept Nasser Hussain awake at night when he was captain. Now they have a new problem: first-innings runs. If you don't score big or at least biggish first-innings runs you are likely to lose Test matches; England's first-innings scores in Asia this year have been 192, 327, 141, 193, 460 and 191. When their turn comes to bat in this match, they must surely get at least 350 if they are to have a chance of victory. First they need to wrap up India's innings. Ordinarily a score of 266 for six after day one would suggest an even game, but this is not an ordinary pitch. If India get much more than 300, England will be in the malodorous stuff.

I'll be back in 10 minutes, when play will resume. I'm off to make an espresso.

Good Friday night? Send in any tales of interest. Vicarious living and all that. My Friday night consisted of necking Strathmore chasers and being in bed by 8pm. I win, yet again.

91st over: India 267-6 (Pujara 114, Ashwin 61) Mudhsuden Singh Panesar is going to open the bowling from the North End. He has a slip and short leg (Jonny Bairstow today, rather than Alastair Cook) for Ashwin, who gets the first run of the day with a single into the covers. A solid start from both bowler and batsmen.

"In a moment of ill placed bravado I agreed to go to 90 minutes of Zen hot yoga with my wife this morning," says Stuart Wilson. "As a man who struggles to tie my laces, I fear that this is going to catapult my back 20 years to the humiliation of double PE at school. It isn't helped by being told that men who do it are generally topless, imagine! I beg you to help me with an excuse, I have about an hour to get out of it." You could fake a thundering nervous breakdown?

92nd over: India 269-6 (Pujara 115, Ashwin 62) It'll be Jimmy Anderson at the other end, with the new ball 11 overs old. He has a huge appeal for LBW against Pujara turned down by Aleem Dar. What was wrong with that? It looked an extremely good shout as Pujara wafted around an inducker. It might just have been sliding down and Bumble reckons there might have been an inside edge. It's hard to say either way, although Aleem Dar gave is as runs. I reckon that was hitting leg stump, maybe 'umpire's call'.

Here's Harry Tuttle. "Tintin. Maoams. Early night." Isn't that the name of Pete Doherty's new band?

93rd over: India 269-6 (Pujara 115, Ashwin 62) A maiden from Panesar to the watchful Pujara.

94th over: India 272-6 (Pujara 116, Ashwin 64) A trio of singles from that Anderson over. India have started well, that one LBW shout aside, and the pitch hasn't done a lot yet.

"Good morning Rob," says Martin Wright. "'Minds on the margin are not necessarily marginal minds' – Prof Anil Gupta. It's not really relevant, but it's a good quote. Perhaps Monty could use it as a sort of bewilderingly intellectual sledge. Anything's worth trying to disrupt Chintu's Buddha-like calm." There's not enough unusual sledging. Frank Tyson used to quote Wordsworth and Shakespeare to batsmen and Kumar Sangakkara apparently starting singing the Everly Brothers to Nasser in 2003. Surely it's not beyond Tim Bresnan to start quoting Kieślowski to confused batsmen.

95th over: India 273-6 (Pujara 116, Ashwin 65) Ashwin slices a drive at Panesar that goes in the air but between cover and point. That ball went through the top. Monty has been very accurate this morning. He is a helluva player to have as reserve spinner.

"Morning Rob, morning all," says Matt Dony. "I'm confined to the sofa because, apparently, uncontrollable coughing fits and a tired wife are not happy bedfellows. I really need sleep, but now I've got this OBO as a distraction. I find myself hoping England don't take early wickets, as that would just raise the Spectre of False Hope, and that git will keep me wide awake." The way this is going, the only fits you'll be having by 9am will be of laughter.

96th over: India 276-6 (Pujara 116, Ashwin 68) Ashwin drives Anderson on the up but short of extra cover. Nothing else happens. The end.

"Nice to see they are keeping you honest on the early turn again," says Paul King of Sky cricket. "Often suspicious of much-hyped long players, but the Tame Impala record is rather good. Listened to it on my post-play run yesterday and enjoyed very much." In my delirious post-play state yesterday I was debating buying that; Feels Like We Only Go Backwards is a fine piece of mus- hang on, you were up at 2am for the cricket and then went for a run after play? Surely that's a recipe for a jelly-legged disaster?

97th over: India 276-6 (Pujara 116, Ashwin 68) Panesar beats Ashwin twice in that over, the first time with bounce and the second with turn. He is bowling beautifully here. I'd get Swann on at the other end; bugger all is happening for Jim E. Anderson, accurate though he has been.

"Normally, I love a No8 getting runs," says Gary Naylor, who has been the president of the No8 club for as long as I've known him. "I say, normally."

98th over: India 280-6 (Pujara 120, Ashwin 68) Anderson, perhaps sick of seeing the maker's name of Pujara's bat, goes a little wider in an attempt to get Pujara fishing outside off. Good luck with that, Jimmy. Pujara ignores the good-length balls and then slams a shorter one through cover for four. His shot selection is extremely good for a 24-year-old.

"Come to think of it," says Martin Wright, "the best sort of literary sledge could combine poetry with some good old fashioned personal abuse, to keep it sledgey. You know, sort of: 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? You tosser'." Or maybe you could unsettle them with a bit of Brent. No you listen to me, "Cheteshwar".

WICKET! India 280-7 (Ashwin LBW b Panesar 68) Five wickets for Monty! That was an excellent piece of bowling, an arm ball that skidded on to hit the flap of the pad in front of the stumps. Ashwin was barely halfway through his shot, completely beaten for pace. I think he might just have been out the line in fact, but Tony Hill raised the finger. Ashwin made an outstanding and potentially match-winning 68.

99th over: India 280-7 (Pujara 120, Harbhajan 0) The new batsman, Harbhajan Singh, is a dangerous hitter whose back England will want to see sooner rather than later. A wicket maiden for Monty, who has figures of 39-10-93-5. His career best is six for 37. On Sky, Nasser tells us that Tony Hill's decision would have stood even with DRS: the point of contact was umpire's call.

100th over: India 284-7 (Pujara 124, Harbhajan 0) Swann replaces Anderson. His fifth ball is so filthy that not even White Spirit could cleanse it: short, wide and blasted for four by the magnificent Pujara.

"Morning Rob!" says Amy Lofthouse. "My housemates stumbled in from a drunken night of debauchery just as I settled on the sofa to watch the Test. After a brief five minutes of trying to explain the general rules, they gave up and have gone elsewhere to continue drinking. Who's having the most fun?" I'm not sure. The Student Loans Company?

101st over: India 284-7 (Pujara 124, Harbhajan 0) Harbhajan is beaten twice by Panesar, the second by a delivery that turns sharply. A maiden.

"Uncalled for OBO sledging," is the subject of Matt Dony's email. "I thought you'd said that Naylor was president of the After 8s club. Boom." Go back to bed, Dony.

102nd over: India 286-7 (Pujara 126, Harbhajan 0) Pujara late cuts Swann for a couple. HOW THE HELL DO YOU GET THIS BLOKE OUT? He has now scored 371 runs in the series without being dismissed.

"I'm a Brit living in Mumbai," says Mark Hannant. "Just heading off to day two with my half-English, half-Indian, six-year-old son. His first ever cricket match. Loyalties a bit muddled! Today he's supporting England but wearing a Mumbai Indians shirt. That's multiculturalism for you."

103rd over: India 288-7 (Pujara 127, Harbhajan 1) The pitch hasn't done that much this morning, in truth, but apparently Rahul Dravid reckons this pitch won't slow down like the one in Ahmedabad, so this is still a very good score for India. Pujara pads up to Panesar, who spins on his heels to launch into another wild-eyed LBW appeal. Tony Hill rightly says not out; it was missing off. Then Harbhajan, slow to back up and loath to dive, would have been run out by a direct hit from point. That was awful cricket from Harbhajan. He basically couldn't be bothered!

"A gentle six miles after play helps you sleep better," says Paul King. "The other (possibly more enjoyable) option is six pints."

104th over: India 288-7 (Pujara 127, Harbhajan 1) Pujara hasn't changed his tempo, even though India are seven wickets down. He just bats time, like they did in the Fifties. A maiden from Swann.

"After 10 Tests Sir Ian Botham had 479 runs & 53 wkts," says Hardik Vaghani. "Ashwin in his 10th now has 436 runs & 53 wkts. He could surpass Botham this mtch." But could he single-handedly win a Test with bat, ball and brandy?

105th over: India 292-7 (Pujara 127, Harbhajan 5) Harbhajan edges a beauty from Panesar that goes right between Prior and Trott for four. Trott is slightly wider than usual and couldn't react quickly enough as he moved low to his left. He was a bit slow getting down. That's the 471st chance England have missed in the field this year. Bring back Tufnell and Mullally.

"What with all the KP flimflam over the summer, next to nothing little seemed to be written in the papers about the most unsettling aspect of the South Africa series for England: namely, day after day, Test after Test, our previously unplayable, No.1-in-the-world pacemen bowled joylessly and then shrugged and declared there to be 'no swing on this pitch' — only for the Saffers to immediately find it as soon as England were batting," says Kieron Shaw. "Then the same thing happened in Ahmedabad — no reverse swing for us; tons for India. Is anyone looking into this? Is there a technique issue? Considering how Anderson in particular hadn't played anything other than utterly beautifully for 18 months before that, it's a bit of a worry that lateral movement now seems a strain for him and the rest..."

106th over: India 293-7 (Pujara 128, Harbhajan 5) Swann gets some vile turn and bounce to beat Harbhajan on the inside, with the ball flicking the pad and just clearing the stumps. Harbhajan will have loved it, because he is infinitely more dangerous on a pitch with bounce.

107th over: India 293-7 (Pujara 128, Harbhajan 5) The other thing Pujara is doing here is allowing the pitch to age. There's a difference between being 293 for seven after 70 overs and after 107. By the time England bat we will probably be into the fifth session, which make a difference on a used pitch. Pujara plays out a maiden from Panesar. His 128 has taken 334 balls, a joyously old-fashioned innings that allows me to link to this brilliant piece from Rob Bagchi.

108th over: India 295-7 (Pujara 129, Harbhajan 6) Swann has been fairly ineffectual this morning. His record when he plays with Panesar looks okay (they both average about 34) but it's not so good since he became the senior spinner. It might just be coincidence, though, as the sample size is pretty small.

"Kieron Shaw's mail, about reverse swing: it could be to do with the ball as well," says Dileep Premachandran. "The SG is quite different from the Dukes. India's pacers, especially Zaheer, were getting it to go Irish within 12 or 15 overs against Australia in 2008. It took the Aussie quicks twice or thrice as long and it wasn't nearly as dramatic. I think part of India's secret was bowling cross-seam from ball one."

109th over: India 301-7 (Pujara 132, Harbhajan 9) Bhajii inside edges Monty – we're all friends here – for a couple to bring up the 300. With a score like that, on this pitch, it's hard to resist the conclusion that we're all going to die.

"Crisis averted on the yoga front," says Stuart Wilson. "I've just admitted that I am too much of a coward to go and have been let off. It's fortunate that I lost hero status in my house many years ago and so this latest setback has not left me any lower in the pecking order. I'm now on the sofa eating biscuits." And the award for Man of the Year 2012 goes to ...

110th over: India 302-7 (Pujara 132, Harbhajan 10) Swann goes up for LBW when Harbhajan misses a rancid slog sweep. He was outside the line and Aleem Dar pulls his slightly sad sorry-I'd-love-to-give-that-out-as-you're-a-nice-human-being-and-I'd-like-to-please-you-but-it-just-wasn't-out face. There's another appeal against Harbhajan later in the over; same point of contact, same Aleem Dar face. Harbhajan looks like he's warming to the idea of some bish-bosh.

111th over: India 314-7 (Pujara 133, Harbhajan 21) Obligatory Jay-Z reference: England have got 99 problems and a pitch is one. Harbhajan, pushing at another good one from Panesar, edges it wide of the diving Swann at gully for four. Then he does attempt some bish-bosh, driving Panesar sweetly over mid-on for the first six of the game. Shot!

WICKET! India 315-8 (Harbhajan LBW b Swann 21) A great line from Beefy, who says that Pujara "really does not to get out more". He has now batted 1000 minutes in the series without being dismissed. England have taken another wicket, but it's not Pujara. Harbhajan went too far across to Swann and was hit on the pad in front of middle. Aleem Dar raised the finger to give Swann his 200th Test wicket, which is 200 more than seemed likely when he was irritating allcomers in South Africa 13 years ago. He has been a pleasure to watch in the last few years, the best England spinner many of us have ever seen.

112th over: India 315-8 (Pujara 134, Zaheer 0) "Last Test all the talk was how England lacked a replacement for Collingwood with the bat and how he'd have stuck at the crease long enough for his tea to get cold, etc," says Simon Brereton. "My wonderful fiancée has just made the pertinent observation that his Collywobblers might also have been some use in this Test. I don't know if she's enjoying listening to him commentating more than she's upset he's not out there. Should I get a restraining order?" On his behalf? Probably best.

113th over: India 316-8 (Pujara 135, Zaheer 0) Monty has no silly point for Zaheer, which doesn't impress David Gower and Sir Ian Botham. He comes in for the final ball of the over. This is all I have to say. Monty has figures of 46-12-118-5; Swann's are 33-6-70-2.

"So do you get to OBO from home now?" says Danielle Tolson. "I thought it there were security issues that meant you had to go in to the office. Still, this way I guess you don't have to worry about getting a P45 if you are currently sitting in your undies." No sack jokes please, we're British.

HALLEY'S COMET! India 316-9 (Pujara st Prior b Swann 135) Glory be. Pujara, who has been at the crease since the year 12 BC, is finally dismissed. It was a lovely piece of bowling from Swann; Pujara danced down the track, was beaten in the flight and beaten on the outside when the ball went straight on. Matt Prior did the rest. Pujara walks off to a lovely ovation for an immense innings of 135 from 350 balls. It means he finally has a series average. Of 382.

114th over: India 316-9 (Zaheer 0, Ojha 0) A wicket maiden for Swann.

115th over: India 327-9 (Zaheer 11, Ojha 0) Zaheer swipes consecutive deliveries from Panesar for four and then six, a biggie over long on.

WICKET! India 327 all out (Zaheer c Bairstow b Swann 11) Swann wraps up the innings when Zaheer is caught at short leg. Sad to say it's a desperate decision from Aleem Dar, with the bat nowhere near the ball. He took an age to give it as well. The absence of DRS seems to have really unsettled him. Swann ends with four for 70, Monty with five for 129, and England – let's set our sights high – need 128 to avoid the follow-on. Alastair Cook and Nick Compton will have an unpleasant ten-minute spell before lunch.

INNINGS BREAK

1st over: England 0-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 0, Compton 0) MS Dhoni will surely start with spin at both ends. It'll be R Ashwin to bowl the first over anyway. He has a slip, gully, short leg and silly point for Cook. The third ball, wide of off stump, bounces ominously from a fullish length. A maiden.

"Am stuck at office with two odd TVs at food courts that plays the 'Breaking News' (read Indian Politics) all day long," says Bastab Chakraborty. " So, my only hope to follow Pujara's histrionics is by following your blog on Guardian.
So, this Pujara guy looks like an able successor to Dravid, what say? But, we are yet to get a Laxman. Maybe Kohli will find some time someday for that." I thought Kohli was Tendulkar? I'm confused now. So what's an elf?

2nd over: England 5-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 4, Compton 1) Pragyan Ojha will share the new ball. After a quick play with Statsguru I think this is the first time since 1967 that two spinners have opened the bowling in a Test against England – and that doesn't really count because England were chasing a target of three to win the match. Ojha also has four men round the bat for Nick Compton, who gets off the mark with a work to leg. Cook then gets going with an easy cut stroke for four. We'll probably have two more overs, unless India take a wicket.

3rd over: England 6-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 4, Compton 2) It's been a comfortable start for England, with both openers defending solidly. We'll have time for one more over before lunch.

4th over: England 7-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 4, Compton 3) That's lunch. England's openers played well in those four overs, when things could easily have turned nasty. They trail by 320. See you in half an hour for a huge afternoon session in the context of the match, the series and the future of this England team.

LUNCH

5th over: England 7-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 4, Compton 3) The ball didn't really grip for the spinners before lunch, so Zaheer Khan is going to replace R Ashwin. He starts to Nick Compton, who edges the last ball of the over just short of second slip. An excellent start from Zaheer. You sense that he fancies Compton as a relatively cheap top-order wicket.

"Early start to fly to Cork for my grandparents' wedding anniversary – they are 60 not out and would be completely bemused by an OBO mention as they wouldn't know anything about cricket," says Rossa Brugha. "Now an MBM on hurling..... The old boy would love that. Is Glendenning in the office yet?" Bazza's regularly in the office at 6am on a Saturday, but not this week.

6th over: England 11-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 8, Compton 3) The left-arm spinner Ojha continues around the wicket to Cook, who skips down the track to chip authoritatively over midwicket for four.

7th over: England 12-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 8, Compton 4) Cook ignores a series of wider deliveries from Zaheer.

8th over: England 16-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 8, Compton 8) Ojha's first ball drifts onto the pads and is flicked fine for four by Compton. England's start has been almost too comfortable.

9th over: England 16-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 8, Compton 8) Sad to report that Ricky Ponting has failed again in Adelaide, where a fascinating second Test has taken another twist. Australia lost on that ground to India in 2003 after posting 550; lightning may be about to strike twice.

"England are well positioned now, having done the first part of the job by getting India all out for not much more than 300," says expert deadpan comedian Anand Subramaniam. "The pitch is going to be at its easiest for batting today and tomorrow, and if Cook and Compton can set it up, England can pull the rug from under India. I think a first innings lead of around 100+ by tea tomorrow is on the cards."

10th over: England 16-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 8, Compton 8) Ashwin replaces Ojha and bowls a maiden to the watchful Compton. England are doing well defensively but they might be slightly concerned about the scoring rate.

"Saw my good friend J Evans on Thursday night who contrived to miss a train and stayed the night," says Paul. "He was inordinately smug after having his ridiculous suggestion of opening with KP ridiculed by Lord Selvey."

11th over: England 20-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 12, Compton 8) Cook pulls Zaheer nicely for four. England are dealing in boundaries and dot balls at the moment.

12th over: England 21-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 12, Compton 8) Compton, after blocking a series of deliveries from the spinners, pulls out the sweep to get Ashwin away for a single. Ashwin then has a tentative LBW appeal against Cook; there was a big inside edge.

13th over: England 22-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 12, Compton 10) Zaheer moves around the wicket to Compton. He probably hasn't made the batsmen play enough, but with Zaheer you always wonder whether that's part of a set-up rather than poor bowling. Nothing much is happening. From an England point of view it's akin to a slightly unsettling silence.

"I think England need to get quick runs now as the ball will start to turn about now like it did yesterday!" says Dipak Patel.

14th over: England 28-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 17, Compton 11) A stroke of luck for Cook, who top edges a cut at Ashwin wide of gully for four. That's a risky stroke with the extra bounce, although as much as anything I think it was a bit too straight for the shot.

15th over: England 36-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 25, Compton 11) Ojha comes into the attack in place of Zaheer Khan (5-2-6-0). Cook comes down the track again, this time to drive Ojha for a handsome six over mid-on. That's an outstanding shot, only the eighth six of his Test career. He looks a seriously good batsman right now.

16th over: England 36-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 25, Compton 11) "Incidentally, good to see that your recovery is coming along well," says Robin Hazlehurst. "In the 9th over you typed the words 'Adelaide' 'second Test' and 'lost... after posting 550' without any sign of the yips. Followed by a couple of shorter entries I notice though, was that the shaking hands and twitching eye making it difficult to type? Or are you really really recovered?" Adelaide's gone, mate. It went in December 2010. Abu Dhabi, on the other hand ...

17th over: England 36-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 25, Compton 11) Cook defends a maiden from Ojha. England have played really well so far, even if the pitch hasn't done as much as we might have expected. The tempo of the game, however, is not conducive to staying awake at 7.30am.

18th over: England 40-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 25, Compton 15) Compton comes down the track to Ashwin, plays for non-existent turn and gets a leading edge just wide of Sehwag at slip for four. Ashwin then switches around the wicket to Compton, who gets in a tangle with a ball that bounces sharply to hit him in the chest. That was an excellent over.

"I know this is slightly off beam in the context of this match but have you seen this footage of Duncan Spencer?" says Phil Rhodes. "Proper pace bowling. Sad that his back meant he never got a chance at the highest level." Yep, I've wept over that footage before. He was such a prospect.

19th over: England 44-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 29, Compton 15) Where is my Alastair Cook? What have you done with him? The Cook impostor is very confident coming down the pitch to Ojha, and he does so again to drive lazily over mid on for four.

20th over: England 45-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 29, Compton 16) Oof. Ashwin beats Cook with a brutish delivery that turns and bounces off middle stump. There's not much you can do against bowling like that.

21st over: England 49-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 29, Compton 20) Nick Compton jumps out of his bunker, charging down the pitch to drag Ojha to long on for a one-bounce four. England have been slightly in block/thwack mode, with 38 of the 49 runs coming in boundaries, and the approach has served the well thus far. Compton then plays back to a ball that gets trapped between his thighs before dribbling away from the stumps.

22nd over: England 49-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 29, Compton 20) Ashwin continues to Cook after the drinks break. Nothing much happens. Cook's defence has been outstanding.

"Morning Rob," says Dan Lucas. "I'm not sure a lead of 250-odd with five wickets in hand, of whom Michael Clarke – with his home Test average this year of around 17 billion – is one, is a position from which Australia are likely to lose." Nor am I. I just said they might lose. If Clarke or Hussey go early tomorrow, it could turn into a hybrid of Perth 2008 and Adelaide 2003.

23rd over: England 51-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 29, Compton 22) Compton thick edges Ojha for two to bring up another fifty partnership for England's new opening pair. "That is truly an evocative picture," says Arnab Banerjee. "The twelve year old me, under the duvet listening to Don Mosey commentating on a little transistor radio." Every boy should grow up with TMS duvet nights. Australia 1990-91 was my first. Carl Bloody Rackemann.

24th over: England 52-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 30, Compton 22) Cook and Compton look extremely comfortable at the moment. As always in India, when you get in you have to make it count, because there will always be players who are dismissed in single figures.

"Bless the BCCI marketing dept," says Dominic Piper, achieving his lifetime ambition of coming up with a phrase that has never ever been used before. "I'd studiously avoided putting the cricket on so as not to upset the kids. But then I put the telly on to check the score and my three year old tells me he wants to watch it because he saw a Hot Wheels advert on the sightscreen."

25th over: England 53-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 31, Compton 22) Here's Bhajii to bowl in Test cricket for the first time since August 2011. His overspin should make him a significant threat on this pitch. A quiet first over brings just a single for Cook. The first 25 overs could barely have gone much better for England.

26th over: England 55-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 32, Compton 23) I've run out of things to say. I can't think of anything.

27th over: England 59-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 32, Compton 27) A bit of an escape for Compton, who turns Harbhajan between keeper and leg slip for four.

28th over: England 63-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 36, Compton 27) Cook smashes Ashwin straight into the ribs of Pujara at short leg. He really wore that, and is on his back receiving treatment. He's going to leave the field, although he doesn't seem too bad. The substitute Ajinkya Rahane assumes the position and then Cook times Ashwin beautifully off the pads for four.

"Something to talk about," says Sam Wylie. "Crystal Palace are top of the league." Next!

29th over: England 65-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 37, Compton 28) Harbhajan gets one to rear nastily at Cook, who gets a leading edge that plops safely on the off side. That could have gone anywhere.

"Given what's currently happening Down Under, how heavily will Australia defeat us, and at which point did they become favourites?" asks Paul Bacon. If they beat South Africa they go top of the Test rankings, so I suppose they'd become favourites then. I think England will win 2-1 next summer. The most important thing, though, is that it's going to be a belting series. It could even be the first ever SuperAshes, with both the urn and the mace at stake.

30th over: England 65-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 37, Compton 28) Cook premeditates a lap at Ashwin, so the short leg Rahane runs towards leg slip and almost takes a stunning catch. He couldn't quite get his hand down in time and it hit him on the boot. That was a wonderful effort, reminiscent of this stunning catch. The pressure is building, and later in the over Cook inside edges one just short of Rahane.

"I know Patel is largely thought of as a better player of spin but surely failure here would mean Morgan gets another crack at 6, especially as he should fill his boots in NZ?" says James Debens. "Bairstow at 5 of course means Bell must be waist-high in nappies and regret, the lil fella." Hmm, I don't know about that. Not many batsmen fill their boots on the green seamers of New Zealand. I doubt we'll see Morgan in Test cricket until at least next summer. I'd expect Bairstow and Bell to play over there, depending on what happens in the last few Tests here of course.

31st over: England 66-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 37, Compton 29) Groundhog Over.

WICKET! England 66-1 (Compton c Sehwag b Ojha 29) Ojha returns to the attack and makes the breakthrough with his fourth ball. Compton played forward defensively at a fine delivery that turned enough to take the edge, and Sehwag at slip took a low two-handed catch. That ends another promising innings from Compton, 29 from 90 balls.

32nd over: England 66-1 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 37, Trott 0) That was the widest delivery Ojha has bowled to Compton in this innings. I still think he had to play it, however. The new batsman is Jonathan Trott, who – and how weird it feels to type this – really needs a score.

33rd over: England 67-1 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 38, Trott 0) The short leg Rahane, again anticipating Cook's lap stroke, almost takes an outrageous low catch. The ball got to him pretty much on the half volley. Ten minues to tea.

WICKET! England 68-2 (Trott LBW b Ojha 0) Another failure for Jonathan Trott. He was beaten by the previous delivery and, perhaps unsettled, went back when he should have been forward. The ball went straight on to trap him in front of middle. It looked absolutely plumb, although I'd like to see a replay as I reckon Trott might just have got an inside edge.

34th over: England 68-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 39, Pietersen 0) That was the last ball of the over. That was Trott's second consecutive first-innings duck. He's improving, though: he only lasted four balls at Ahmedabad, whereas today he hung around for six.

35th over: England 73-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 40, Pietersen 4) The Sky commentators haven't mentioned a possible inside edge from Trott, and he didn't seem aggrieved by the decision. My eyes are clearly jiggered because I'm pretty sure I saw a deviation. Anyway, KP drives his first ball, from Harbhajan, crisply and calmly for four. That might be a sign of how he plans to play today after his KP-on-a-hot-tin-roof performance at Ahmedabad.

36th over: England 77-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 43, Pietersen 5) Cook survives a ludicrous shout for LBW when a ball from Ojha hits him well outside the line. That's the end of the session. Cook has been magnificent, again, and so much will depend on him after tea. Simon Burnton will be with you for the evening session. See you tomorrow.

TEA

Morning Rob, morning world! This tea break will be soundtracked by this nice song I just discovered. Enjoy. Or don't, I don't care. I'll be back when the action re-starts.

Drink up! The fielding side is back out and preparing for action, so drink up and settle down. This is a(nother) massive session for England, whose innings started promisingly but is currently just a couple of quick wickets away from hideous meltdown.

37th over: England 85-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 43, Pietersen 13) After giving himself a few balls to play himself in, Pietersen drives through cover for four and then boshes the next ball over mid on for another.

"On TMS Geoff Boycott is taking part in a Mastermind spoof: subject - Geoff Boycott," wrote John Starbuck during tea. "He's got one wrong though, as he can't remember the names of his boyhood pet rabbits. This seems odd, as I can recall the names of every animal we've adopted in our family, including dogs, cats and goldfish. Can't most people do that? If not, it would make a pretty good sledge, asking a batsman the name of all his pets, ever." Personally I think it would be a fairly boring sledge, but I do feel that anyone who cannot recall the names they have previously publicly announced belonged to their pet rabbits either has a truly woeful memory, or more likely just made up the rabbits in the first place.

38th over: England 86-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 44, Pietersen 13) The highlight of Ojha's over is another sweep from Cook, which goes for a single. It's not a good day to be fielding at short leg, as Pujara has already discovered, but this one goes over the fielder's shoulder.

39th over: England 93-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 46, Pietersen 18) Another four from Pietersen, hoiked through extra cover. He's started pretty well, and is scoring at more than a run a ball (he's faced 17).

40th over: England 94-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 47, Pietersen 18) Another sweep for Cook, and more pain for the man at short leg – this one thwacked Rahane full on the arse. Two balls later another sweep misses the man and goes for a single. Pujara, incidentally, has yet to return from his earlier blow.

41st over: England 96-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 49, Pietersen 18) Two runs off the last ball is the only interest in Ashwin's over. "I feel that Sir Geoff's failure to recall his pets name would be down to the fact that being a real Yorkshireman naming something that you could well eat is seen as being unnecessarily sentimental," suggests Phil Withall.

42nd over: England 101-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 49, Pietersen 23) Pietersen is picking the loose balls and dealing with them most effectively, moving England's tally into triple figures with a sharp drive through long off.

43rd over: England 108-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 51, Pietersen 28) Cook completes another half-century. Earlier, Pietersen cuts the ball away for four, the ball landing a couple of feet in front of Tendulkar at gully and then spinning out of reach and off to the boundary.

44th over: England 112-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 52, Pietersen 31) "Geoff can't recollect the names of any man or beast unless they have a first-class batting average of +40. Or can keep wicket, which is a scarce talent in the rabbit community, especially when facing leg spin," writes Paul Griffin. "Re the names, my money is on 'Fred' and ' Pinny'."

45th over: England 116-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 55, Pietersen 32) A lovely over from Ashwin, who repeatedly gets enough turn to trouble Cook. Twice he beats the bat, and once he finds an edge but the ball doesn't carry to slip.

46th over: England 120-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 55, Pietersen 36) Ooooooh! Now Ojha finds Pietersen's edge, and the ball bounces a foot short of slip. Makes a change of sorts – it had started to appear that every time Pietersen swung his bat, he unerringly found Harbhajan Singh at extra cover. And just as I write that, he boshes the ball high but safe over the bowler's head for four.

47th over: England 124-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 59, Pietersen 36) Ashwin bowls a loose ball, high and wide, and Cook slaps it through long on for four, not entirely convincingly. "I think the reason Sir Geoff can't remember the rabbits' names is because rabbits deserve no respect," writes Ian Reynolds. "They should learn to bat properly and with the proper technique and application. Honk?"

48th over: England 128-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 60, Pietersen 39) Pietersen boshes the ball towards the boundary, and three – three – fieldsmen give chase. Harbhajan reaches it first, a few yards away from the rope, and celebrates his success by throwing the ball about five feet over Dhoni's head. And then, a Cook single later, a faster ball rears off the pitch, beats Pietersen all ends up and Dhoni, having a testing couple of minutes, just about holds on to it.

49th over: England 129-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 61, Pietersen 39) "Talking about pet names got me thinking of a my valentines tradition with my fiance," writes Tom Gucht. "For the past few years I've been buying her a new goldfish on the 14th of February. Unfortunately, all apart from one of them have croaked after only a few weeks (possibly from the trauma of being transported from the pet shop to my house in my bike panniers mid winter) and I have to try and convince my special lady friend that her pet's death isn't some sort of morbid metaphor for our love." Let's hope that in a few years you won't be telling that story with a shake of the head and saying, "I should have trusted the goldfish."

50th over: England 136-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 66, Pietersen 41) Another sweep for Cook, but he gets a sharper angle on this one and it duly trundles away for four. On TMS, Boycott is asked if he's on Twitter. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't even know how to do it!" Cue lengthy discourse about text messaging.

51st over: England 140-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 70, Pietersen 41) And another swept four from Cook. Every one of his sweeps has provoked minor tweaks from the fielding team, but none of it seems to be stopping him.

52nd over: England 142-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 71, Pietersen 42) That's the 12th successive Ojha/Ashwin over, and they'll have some drinks now. An excellent start to the session from England, who but for the 45th over, when Ashwin had Cook in all sorts of trouble, have been admirably controlled.

53rd over: England 144-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 72, Pietersen 43) Harbhajan Singh returns to the fray. Couple of singles off the over.

54rd over: England 148-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 74, Pietersen 45) Ashwin continues, having changed ends. Pietersen celebrates by reverse sweeping the first delivery for a single, and the only other run from the over involved Cook playing a remarkably similar shot to exactly the same spot, only for him it was a non-reverse sweep. The penultimate ball flicks Pietersen's pad and loops up to leg slip, leading to loud appeals, but the bat was nowhere near it.

55th over: England 154-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 79, Pietersen 46) Harbhajan's first ball is too short and too wide, and Cook pulls it away for four. A few balls later Pietersen tries a sweep of his own, and this one smashes into Rahane's left arm at short leg. What a day he's having. As substitute fielder, he could reasonably have expected to spend quite a lot of the day with his feet up. Though he's going off now to apply more ice to his elbow, it increasingly looks like the only way he's going to spend any of this particular day with his feet up is if they're in traction.

56th over: England 159-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 79, Pietersen 51) Pietersen drills the ball through the covers for four to bring up his 50, and a little later there's a loud appeal for lbw against Cook, but the ball pitched way outside the line and the umpire is unimpressed. Chris Greenwood writes from Perpignan: "I guess I'm guilty of throwing your words back at you but we have avoided the follow-on haven't we? 'England – let's set our sights high – need 128 to avoid the follow-on.' The missus wants to know why we're so pessimistic. How do I explain to my charming French amour?" The only explanation takes about 20 years and involves watching quite a lot of cricket. Is she up for it?

57th over: England 161-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 79, Pietersen 51) Looking back, the last maiden over was the 31st, the one in which Compton was dismissed. A couple of singles from that one.

58th over: England 164-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 83, Pietersen 52) Tendulkar is also currently having a breather. There are substitutes for substitutes for substitutes out there. Talking of which, John Starbuck's got a question: "It's long been a policy to get rid of close fielders by smashing the ball at them, but it looks like England have been receiving some specialist training of late. That's three gone in this innings so far; how many substitutes are aside allowed for injury in the field?" Anyone?

59th over: England 164-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 83, Pietersen 52) Some pace, for a change, with Zaheer Khan coming on, and it's a maiden. "I'm sure I'm not alone in having named assorted pets after favourite cricketers through the years," writes Simon McMahon. "I'm now forcing the habit upon my two daughters. We currently have Clive the royal python, Richie the Yorkie and Shane the goldfish. Any suggestions for our new budgie that will be arriving soon?" I imagine if you could ask Clive, it would be "lunch".

60th over: England 165-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 83, Pietersen 53) That over doesn't have a whole lot to say for itself, but for a loud and entirely ludicrous lbw appeal against Pietersen – the ball would have cleared the stumps by a foot at least.

61st over: England 171-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 84, Pietersen 58) Pietersen flicks the ball off his ankles and through leg gully for four to bring up the 100 partnership, an absolutely invaluable one for England. There's a minimum of one over, and probably a couple more, to come before close of play at around 11am GMT. "So, KP has gone past 50 and is looking good for a lot more," writes Sankaran Krishna. "Of the three players who had issues with him, Broad went for over four runs an over and never looked like getting a wicket - and he looked just as hopeless with both bat and ball in the last test. Bresnan has already been dropped. Only Swann is still holding his own - barely. Lesson to be learned here folks - quality will out. Talk is cheap."

62nd over: England 176-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 85, Pietersen 62) A loud and sustained lbw appeal against Cook, caught attempting yet another sweep, does not impress Aleem Dar. It should have, I think. Cook has been batting brilliantly yet again, but that was a let-off.

63rd over: England 176-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 85, Pietersen 62) Cook survives another chance! Khan bowls, Cook edges, the ball bounces three feet short of first slip. Another maiden for Khan. Cricket-themed pets dept: Sean Boiling has a dog called Freddie; Sarah Whatman has a cat called Waqar; Sarah Whatman's brother has a dog called Monty.

64th over: England 176-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 85, Pietersen 62) Ojha replaces Harbhajan, and there has been a perceptible change in mood here, with England's batsmen concentrating now on survival until stumps. The result is another maiden. We can squeeze in one more over before stumps.

65th over: England 178-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 87, Pietersen 62) Four men crowd round the bat as Harbhajan takes the ball. Cook attempts a cut, which arrows straight into Sehwag's instep and it looks like the England captain has injured yet another fielder, but he's soon up on (what's left of) his feet and raring to go. And where he is going, specifically, is home. Or a hotel.

STUMPS A brilliant final session from England, who in hauling themselves from 68-2 to 178-2 have probably put themselves back on a par with India in this Test, which could still go either way. It could even be a draw, which nobody would have considered a possibility at tea on day one. England trail by 149. Cook has batted brilliantly, just as in the first Test. Pietersen has batted brilliantly, unlike in the first Test. Rob Smyth informs me that Cook and Pietersen are now England's most prolific non-opening partnership in the entire history of Test cricket – that was their 12th century stand. Tomorrow should be another intriguing day – do join us here, where Rob will be joined by Jacob Steinberg. Bye!

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54rd over: England 148-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 74, Pietersen 45) Ashwin continues, having changed ends. Pietersen celebrates by reverse sweeping the first delivery for a single, and the only other run from the over involved Cook playing a remarkably similar shot to exactly the same spot, only for him it was a non-reverse sweep. The penultimate ball flicks Pietersen's pad and loops up to leg slip, leading to loud appeals, but the bat was nowhere near it.

53rd over: England 144-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 72, Pietersen 43) Harbhajan Singh returns to the fray. Couple of singles off the over.

52nd over: England 142-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 71, Pietersen 42) That's the 12th successive Ojha/Ashwin over, and they'll have some drinks now. An excellent start to the session from England, who but for the 45th over, when Ashwin had Cook in all sorts of trouble, have been admirably controlled.

51st over: England 140-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 70, Pietersen 41) And another swept four from Cook. Every one of his sweeps has provoked minor tweaks from the fielding team, but none of it seems to be stopping him.

50th over: England 136-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 66, Pietersen 41) Another sweep for Cook, but he gets a sharper angle on this one and it duly trundles away for four. On TMS, Boycott is asked if he's on Twitter. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't even know how to do it!" Cue lengthy discourse about text messaging.

49th over: England 129-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 61, Pietersen 39) "Talking about pet names got me thinking of a my valentines tradition with my fiance," writes Tom Gucht. "For the past few years I've been buying her a new goldfish on the 14th of February. Unfortunately, all apart from one of them have croaked after only a few weeks (possibly from the trauma of being transported from the pet shop to my house in my bike panniers mid winter) and I have to try and convince my special lady friend that her pet's death isn't some sort of morbid metaphor for our love." Let's hope that in a few years you won't be telling that story with a shake of the head and saying, "I should have trusted the goldfish."

48th over: England 128-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 60, Pietersen 39) Pietersen boshes the ball towards the boundary, and three – three – fieldsmen give chase. Harbhajan reaches it first, a few yards away from the rope, and celebrates his success by throwing the ball about five feet over Dhoni's head. And then, a Cook single later, a faster ball rears off the pitch, beats Pietersen all ends up and Dhoni, having a testing couple of minutes, just about holds on to it.

47th over: England 124-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 59, Pietersen 36) Ashwin bowls a loose ball, high and wide, and Cook slaps it through long on for four, not entirely convincingly. "I think the reason Sir Geoff can't remember the rabbits' names is because rabbits deserve no respect," writes Ian Reynolds. "They should learn to bat properly and with the proper technique and application. Honk?"

46th over: England 120-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 55, Pietersen 36) Ooooooh! Now Ojha finds Pietersen's edge, and the ball bounces a foot short of slip. Makes a change of sorts – it had started to appear that every time Pietersen swung his bat, he unerringly found Harbhajan Singh at extra cover. And just as I write that, he boshes the ball high but safe over the bowler's head for four.

45th over: England 116-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 55, Pietersen 32) A lovely over from Ashwin, who repeatedly gets enough turn to trouble Cook. Twice he beats the bat, and once he finds an edge but the ball doesn't carry to slip.

44th over: England 112-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 52, Pietersen 31) "Geoff can't recollect the names of any man or beast unless they have a first-class batting average of +40. Or can keep wicket, which is a scarce talent in the rabbit community, especially when facing leg spin," writes Paul Griffin. "Re the names, my money is on 'Fred' and ' Pinny'."

43rd over: England 108-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 51, Pietersen 28) Cook completes another half-century. Earlier, Pietersen cuts the ball away for four, the ball landing a couple of feet in front of Tendulkar at gully and then spinning out of reach and off to the boundary.

42nd over: England 101-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 49, Pietersen 23) Pietersen is picking the loose balls and dealing with them most effectively, moving England's tally into triple figures with a sharp drive through long off.

41st over: England 96-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 49, Pietersen 18) Two runs off the last ball is the only interest in Ashwin's over. "I feel that Sir Geoff's failure to recall his pets name would be down to the fact that being a real Yorkshireman naming something that you could well eat is seen as being unnecessarily sentimental," suggests Phil Withall.

40th over: England 94-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 47, Pietersen 18) Another sweep for Cook, and more pain for the man at short leg – this one thwacked Rahane full on the arse. Two balls later another sweep misses the man and goes for a single. Pujara, incidentally, has yet to return from his earlier blow.

39th over: England 93-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 46, Pietersen 18) Another four from Pietersen, hoiked through extra cover. He's started pretty well, and is scoring at more than a run a ball (he's faced 17).

38th over: England 86-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 44, Pietersen 13) The highlight of Ojha's over is another sweep from Cook, which goes for a single. It's not a good day to be fielding at short leg, as Pujara has already discovered, but this one goes over the fielder's shoulder.

37th over: England 85-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 43, Pietersen 13) After giving himself a few balls to play himself in, Pietersen drives through cover for four and then boshes the next ball over mid on for another.

"On TMS Geoff Boycott is taking part in a Mastermind spoof: subject - Geoff Boycott," wrote John Starbuck during tea. "He's got one wrong though, as he can't remember the names of his boyhood pet rabbits. This seems odd, as I can recall the names of every animal we've adopted in our family, including dogs, cats and goldfish. Can't most people do that? If not, it would make a pretty good sledge, asking a batsman the name of all his pets, ever." Personally I think it would be a fairly boring sledge, but I do feel that anyone who cannot recall the names they have previously publicly announced belonged to their pet rabbits either has a truly woeful memory, or more likely just made up the rabbits in the first place.

Drink up! The fielding side is back out and preparing for action, so drink up and settle down. This is a(nother) massive session for England, whose innings started promisingly but is currently just a couple of quick wickets away from hideous meltdown.

Morning Rob, morning world! This tea break will be soundtracked by this nice song I just discovered. Enjoy. Or don't, I don't care. I'll be back when the action re-starts.

TEA

36th over: England 77-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 43, Pietersen 5) Cook survives a ludicrous shout for LBW when a ball from Ojha hits him well outside the line. That's the end of the session. Cook has been magnificent, again, and so much will depend on him after tea. Simon Burnton will be with you for the evening session. See you tomorrow.

35th over: England 73-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 40, Pietersen 4) The Sky commentators haven't mentioned a possible inside edge from Trott, and he didn't seem aggrieved by the decision. My eyes are clearly jiggered because I'm pretty sure I saw a deviation. Anyway, KP drives his first ball, from Harbhajan, crisply and calmly for four. That might be a sign of how he plans to play today after his KP-on-a-hot-tin-roof performance at Ahmedabad.

34th over: England 68-2 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 39, Pietersen 0) That was the last ball of the over. That was Trott's second consecutive first-innings duck. He's improving, though: he only lasted four balls at Ahmedabad, whereas today he hung around for six.

WICKET! England 68-2 (Trott LBW b Ojha 0) Another failure for Jonathan Trott. He was beaten by the previous delivery and, perhaps unsettled, went back when he should have been forward. The ball went straight on to trap him in front of middle. It looked absolutely plumb, although I'd like to see a replay as I reckon Trott might just have got an inside edge.

33rd over: England 67-1 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 38, Trott 0) The short leg Rahane, again anticipating Cook's lap stroke, almost takes an outrageous low catch. The ball got to him pretty much on the half volley. Ten minues to tea.

32nd over: England 66-1 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 37, Trott 0) That was the widest delivery Ojha has bowled to Compton in this innings. I still think he had to play it, however. The new batsman is Jonathan Trott, who – and how weird it feels to type this – really needs a score.

WICKET! England 66-1 (Compton c Sehwag b Ojha 29) Ojha returns to the attack and makes the breakthrough with his fourth ball. Compton played forward defensively at a fine delivery that turned enough to take the edge, and Sehwag at slip took a low two-handed catch. That ends another promising innings from Compton, 29 from 90 balls.

31st over: England 66-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 37, Compton 29) Groundhog Over.

30th over: England 65-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 37, Compton 28) Cook premeditates a lap at Ashwin, so the short leg Rahane runs towards leg slip and almost takes a stunning catch. He couldn't quite get his hand down in time and it hit him on the boot. That was a wonderful effort, reminiscent of this stunning catch. The pressure is building, and later in the over Cook inside edges one just short of Rahane.

"I know Patel is largely thought of as a better player of spin but surely failure here would mean Morgan gets another crack at 6, especially as he should fill his boots in NZ?" says James Debens. "Bairstow at 5 of course means Bell must be waist-high in nappies and regret, the lil fella." Hmm, I don't know about that. Not many batsmen fill their boots on the green seamers of New Zealand. I doubt we'll see Morgan in Test cricket until at least next summer. I'd expect Bairstow and Bell to play over there, depending on what happens in the last few Tests here of course.

29th over: England 65-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 37, Compton 28) Harbhajan gets one to rear nastily at Cook, who gets a leading edge that plops safely on the off side. That could have gone anywhere.

"Given what's currently happening Down Under, how heavily will Australia defeat us, and at which point did they become favourites?" asks Paul Bacon. If they beat South Africa they go top of the Test rankings, so I suppose they'd become favourites then. I think England will win 2-1 next summer. The most important thing, though, is that it's going to be a belting series. It could even be the first ever SuperAshes, with both the urn and the mace at stake.

28th over: England 63-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 36, Compton 27) Cook smashes Ashwin straight into the ribs of Pujara at short leg. He really wore that, and is on his back receiving treatment. He's going to leave the field, although he doesn't seem too bad. The substitute Ajinkya Rahane assumes the position and then Cook times Ashwin beautifully off the pads for four.

"Something to talk about," says Sam Wylie. "Crystal Palace are top of the league." Next!

27th over: England 59-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 32, Compton 27) A bit of an escape for Compton, who turns Harbhajan between keeper and leg slip for four.

26th over: England 55-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 32, Compton 23) I've run out of things to say. I can't think of anything.

25th over: England 53-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 31, Compton 22) Here's Bhajii to bowl in Test cricket for the first time since August 2011. His overspin should make him a significant threat on this pitch. A quiet first over brings just a single for Cook. The first 25 overs could barely have gone much better for England.

24th over: England 52-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 30, Compton 22) Cook and Compton look extremely comfortable at the moment. As always in India, when you get in you have to make it count, because there will always be players who are dismissed in single figures.

"Bless the BCCI marketing dept," says Dominic Piper, achieving his lifetime ambition of coming up with a phrase that has never ever been used before. "I'd studiously avoided putting the cricket on so as not to upset the kids. But then I put the telly on to check the score and my three year old tells me he wants to watch it because he saw a Hot Wheels advert on the sightscreen."

23rd over: England 51-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 29, Compton 22) Compton thick edges Ojha for two to bring up another fifty partnership for England's new opening pair. "That is truly an evocative picture," says Arnab Banerjee. "The twelve year old me, under the duvet listening to Don Mosey commentating on a little transistor radio." Every boy should grow up with TMS duvet nights. Australia 1990-91 was my first. Carl Bloody Rackemann.

22nd over: England 49-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 29, Compton 20) Ashwin continues to Cook after the drinks break. Nothing much happens. Cook's defence has been outstanding.

"Morning Rob," says Dan Lucas. "I'm not sure a lead of 250-odd with five wickets in hand, of whom Michael Clarke – with his home Test average this year of around 17 billion – is one, is a position from which Australia are likely to lose." Nor am I. I just said they might lose. If Clarke or Hussey go early tomorrow, it could turn into a hybrid of Perth 2008 and Adelaide 2003.

21st over: England 49-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 29, Compton 20) Nick Compton jumps out of his bunker, charging down the pitch to drag Ojha to long on for a one-bounce four. England have been slightly in block/thwack mode, with 38 of the 49 runs coming in boundaries, and the approach has served the well thus far. Compton then plays back to a ball that gets trapped between his thighs before dribbling away from the stumps.

20th over: England 45-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 29, Compton 16) Oof. Ashwin beats Cook with a brutish delivery that turns and bounces off middle stump. There's not much you can do against bowling like that.

19th over: England 44-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 29, Compton 15) Where is my Alastair Cook? What have you done with him? The Cook impostor is very confident coming down the pitch to Ojha, and he does so again to drive lazily over mid on for four.

18th over: England 40-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 25, Compton 15) Compton comes down the track to Ashwin, plays for non-existent turn and gets a leading edge just wide of Sehwag at slip for four. Ashwin then switches around the wicket to Compton, who gets in a tangle with a ball that bounces sharply to hit him in the chest. That was an excellent over.

"I know this is slightly off beam in the context of this match but have you seen this footage of Duncan Spencer?" says Phil Rhodes. "Proper pace bowling. Sad that his back meant he never got a chance at the highest level." Yep, I've wept over that footage before. He was such a prospect.

17th over: England 36-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 25, Compton 11) Cook defends a maiden from Ojha. England have played really well so far, even if the pitch hasn't done as much as we might have expected. The tempo of the game, however, is not conducive to staying awake at 7.30am.

16th over: England 36-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 25, Compton 11) "Incidentally, good to see that your recovery is coming along well," says Robin Hazlehurst. "In the 9th over you typed the words 'Adelaide' 'second Test' and 'lost... after posting 550' without any sign of the yips. Followed by a couple of shorter entries I notice though, was that the shaking hands and twitching eye making it difficult to type? Or are you really really recovered?" Adelaide's gone, mate. It went in December 2010. Abu Dhabi, on the other hand ...

15th over: England 36-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 25, Compton 11) Ojha comes into the attack in place of Zaheer Khan (5-2-6-0). Cook comes down the track again, this time to drive Ojha for a handsome six over mid-on. That's an outstanding shot, only the eighth six of his Test career. He looks a seriously good batsman right now.

14th over: England 28-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 17, Compton 11) A stroke of luck for Cook, who top edges a cut at Ashwin wide of gully for four. That's a risky stroke with the extra bounce, although as much as anything I think it was a bit too straight for the shot.

13th over: England 22-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 12, Compton 10) Zaheer moves around the wicket to Compton. He probably hasn't made the batsmen play enough, but with Zaheer you always wonder whether that's part of a set-up rather than poor bowling. Nothing much is happening. From an England point of view it's akin to a slightly unsettling silence.

"I think England need to get quick runs now as the ball will start to turn about now like it did yesterday!" says Dipak Patel.

12th over: England 21-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 12, Compton 8) Compton, after blocking a series of deliveries from the spinners, pulls out the sweep to get Ashwin away for a single. Ashwin then has a tentative LBW appeal against Cook; there was a big inside edge.

11th over: England 20-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 12, Compton 8) Cook pulls Zaheer nicely for four. England are dealing in boundaries and dot balls at the moment.

10th over: England 16-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 8, Compton 8) Ashwin replaces Ojha and bowls a maiden to the watchful Compton. England are doing well defensively but they might be slightly concerned about the scoring rate.

"Saw my good friend J Evans on Thursday night who contrived to miss a train and stayed the night," says Paul. "He was inordinately smug after having his ridiculous suggestion of opening with KP ridiculed by Lord Selvey."

9th over: England 16-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 8, Compton 8) Sad to report that Ricky Ponting has failed again in Adelaide, where a fascinating second Test has taken another twist. Australia lost on that ground to India in 2003 after posting 550; lightning may be about to strike twice.

"England are well positioned now, having done the first part of the job by getting India all out for not much more than 300," says expert deadpan comedian Anand Subramaniam. "The pitch is going to be at its easiest for batting today and tomorrow, and if Cook and Compton can set it up, England can pull the rug from under India. I think a first innings lead of around 100+ by tea tomorrow is on the cards."

8th over: England 16-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 8, Compton 8) Ojha's first ball drifts onto the pads and is flicked fine for four by Compton. England's start has been almost too comfortable.

7th over: England 12-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 8, Compton 4) Cook ignores a series of wider deliveries from Zaheer.

6th over: England 11-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 8, Compton 3) The left-arm spinner Ojha continues around the wicket to Cook, who skips down the track to chip authoritatively over midwicket for four.

5th over: England 7-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 4, Compton 3) The ball didn't really grip for the spinners before lunch, so Zaheer Khan is going to replace R Ashwin. He starts to Nick Compton, who edges the last ball of the over just short of second slip. An excellent start from Zaheer. You sense that he fancies Compton as a relatively cheap top-order wicket.

"Early start to fly to Cork for my grandparents' wedding anniversary – they are 60 not out and would be completely bemused by an OBO mention as they wouldn't know anything about cricket," says Rossa Brugha. "Now an MBM on hurling..... The old boy would love that. Is Glendenning in the office yet?" Bazza's regularly in the office at 6am on a Saturday, but not this week.

LUNCH

4th over: England 7-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 4, Compton 3) That's lunch. England's openers played well in those four overs, when things could easily have turned nasty. They trail by 320. See you in half an hour for a huge afternoon session in the context of the match, the series and the future of this England team.

3rd over: England 6-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 4, Compton 2) It's been a comfortable start for England, with both openers defending solidly. We'll have time for one more over before lunch.

2nd over: England 5-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 4, Compton 1) Pragyan Ojha will share the new ball. After a quick play with Statsguru I think this is the first time since 1967 that two spinners have opened the bowling in a Test against England – and that doesn't really count because England were chasing a target of three to win the match. Ojha also has four men round the bat for Nick Compton, who gets off the mark with a work to leg. Cook then gets going with an easy cut stroke for four. We'll probably have two more overs, unless India take a wicket.

1st over: England 0-0 (in reply to India's 327; Cook 0, Compton 0) MS Dhoni will surely start with spin at both ends. It'll be R Ashwin to bowl the first over anyway. He has a slip, gully, short leg and silly point for Cook. The third ball, wide of off stump, bounces ominously from a fullish length. A maiden.

"Am stuck at office with two odd TVs at food courts that plays the 'Breaking News' (read Indian Politics) all day long," says Bastab Chakraborty. " So, my only hope to follow Pujara's histrionics is by following your blog on Guardian.
So, this Pujara guy looks like an able successor to Dravid, what say? But, we are yet to get a Laxman. Maybe Kohli will find some time someday for that." I thought Kohli was Tendulkar? I'm confused now. So what's an elf?

INNINGS BREAK

WICKET! India 327 all out (Zaheer c Bairstow b Swann 11) Swann wraps up the innings when Zaheer is caught at short leg. Sad to say it's a desperate decision from Aleem Dar, with the bat nowhere near the ball. He took an age to give it as well. The absence of DRS seems to have really unsettled him. Swann ends with four for 70, Monty with five for 129, and England – let's set our sights high – need 128 to avoid the follow-on. Alastair Cook and Nick Compton will have an unpleasant ten-minute spell before lunch.

115th over: India 327-9 (Zaheer 11, Ojha 0) Zaheer swipes consecutive deliveries from Panesar for four and then six, a biggie over long on.

114th over: India 316-9 (Zaheer 0, Ojha 0) A wicket maiden for Swann.

HALLEY'S COMET! India 316-9 (Pujara st Prior b Swann 135) Glory be. Pujara, who has been at the crease since the year 12 BC, is finally dismissed. It was a lovely piece of bowling from Swann; Pujara danced down the track, was beaten in the flight and beaten on the outside when the ball went straight on. Matt Prior did the rest. Pujara walks off to a lovely ovation for an immense innings of 135 from 350 balls. It means he finally has a series average. Of 382.

113th over: India 316-8 (Pujara 135, Zaheer 0) Monty has no silly point for Zaheer, which doesn't impress David Gower and Sir Ian Botham. He comes in for the final ball of the over. This is all I have to say. Monty has figures of 46-12-118-5; Swann's are 33-6-70-2.

"So do you get to OBO from home now?" says Danielle Tolson. "I thought it there were security issues that meant you had to go in to the office. Still, this way I guess you don't have to worry about getting a P45 if you are currently sitting in your undies." No sack jokes please, we're British.

112th over: India 315-8 (Pujara 134, Zaheer 0) "Last Test all the talk was how England lacked a replacement for Collingwood with the bat and how he'd have stuck at the crease long enough for his tea to get cold, etc," says Simon Brereton. "My wonderful fiancée has just made the pertinent observation that his Collywobblers might also have been some use in this Test. I don't know if she's enjoying listening to him commentating more than she's upset he's not out there. Should I get a restraining order?" On his behalf? Probably best.

WICKET! India 315-8 (Harbhajan LBW b Swann 21) A great line from Beefy, who says that Pujara "really does not to get out more". He has now batted 1000 minutes in the series without being dismissed. England have taken another wicket, but it's not Pujara. Harbhajan went too far across to Swann and was hit on the pad in front of middle. Aleem Dar raised the finger to give Swann his 200th Test wicket, which is 200 more than seemed likely when he was irritating allcomers in South Africa 13 years ago. He has been a pleasure to watch in the last few years, the best England spinner many of us have ever seen.

111th over: India 314-7 (Pujara 133, Harbhajan 21) Obligatory Jay-Z reference: England have got 99 problems and a pitch is one. Harbhajan, pushing at another good one from Panesar, edges it wide of the diving Swann at gully for four. Then he does attempt some bish-bosh, driving Panesar sweetly over mid-on for the first six of the game. Shot!

110th over: India 302-7 (Pujara 132, Harbhajan 10) Swann goes up for LBW when Harbhajan misses a rancid slog sweep. He was outside the line and Aleem Dar pulls his slightly sad sorry-I'd-love-to-give-that-out-as-you're-a-nice-human-being-and-I'd-like-to-please-you-but-it-just-wasn't-out face. There's another appeal against Harbhajan later in the over; same point of contact, same Aleem Dar face. Harbhajan looks like he's warming to the idea of some bish-bosh.

109th over: India 301-7 (Pujara 132, Harbhajan 9) Bhajii inside edges Monty – we're all friends here – for a couple to bring up the 300. With a score like that, on this pitch, it's hard to resist the conclusion that we're all going to die.

"Crisis averted on the yoga front," says Stuart Wilson. "I've just admitted that I am too much of a coward to go and have been let off. It's fortunate that I lost hero status in my house many years ago and so this latest setback has not left me any lower in the pecking order. I'm now on the sofa eating biscuits." And the award for Man of the Year 2012 goes to ...

108th over: India 295-7 (Pujara 129, Harbhajan 6) Swann has been fairly ineffectual this morning. His record when he plays with Panesar looks okay (they both average about 34) but it's not so good since he became the senior spinner. It might just be coincidence, though, as the sample size is pretty small.

"Kieron Shaw's mail, about reverse swing: it could be to do with the ball as well," says Dileep Premachandran. "The SG is quite different from the Dukes. India's pacers, especially Zaheer, were getting it to go Irish within 12 or 15 overs against Australia in 2008. It took the Aussie quicks twice or thrice as long and it wasn't nearly as dramatic. I think part of India's secret was bowling cross-seam from ball one."

107th over: India 293-7 (Pujara 128, Harbhajan 5) The other thing Pujara is doing here is allowing the pitch to age. There's a difference between being 293 for seven after 70 overs and after 107. By the time England bat we will probably be into the fifth session, which make a difference on a used pitch. Pujara plays out a maiden from Panesar. His 128 has taken 334 balls, a joyously old-fashioned innings that allows me to link to this brilliant piece from Rob Bagchi.

106th over: India 293-7 (Pujara 128, Harbhajan 5) Swann gets some vile turn and bounce to beat Harbhajan on the inside, with the ball flicking the pad and just clearing the stumps. Harbhajan will have loved it, because he is infinitely more dangerous on a pitch with bounce.

105th over: India 292-7 (Pujara 127, Harbhajan 5) Harbhajan edges a beauty from Panesar that goes right between Prior and Trott for four. Trott is slightly wider than usual and couldn't react quickly enough as he moved low to his left. He was a bit slow getting down. That's the 471st chance England have missed in the field this year. Bring back Tufnell and Mullally.

"What with all the KP flimflam over the summer, next to nothing little seemed to be written in the papers about the most unsettling aspect of the South Africa series for England: namely, day after day, Test after Test, our previously unplayable, No.1-in-the-world pacemen bowled joylessly and then shrugged and declared there to be 'no swing on this pitch' — only for the Saffers to immediately find it as soon as England were batting," says Kieron Shaw. "Then the same thing happened in Ahmedabad — no reverse swing for us; tons for India. Is anyone looking into this? Is there a technique issue? Considering how Anderson in particular hadn't played anything other than utterly beautifully for 18 months before that, it's a bit of a worry that lateral movement now seems a strain for him and the rest..."

104th over: India 288-7 (Pujara 127, Harbhajan 1) Pujara hasn't changed his tempo, even though India are seven wickets down. He just bats time, like they did in the Fifties. A maiden from Swann.

"After 10 Tests Sir Ian Botham had 479 runs & 53 wkts," says Hardik Vaghani. "Ashwin in his 10th now has 436 runs & 53 wkts. He could surpass Botham this mtch." But could he single-handedly win a Test with bat, ball and brandy?

103rd over: India 288-7 (Pujara 127, Harbhajan 1) The pitch hasn't done that much this morning, in truth, but apparently Rahul Dravid reckons this pitch won't slow down like the one in Ahmedabad, so this is still a very good score for India. Pujara pads up to Panesar, who spins on his heels to launch into another wild-eyed LBW appeal. Tony Hill rightly says not out; it was missing off. Then Harbhajan, slow to back up and loath to dive, would have been run out by a direct hit from point. That was awful cricket from Harbhajan. He basically couldn't be bothered!

"A gentle six miles after play helps you sleep better," says Paul King. "The other (possibly more enjoyable) option is six pints."

102nd over: India 286-7 (Pujara 126, Harbhajan 0) Pujara late cuts Swann for a couple. HOW THE HELL DO YOU GET THIS BLOKE OUT? He has now scored 371 runs in the series without being dismissed.

"I'm a Brit living in Mumbai," says Mark Hannant. "Just heading off to day two with my half-English, half-Indian, six-year-old son. His first ever cricket match. Loyalties a bit muddled! Today he's supporting England but wearing a Mumbai Indians shirt. That's multiculturalism for you."

101st over: India 284-7 (Pujara 124, Harbhajan 0) Harbhajan is beaten twice by Panesar, the second by a delivery that turns sharply. A maiden.

"Uncalled for OBO sledging," is the subject of Matt Dony's email. "I thought you'd said that Naylor was president of the After 8s club. Boom." Go back to bed, Dony.

100th over: India 284-7 (Pujara 124, Harbhajan 0) Swann replaces Anderson. His fifth ball is so filthy that not even White Spirit could cleanse it: short, wide and blasted for four by the magnificent Pujara.

"Morning Rob!" says Amy Lofthouse. "My housemates stumbled in from a drunken night of debauchery just as I settled on the sofa to watch the Test. After a brief five minutes of trying to explain the general rules, they gave up and have gone elsewhere to continue drinking. Who's having the most fun?" I'm not sure. The Student Loans Company?

99th over: India 280-7 (Pujara 120, Harbhajan 0) The new batsman, Harbhajan Singh, is a dangerous hitter whose back England will want to see sooner rather than later. A wicket maiden for Monty, who has figures of 39-10-93-5. His career best is six for 37. On Sky, Nasser tells us that Tony Hill's decision would have stood even with DRS: the point of contact was umpire's call.

WICKET! India 280-7 (Ashwin LBW b Panesar 68) Five wickets for Monty! That was an excellent piece of bowling, an arm ball that skidded on to hit the flap of the pad in front of the stumps. Ashwin was barely halfway through his shot, completely beaten for pace. I think he might just have been out the line in fact, but Tony Hill raised the finger. Ashwin made an outstanding and potentially match-winning 68.

98th over: India 280-6 (Pujara 120, Ashwin 68) Anderson, perhaps sick of seeing the maker's name of Pujara's bat, goes a little wider in an attempt to get Pujara fishing outside off. Good luck with that, Jimmy. Pujara ignores the good-length balls and then slams a shorter one through cover for four. His shot selection is extremely good for a 24-year-old.

"Come to think of it," says Martin Wright, "the best sort of literary sledge could combine poetry with some good old fashioned personal abuse, to keep it sledgey. You know, sort of: 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? You tosser'." Or maybe you could unsettle them with a bit of Brent. No you listen to me, "Cheteshwar".

97th over: India 276-6 (Pujara 116, Ashwin 68) Panesar beats Ashwin twice in that over, the first time with bounce and the second with turn. He is bowling beautifully here. I'd get Swann on at the other end; bugger all is happening for Jim E. Anderson, accurate though he has been.

"Normally, I love a No8 getting runs," says Gary Naylor, who has been the president of the No8 club for as long as I've known him. "I say, normally."

96th over: India 276-6 (Pujara 116, Ashwin 68) Ashwin drives Anderson on the up but short of extra cover. Nothing else happens. The end.

"Nice to see they are keeping you honest on the early turn again," says Paul King of Sky cricket. "Often suspicious of much-hyped long players, but the Tame Impala record is rather good. Listened to it on my post-play run yesterday and enjoyed very much." In my delirious post-play state yesterday I was debating buying that; Feels Like We Only Go Backwards is a fine piece of mus- hang on, you were up at 2am for the cricket and then went for a run after play? Surely that's a recipe for a jelly-legged disaster?

95th over: India 273-6 (Pujara 116, Ashwin 65) Ashwin slices a drive at Panesar that goes in the air but between cover and point. That ball went through the top. Monty has been very accurate this morning. He is a helluva player to have as reserve spinner.

"Morning Rob, morning all," says Matt Dony. "I'm confined to the sofa because, apparently, uncontrollable coughing fits and a tired wife are not happy bedfellows. I really need sleep, but now I've got this OBO as a distraction. I find myself hoping England don't take early wickets, as that would just raise the Spectre of False Hope, and that git will keep me wide awake." The way this is going, the only fits you'll be having by 9am will be of laughter.

94th over: India 272-6 (Pujara 116, Ashwin 64) A trio of singles from that Anderson over. India have started well, that one LBW shout aside, and the pitch hasn't done a lot yet.

"Good morning Rob," says Martin Wright. "'Minds on the margin are not necessarily marginal minds' – Prof Anil Gupta. It's not really relevant, but it's a good quote. Perhaps Monty could use it as a sort of bewilderingly intellectual sledge. Anything's worth trying to disrupt Chintu's Buddha-like calm." There's not enough unusual sledging. Frank Tyson used to quote Wordsworth and Shakespeare to batsmen and Kumar Sangakkara apparently starting singing the Everly Brothers to Nasser in 2003. Surely it's not beyond Tim Bresnan to start quoting Kieślowski to confused batsmen.

93rd over: India 269-6 (Pujara 115, Ashwin 62) A maiden from Panesar to the watchful Pujara.

92nd over: India 269-6 (Pujara 115, Ashwin 62) It'll be Jimmy Anderson at the other end, with the new ball 11 overs old. He has a huge appeal for LBW against Pujara turned down by Aleem Dar. What was wrong with that? It looked an extremely good shout as Pujara wafted around an inducker. It might just have been sliding down and Bumble reckons there might have been an inside edge. It's hard to say either way, although Aleem Dar gave is as runs. I reckon that was hitting leg stump, maybe 'umpire's call'.

Here's Harry Tuttle. "Tintin. Maoams. Early night." Isn't that the name of Pete Doherty's new band?

91st over: India 267-6 (Pujara 114, Ashwin 61) Mudhsuden Singh Panesar is going to open the bowling from the North End. He has a slip and short leg (Jonny Bairstow today, rather than Alastair Cook) for Ashwin, who gets the first run of the day with a single into the covers. A solid start from both bowler and batsmen.

"In a moment of ill placed bravado I agreed to go to 90 minutes of Zen hot yoga with my wife this morning," says Stuart Wilson. "As a man who struggles to tie my laces, I fear that this is going to catapult my back 20 years to the humiliation of double PE at school. It isn't helped by being told that men who do it are generally topless, imagine! I beg you to help me with an excuse, I have about an hour to get out of it." You could fake a thundering nervous breakdown?

Good Friday night? Send in any tales of interest. Vicarious living and all that. My Friday night consisted of necking Strathmore chasers and being in bed by 8pm. I win, yet again.

I'll be back in 10 minutes, when play will resume. I'm off to make an espresso.

Preamble Good morning. For years and years, England's woes could be summed up in two words: Margaret Thatcher 20 wickets. If they didn't take 20 wickets they couldn't win Test matches; working out how they might do so kept Nasser Hussain awake at night when he was captain. Now they have a new problem: first-innings runs. If you don't score big or at least biggish first-innings runs you are likely to lose Test matches; England's first-innings scores in Asia this year have been 192, 327, 141, 193, 460 and 191. When their turn comes to bat in this match, they must surely get at least 350 if they are to have a chance of victory. First they need to wrap up India's innings. Ordinarily a score of 266 for six after day one would suggest an even game, but this is not an ordinary pitch. If India get much more than 300, England will be in the malodorous stuff.

England in India 2012-13India cricket teamEngland cricket teamCricketRob SmythSimon Burnton
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80th over: India 224-6 (Pujara 99, Ashwin 33) One step at a time, Pujara approaches his century, one run at a time. He faces the last delivery on 99 runs, the crowd wildly screaming his name and ... it's another dot ball.

79th over: India 222-6 (Pujara 98, Ashwin 32) A maiden from Patel. Andrew Milligan has done some statistical research: "In the eight matches they've played together (including this one) Panesar has 31 wickets at 33.87 and Swann 30 at 34.4, so not much in it (and before today Swann would have had overall better figures)."

78th over: India 222-6 (Pujara 98, Ashwin 32) Ashwin gets a single off Swann's first ball. Pujara! Pujara! Pujara gets a single off the second. He is in a total lack of a hurry.

77th over: India 217-6 (Pujara 97, Ashwin 28) Pujara! Pujara! scream the crowd as their man gets to within a couple of pigeon-steps of a century. He however is much less excited than they are, and pads away Patel's last couple of balls.

76th over: India 215-6 (Pujara 96, Ashwin 27) There was a run-out chance in that last over, which I missed while I took a, erm, comfort break. Pujara took a single and slipped as he turned for the second. Ashwin was half way down the wicket when he noticed, and only just made it back to safety in time thanks to a full-length dive.

75th over: India 214-6 (Pujara 95, Ashwin 27) "I'm now going to go write a very dull report on our international sales prospects for the next quarter but I still expect that to be more fun than watching us flail around trying to get Ashwin and Harbahjan out," writes Mike Carrington as Patel's over, following a drinks break, goes for two. Mike is a "key account manager" for his firm. Is there a "less important account manager", or a "largely irrelevant account manager"? Anyway, I digress. "We're never going to get Pujara out," he adds. "Ever."

74th over: India 212-6 (Pujara 94, Ashwin 26) In fact, Swann returns straight away, at the other end, and for a moment he thinks he's got the wicket England so badly wanted. Pujara hits the ball down, and it is caught on the bounce at mid wicket – but England feel that it bounced off the toe of Cook at short leg. Replays show that it clipped his toe, but the ground took most of the force and the batsman escapes.

73rd over: India 211-6 (Pujara 94, Ashwin 25) After a short spell, Swann is replaced by Patel, perhaps with an eye on the second new ball, which is seven overs away. Couple of singles from the over.

72nd over: India 209-6 (Pujara 93, Ashwin 24) Panesar got his first ball to straighten up and thwack Ashwin in the pad, but the umpire is not convinced by the subsequent lbw appeal. It looked a very decent shout to me. The batsman rubbed it in by walloping the last ball through midwicket for four

71st over: India 203-6 (Pujara 92, Ashwin 19) "Does Pujara's serene invincibility against English bowling remind anyone else of a young Steve Waugh in the first few tests of the 89 Ashes?" asks Matt Hill. "The good news is Waugh faded slightly towards then end of the series. The bad news is his teammates didn't, England got whupped and a decade of depressing defeats followed."

70th over: India 201-6 (Pujara 91, Ashwin 18) So India have reached 200. England will want to prevent them reaching 250, given the way the innings started and the way the pitch is playing. Pujara has now batted for 14 hours in this series, and he's still going.

69th over: India 198-6 (Pujara 88, Ashwin 18) There's a minor hiccup of excitement, as Ashwin scoops the ball up but the ball flops flacidly onto the pitch, five yards from the bat but far enough from a fielder to be safe.

68th over: India 198-6 (Pujara 88, Ashwin 18) Just one run from Panesar's over, four of them faced by Pujara, who's not in any kind of hurry. "I think that in the 1492 tests played before the turn of the century, there were 196 200+ scores, 7.61 tests per double ton," points out Steve Pye. So they are more common these days, but they are still not precisely common. And even if there were, I'd still reckon they were difficult enough to be impressed by.

67th over: India 197-6 (Pujara 88, Ashwin 17) Swann is the inevitable replacement for Broad. Three singles from the over, two poked to Pietersen who at mid on is far enough from the bat to offer an easy run. Then Pujara smashed the last ball of the over through square leg for four.

66th over: India 190-6 (Pujara 83, Ashwin 15) We'll see no more of Broad today, in all likelihood. England's three other bowlers have economy figures of 2.35 (Swann), 2.41 (Anderson), and 2.62 (Panesar, after this latest maiden). Broad's is 4.90.

65th over: India 190-6 (Pujara 83, Ashwin 15) Broad continues, and after a couple of dot balls Ashwin prods through extra cover for a couple, and the next trundles down the ground for four. There follows a long conference with Cook about how to deal with the remainder of the over, after which his very next ball is boshed away to the boundary as well. If England were in any way licking their lips when Ashwin came in, they're scratching their heads now. "Can I just say how lovely it is to see Gary Naylor pretending he hasn't ever watched England before? 'If he can, I can'? I believe the correct response to that is 'LOLZ' or something similar," writes Piers Barclay.

64th over: India 180-6 (Pujara 83, Ashwin 5) Ashwin turns Panesar's opening delivery off his ankles and away from a lumbering Anderson for four. Nice stroke. "Re Steve Pye's comment, isn't the frequency of double tons something to do with the sheer volume of test cricket played?" ponders Paul Roberts. "In just six years since his debut, Cook has played 85 tests: it took Wally Hammond 20 years to play the same number (though admittedly there was a six year war-related hiatus in there)." There have been 582 Tests this century, so even if Steve's stat is right, and I haven't had time to check, that's still 4.73 Tests per double ton, so it's not exactly humdrum.

63rd over: India 175-6 (Pujara 83, Ashwin 0) Broad continues, and Pujara slaps his second ball through midwicket for a couple, a shot he enjoys so much that a few balls later he does it again, only more so, and gets four. "I never understand the state of pessimism that descends whenever a pitch looks like it'll spin more and more," writes Gary Naylor. "Firstly, few do. Well, they turn more, but the turn is slower and are thus easier to play once you get past 20 or so. Secondly, hasn't Pujara shown that a score of 70-odd can be made on this pitch? England should have seven men saying, 'If he can, I can.' And lastly, a first innings lead really matters, so if India are all out 250 or so, three decent innings with some back up gets a lead and if India get 350 – well, how tough is the pitch really?"

62nd over: India 169-6 (Pujara 77, Ashwin 0) Panesar takes the other end, and his first ball is flashed through cover for a couple, the next rears off the pitch, catches a glove and just about makes it to Swann. Ashwin survives the rest of the over, but England will be very glad to see him. Now, can they do anything about Pujara?

WICKET! India 169-6 (Dhoni c Swann b Panesar 29) That ball only just carried to Swann, and there are very many replays before a finger is raised in Dhoni's direction. Swann certainly had a finger under the ball when it landed, but that was close.

61st over: India 167-5 (Pujara 77, Dhoni 27) England had the best of the first session and a half, but need to get Pujara out smartish while they still think it's possible. Broad has six goes at it without coming close, but Pujara doesn't add to his tally either.

Morning/Evening everyone! "Am I the only person who gets that 'so what?' feeling when someone now scores a double hundred in a test match?" asks Steve Pye. "It seemed such a rare beast when I was a lad, but now it seems to happen pretty much every Test (obviously an exaggeration). Assuming I've used the Statsguru tool correctly, there have been 319 individual scores of 200 or more in test history, and 123 of these have been since the turn of the century. That is why I take the modern batting averages with a pinch of salt." Possibly, Steve. It may be more common that it once was, but then so are British parakeets but they're still quite cool, aren't they? Unless you're a great tit, obviously.

TEA

60th over: India 167-5 (Pujara 77, Dhoni 27) Monty switches ends to replace Swann for the last over the session. It passes almost entirely without incident, so India will go to tea on 167 for five. They have recovered pretty well, with Cheteshwar Pujara playing beautifully. Simon Burnton will be here for the evening session; see you tomorrow.

59th over: India 165-5 (Pujara 76, Dhoni 26) A dreadful delivery from Anderson is cut easily for four by Pujara, who now has 323 runs in the series without being dismissed. "Is James Anderson's new haircut to symbolise England's attack?" says Daniel Harris.

58th over: India 160-5 (Pujara 72, Dhoni 25) Pujara pulls Swann straight into the body of the short leg Cook, who takes the hit without complaint. Just a few minutes to go until tea. India have recovered really well.

57th over: India 158-5 (Pujara 71, Dhoni 24) A reverse inswinger from Anderson beats Dhoni's extravagant attempted drive; then he leaves a delivery that bounces just over the stumps. An excellent over from Anderson.

56th over: India 158-5 (Pujara 71, Dhoni 24) That was so close to another wicket. Pujara got a big inside edge onto pad, from where the ball looped tantalisingly over Cook at short leg.

"I'm so traditional I still use a Filofax – doesn't stop when low on power – so why don't they issue a two-year pack in advance?" says John Starbuck. "Otherwise, I can't complete my dates for the Ashes in Australia, just announced. After all, some of us do want to plan ahead cricket-wise (football foolish)."

55th over: India 156-5 (Pujara 70, Dhoni 23) Dhoni smashes Anderson towards backward point, where Compton makes an excellent diving stop. "While we are on spinners, are Imran Tahir's figures in that first innings against Australia the worst by any bowler ever?" says John Bowker. "They can't be far off: 23-0-180-0 . So ugly. Apparently he completely lost the plot. Maybe some statsguru expert can answer this question." That was payback for poor old Bryce McGain.

54th over: India 155-5 (Pujara 69, Dhoni 23) "Still think that India are in a decent situation here," says Saurabh Joshi. "England have done really well and I think that the Indian top order slightly misread the pitch in probably setting too high a target for themselves. But these two have seem to recalculated well. Dhoni has right idea in going for runs here as thats the most important on this pitch. Survival itself is not going to save a side. Great match so far."

53rd over: India 152-5 (Pujara 67, Dhoni 23) With England again inching towards need-a-wicket territory, Jimmy Anderson replaces Monty Panesar (23-5-62-3). A lot goes on but nothing happens.

"I havent got Cricinfo at work, so cant back up my theory, and I know it's a small sample size (and very early in the Test), but it does seem that everytime England play the two spinners, it's Monty who comes out on top," says Ian Truman. "Is there anything in this? I mean I recall Warne had a pretty average record whenever Aus employed a second spinner."

He outbowled Swann in Pakistan last winter but I doubt that was the case in their earlier Tests as a partnership; otherwise Swann wouldn't have displaced Panesar. MacGill certainly outperformed Warne when they played together.

52nd over: India 149-5 (Pujara 65, Dhoni 22) Dhoni charges Swann and misses an almighty yahoo but gets away with it when the ball deflects off the pad and well wide of Prior. There's a biggish appeal for LBW later in the over when Dhoni misses a sweep; he was a long way outside the line.

"I couldn't agree more about the Vodafone adverts," says Guy Hornsby. "As a man the wrong side of 35, Star Wars WAS my childhood, so to see those ads, well I do a little bit if sick in my mouth. After his ridiculous Mr Whippy hair, messing with the trilogy was about the worst thing Lucas could've done to a kid. I mean Jar-Jar? My word, an abomination. I can't imagine what the new ones will be like. Han Solo in a hairpiece. Christ." It's not even the sacrilege that troubles me, as Star Wars wasn't my childhood. They're just intensely annoying.

51st over: India 148-5 (Pujara 64, Dhoni 22) Dhoni, reaching forward at Panesar, gets an inside edge onto pad that drops safely on the off side. A poor delivery later in the over, far too short, is banjoed for four. Thus far this has been an impressively decisive innings from Dhoni.

"I'm afraid your all too transparent attempts at using opaque language in an effort to dazzle your readership are failing," defenestrates Phil Russell. "In short we can see right through them! It looks like it's curtains for you. Here all week."

50th over: India 143-5 (Pujara 63, Dhoni 18) Two singles from Swann's over.

49th over: India 141-5 (Pujara 62, Dhoni 17) "Well, this a much more cheery score than I thought," says Rachel Clifton. "I note that the quality of OBO correspondents is going up as well – Dileep Premachandran? I'm impressed. Re: Yodafone – I think it was Simon Pegg who said seeing Yoda advertise Vodafone is like seeing a picture of my grandmother in a phone box, advertising cut price …. gentlemen's services shall we say." What, like ironing?

48th over: India 141-5 (Pujara 62, Dhoni 17) Dhoni, trying to sweep Swann, gloves it down the leg side for four. There was no chance for Prior really and it went too fine for the man at leg slip. England are inducing a number of false strokes now, which is a reflection of how much the pitch has deteriorated. Already.

47th over: India 137-5 (Pujara 62, Dhoni 13) Pujara has been dropped at gully! He edged a beauty from Panesar that turned and bounced, but Anderson couldn't hang on to a very sharp chance as he dived low to his left. On Sky, Nasser tells us that Anderson has now dropped five catches in his last four Test. That delivery also went through the top. This pitch is surely going to be a nightmare by day three.

Drinks break Those Yodafone adverts. Do they make anyone else want to do a murder?

46th over: India 134-5 (Pujara 60, Dhoni 12) Too short from Swann, and Dhoni cuts him through the covers for four. Swann stomps back to his mark with a sour coupon. Dhoni can be a dangerous in these low-scoring contests because he will go for his shots.

"Bumble made a good point earlier that a pitch in Engalnd that spins on day one will have the pitch inspector docking you points, which is ridiculous is it not?" says Ryan McAlister. "I wonder if with two world-class spinners, as England are currently blessed with, the ECB might relax that? Play to your strengths, and help develop players who are not all at sea on a pitch that turns." Totally agree. It's a palpable defenestration of logic.

45th over: India 128-5 (Pujara 59, Dhoni 7) Dhoni reaches forward to drive Panesar splendidly through extra cover for four. "If Patel and Bairstow make runs," says Harry Tuttle, "does Bell just pop on the plane and waltz back into the side?" Yep. Next!

44th over: India 122-5 (Pujara 58, Dhoni 2) More extremely nasty bounce, this time from Swann to Dhoni. England have got a leg slip in for Swann, at least when Dhoni is facing, which they have to when it is kicking like this.

"Which of England's new players looks like a Test player then?" says Dan Lucas. "I'd say Compton and Taylor do, although less convinced by Bairstow, Samit and Morgan though I do rate them as one-day players. It's interesting how we only focus on batsmen though, as there have been a fair few from the subcontinent especially who have burst on to the ODI/T20 scene and not really made the step up." I think Bairstow has got it. He'll find a way to overcome any challenges, although I wouldn't back him to get too many runs in this series.

43rd over: India 121-5 (Pujara 58, Dhoni 1) Panesar gets some grotesque bounce to take the splice of Pujara's bat, with the ball falling short of Bairstow at backward point. I'd still rather be in India's position here. This pitch could go every bit as much as it did in 2004, when Michael Clarke took six for nine and Australia failed to chase a target of 107.

42nd over: India 121-5 (Pujara 58, Dhoni 1) "One of the myths about Indian batting is that they are good players of spin," says Sunil Prabhat. "Well, they are good players of ordinary spin and come a cropper against quality spin bowling. Monty and Swann are proving that."

41st over: India 119-5 (Pujara 57, Dhoni 0) Panesar to Pujara. Maiden. There are two games of cricket going on: the Pujara game and the rest.

"Saw the brilliant Andy Zaltzman live in Mumbai yesterday, every bit as good as his writing," says Aatman Chaudhary. "According to him Pujara's estimated innings length threshold could be compared to the amount of time Silvio Berlusconi would take to become a monk."

40th over: India 119-5 (Pujara 57, Dhoni 0) That was the last ball of the over.

WICKET! India 119-5 (Yuvraj b Swann 0) Alastair Cook goes back to Graeme Swann, presumably with the left-handed Yuvraj in mind – and that's why! Swann has struck with his first delivery to Yuvraj. He was stuck on the crease and played defensively down the wrong line at a ball that turned just enough to beat the outside edge and peg back the off stump. That wasn't a great shot from Yuvraj. Swann has struck in the first over a new spell once again.

39th over: India 118-4 (Pujara 56, Yuvraj 0) Maybe I was a bit harsh on Kohli. That ball from Panesar went through the top of the pitch, which, as Beefy says, might have affected the timing. Yuvraj nervously chips his first ball towards the vacant extra cover area.

"Gary Naylor makes a good point but the whole essence of Warner's play is that he either gets out cheaply or slogs a big score," says David Warner. "His style is pure T20, the strike rate indicates this, and much as the Australian commentators idolise his hit-and-hope methods it surely can't be called sensible opening practice. In my opinion, he was elevated to the Test side because there really wasn't any alternative at the time." I think that's a bit harsh – he's a mighty talent – but I do know what you mean. You'd certainly not want him to bat for life, but you might want Pujara.

WICKET! India 118-4 (Kohli c Compton b Panesar 19) Monty strikes again! This was a pretty poor stroke from Virat Kohli, who drilled a drive straight to Nick Compton at extra cover. That's a huge wicket. Monty Gangnams in celebration; at least I think that's what he was doing. Who needs Johnny Cash?

38th over: India 116-3 (Pujara 55, Kohli 18) Anderson returns for an exploratory over, to see if the ball is reversing. No sign of it in that over. It seems, by the way, that I missed an over somewhere. Sorry!

36th over: India 114-3 (Pujara 53, Kohli 18) Kohli drills another high-class cover drive to the fence, this time off Panesar. England need a wicket here, or even a maiden.

35th over: India 109-3 (Pujara 52, Kohli 14) Kohli flashes a poor delivery from Swann through extra cover for four.

34th over: India 103-3 (Pujara 51, Kohli 9) Monty has three men round the bat now: slip, short leg and silly point. Pujara rocks back to cut a couple, doing very well to ride a bit of extra bounce. That bounce could as much of an issue as the turn later in the game, especially when Harbhajan and Ashwin are bowling. Pujara then clips a full toss for four to move to a seriously accomplished half-century, from 110 balls and with five fours.

"Tattoos aren't that bad, surely?" says Tony George. "I have four small ones, rather than the over-the-top sleeve affair. An English rose, my son's name in Nepali (we were living in Nepal at the time he was born), an infinity/Hong Kong bauhinia motif that my wife designed and she has too (we were living in Hong Kong when we met) and a Native Canadian symbol that all of my wife's family have (she's, you guessed it, Native Canadian). All very tasteful. Not as if I have Le Tissier and 7 on my back, although now I come to think of it..."

33rd over: India 95-3 (Pujara 43, Kohli 9) In his wonderful book on Shane Warne, Gideon Haigh talks about how there is a lot more to mental disintegration than calling someone a cee. This is proof of that. Pujara's forward defensive is a weapon of mass disintegration. Kohli's looks pretty watertight as well. He has nine from 44 balls, Pujara 43 from 104.

32nd over: India 95-3 (Pujara 43, Kohli 9) Nothing much is happening for England at the moment. Pujara has made 290 runs in the series without being dismissed; Steve Waugh made 393 in 1989 before Angus Fraser knocked him over. I have no idea if this is a record, no.

31st over: India 94-3 (Pujara 43, Kohli 8) Swann's enthusiasm is curbed by the dead, dead bat of the dead, dead good Pujara. A maiden.

30th over: India 94-3 (Pujara 43, Kohli 8) A maiden from Panesar to Kohli. "I take your point re: looking like Test match batsmen (especially Pujara), but it's getting harder and harder to know what a Test match batsman looks like," says Gary Naylor. "David Warner seemed the archetype of the Twenty20 player – called to the colours without a single first-class knock – yet he has three tons in 11 Tests and averages 45 at a strike rate of 75." That's true. In fact, Pujara's orthodoxy almost makes him unusual in the modern game, a bit like Glenn McGrath with that retro line and length thing he had going on. But he and some of the other young Indian batsmen do look like they know how to bat time.

29th over: India 94-3 (Pujara 43, Kohli 8) India have started the session well, calmly picking up singles where possible. Four from Swann's over.

"In defence of tattoos, how about giving you something to read in the jacuzzi down the gym?" says Iain McKane. "Unless, as at mine, your fellow bubble-abusers have 'Millwall 'till I Die' engraved on the torso."

28th over: India 90-3 (Pujara 40, Kohli 7) Monty starts after lunch. He had a good morning, with figures of 11-1-29-2. Three singles from the over.

"While people are calling for Sachin's retirement, I think another pertinent thing is that Kohli seems a little left in the shadows at #5. He's a wonderful player, and at #4, he'll be the main show. On a tangential note, are you guys jealous of the batsmen we have? There are around three exceptional players waiting in the wings. Pujara looks the real deal and he's only 24. Fully expect Mukund, Rahane and Rohit in the top six in the next 2-3 years. The best thing is that none of them seem to be flat track bullies."

And they look like Test batsmen, which is not always the case in the Twenty20 age. Most of England's exciting young batsmen, for example, have made their name in limited-overs cricket. You wouldn't be at all surprised if Pujara and Kohli went on to score 10,000 Test runs each.

LUNCH

27th over: India 87-3 (Pujara 38, Kohli 6) Swann's slider draws a thick edge from Pujara, but it goes all along the ground and wide of slip for two runs. That's the end of a cracking session. England are ostensibly on top, although in the context of a pitch that is expected to crumble India won't be too unhappy. Not least because Cheteshwar Pujara is batting quite magnificently. See you in half an hour for the afternoon session.

"The queue along by the side of Churchgate station was at least 400 yards long and three or four deep at around half past eight, all waiting to buy tickets at a single kiosk window," says Mike Selvey. "It is actually disrespectful to fans to do that to them. Will there be a reduction now the inefficiency has made them miss Sehwag and Sachin? Does the Pope etc..."

26th over: India 84-3 (Pujara 35, Kohli 6) Pujara is only playing his seventh Test, yet he's playing so well that he almost has an aura. A Pujaura, you might say, if you'd mainlined too much coffee at 4am.

"Regarding tattoos," says Ravi Nair. "I think it's fair to say that as I don't have one, they must be cool." Are you saying rigor mortis is cool?

25th over: India 83-3 (Pujara 34, Kohli 6) These two look very comfortable against the occasionally turning ball. How will India ever replace Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman, eh?

"Sat in the top tier of the Wankhede Stadium," says Sunil Samadi. "Half full stadium due the most inefficient ticket office in the world combined with the worlds largest queue (2,000 or so). Crowd a little muted since Sachin's departure. Only intermittent drum beats rather than a full-on Bhangra party."

24th over: India 83-3 (Pujara 34, Kohli 6) "You spoke of Morgan and the vulnerability against the moving ball," says Dileep Premachandran. "There's a bloke playing his 100th Test here. Averages over 50, with an unparalleled strike-rate and 23 hundreds. Doesn't bother to move his feet much and would rather the ball didn't deviate much off the straight. But he's always trusted his instincts and his strengths. Maybe that's the key for Morgan to succeed in Tests."

I agree that Morgan needs to trust his instincts: in his short career I think he has been preoccupied with being seen to play as a Test batsman should rather than just playing his way. But I still wouldn't put him anywhere near the new ball, especially as, unlike Sehwag and Hayden, he would have to play half his Tests in England. He could be a brutal enforcer at No6 though. For want of a better word. Enforcer is a rubbish word really. It should be banned for all sport chat.

23rd over: India 81-3 (Pujara 33, Kohli 5) Graeme Swann replaces the expensive Stuart Broad (7-0-33-0), who started brightly before losing his way a touch. His third ball is a wide half-volley that Kohli times delightfully through extra cover for four. Ten minutes to lunch.

22nd over: India 77-3 (Pujara 33, Kohli 1) Come on, surely one of you must be able to offer a defence of tattoos.

22nd over: India 76-3 (Pujara 33, Kohli 0) Pujara is playing a game of his own. He takes consecutive boundaries off Broad with a stylish uppercut over the slips and a bread-and-butter flick to leg when Broad strays onto the pads. Then, to ram home his superiority, he offers the most beautiful forward defensive to the next delivery.

"Panesar is looking a serious proposition and if they get India out for around 200 England should square things up," says Sanjeev. "But I am sorry to say that Tendulkar should be shown the door. Yes, he is great etc. but this is becoming ridiculous, almost on par with BCCI's refusal to accept DRS." I know his form hasn't been great but come on, that was a peach.

21st over: India 66-3 (Pujara 23, Kohli 0) Kohli, playing with soft hands, edges Panesar short of gully. This is a huge 20-minute period before lunch; if England can pick up one more wicket they will be in a cracking position.

20th over: India 65-3 (Pujara 22, Kohli 0) Broad comes back in place of Anderson. His second ball is too full and driven majestically down the ground for four by Pujara. This bloke is a batting machine!

"Hope all's well with you," says Ravi Nair. "Currently contemplating defenestrating myself: I want us to knock them over for 100 (we have as many spinners and twice as many seamers as them), but had wished Tendulkar could have squeezed a double century into that. The logical and moral contradictions are dragging me to the window willy-nilly."

19th over: India 60-3 (Pujara 17, Kohli 0) "Of course the mighty Fall have been returning to form every year for the last 20 years," says Paul King. So have the England cricket team in every Test this year. But this time it's for real!

(It may not actually be for real.)

WICKET! India 60-3 (Tendulkar b Panesar 8) Monty you beauty! He has bowled his hero Sachin Tendulkar with a jaffa! This is right up there with the famous ball to dismiss Younis Khan at Headingley in 2006: it dipped onto middle stump and then turned sharply to hit the outside of off stump as Tendulkar tried to work to leg. Panesar charges down the pitch, high-fiving anything that moves and fresh air as well. What a delivery! Even Michael Clarke couldn't have played that. Obviously if it's doing that on day one it means England are probably doomed, but let's not dwell on that for now eh. Denial is a beautiful thing, India are 60 for three and England are back*!

* England may not actually be back.

18th over: India 56-2 (Pujara 17, Tendulkar 4) Anderson has a fine record against Tendulkar, and this will be an important pre-lunch duel. Tendulkar gets off strike with a single into the covers, and then Pujara crushes a few more souls with the certainty of his defence. England have tried to hit him with a few short balls but he seems pretty comfortable swaying out of the way.

"That Ponting dismissal makes me wonder again about so called wonder balls and whether some of them are flattered by the batsmen," says Paddy Murphy. "Hick always seemed to get unplayable deliveries because he was such a tall guy he always fell over when yorked by (admittedly still rather good) balls from Waqar and Wasim. And that Kallis delivery would not have appeared to be SO unplayable if Ponting wasn't off balance and fell over as he was undone by the the out swing. It would just have looked like one of Dominic Cork's 'average' yorkers." I know what you mean, although it does swing one way and then seam the other, which is a magical combo. Like beauty and low self-esteem.

17th over: India 55-2 (Pujara 17, Tendulkar 3) Sachin walks to the crease on his home ground. It's staggering to think he was booed here during the Test against England in 2006. Booed! He gets off the mark with a sweet drive down the ground for two. Six of his last seven Test innings have produced nothing scores between 11 and 25. Sometimes that's the telltale sign of a batsman who is past it. With Sachin, however, such assumptions are more than a little dangerous.

WICKET! India 52-2 (Sehwag b Panesar 30) Panesar has knocked him over! Sehwag has gone for 30. He tried to flick a flighted, very full delivery to leg, missed completely and was bowled off the pads. That was a nice delivery from Panesar, tossed up more than most this morning, although I'm still not quite sure why Sehwag missed it.

16th over: India 52-1 (Sehwag 30, Pujara 17) A rare false stroke from Pujara, who cuts Anderson a fraction short of Compton at point. It got to him on the half volley in fact. England have been a bit unlucky this morning, Anderson in particular.

"Nice to see you back on for the start rather than skiving off for the first couple of sessions and coming in for a spot of end-of-day glory," writes Paul King. "May I recommend Bob Mould's new compact disc Silver Age? A return to form after a few disappointments. His autobiography is worth a read too." The phrase 'return to form' in a musical context is quite amusing for some reason, although I lost a bit of faith in it when R.E.M. announced a return to form with each of their last five albums.

15th over: India 52-1 (Sehwag 30, Pujara 17) Nothing much is happening for Monty, so it might be time to have a look at Swann. Short leg has gone now, with slip and gully for Sehwag.

"Blair Pocock?" says Richard Adams. "You misspelled Nathan Astle?" I meant Trevor Franklin.

14th over: India 50-1 (Sehwag 29, Pujara 16) Pujara ignores a short ball from Anderson. Then, when Anderson gets some dangerous inswing, Pujara plays an immaculate forward defensive. The soulcrusher. It's slightly too early to start talking about Steve Waugh in 1989 and all that, but he looks so bloody secure at the crease. He has 263 runs in the series without being dismissed. In other news, here's another email from our Parent of the Year nominee. "Night, Rob," says Mac Millings. "Falling asleep. Almost dropped the baby."

13th over: India 50-1 (Sehwag 29, Pujara 16) Pujara works Monty to leg to bring the fifty in decent time. He looks in the mood for another huge score.

12th over: India 47-1 (Sehwag 28, Pujara 14) The camera cuts to a topless man with 'Tendulkar 10' tattooed on his back, milking the applause of the crowd and pointing to the name on his back. So that's where Bull is for this Test, honk honk. Tattoos, though. Can any of you explain a couple of things about them: why the hell would you and, also, why the hell would you?

Jimmy Anderson has come back to replace Broad, and his first ball is a good one that Sehwag, caught on the crease, inside-edges just wide of leg stump and away for four. More dumb luck for Anderson later in the over; Sehwag edges a drive right through the vacant third slip area for four more. Swann dived across from second slip but couldn't get there. Sehwag, rather chillingly, has been in second gear all morning and still has 28 from 36 balls.

11th over: India 39-1 (Sehwag 20, Pujara 14) The first sign of turn for Monty, and a little bounce too to Pujara, who takes one high on the bat as he pushes forward defensively.

I assume you've all seen this What a delivery!

10th over: India 36-1 (Sehwag 17, Pujara 14) Sehwag inside edge Broad wide of his leg stump, and then Pujara rolls his wrists to flip a single to leg. He looks in pretty ominous nick.

"Now that I am in NZ, these India Tests start a a more civilised hour, though it's possible I will be wilting before tea," says Paul Cockburn. "Have you been up all night, or do they wheel in the overnight caffeine IV at 3am to get you up and about for sparkling Test match wit?" You mis-spelt 'gibberish'. I'm doing this from home due to the inexplicable lack of trains running from Kent to London at 3am, so I'm basically sleepOBOing.

9th over: India 30-1 (Sehwag 13, Pujara 12) A much better over from Monty, a maiden to Sehwag. If you're reading this in England, you do realise it's 4.42am, don't you? This is the life.

"I'm grateful for the delicacy of the rejection, there's no need to sugarcoat it," says Harry Tuttle. "My terrible idea output is staggeringly high (you saw the hashtag?); I'd be finished if I couldn't take derision. But another player who they say has difficulty against the moving ball is Sehwag – Sambit Bal on Viru's cricinfo profile writes: 'His lack of footwork, which does get him in trouble against the moving ball, is mostly an advantage, for it creates space for his brilliant handwork'. I agree it's a desperate risk, but it's just so sad seeing Morgan's Test career decay and whimper while the Flower regime lurches into the death throes. I say: let's make a Weimar Republic of this crumbling regime! #openwithEoin" Go to bed Harry, before you do something you really regret.

8th over: India 30-1 (Sehwag 13, Pujara 12) Broad has a big LBW appeal against Sehwag, but there was an inside edge and it might have been too high. That aside, etcetera etcetera. Aleem Dar shakes his head in that polite way of his. Broad probably hasn't quite been full enough this morning.

7th over: India 27-1 (Sehwag 11, Pujara 11) Alastair Cook decides to have an early look at spin. With two right-handers at the crease he goes for Monty Panesar rather than Graeme Swann. Cook has put himself in at short leg; surely, as captain, he should have flunkies to do the dirty work for him. Anyway, Panesar's first ball is a diabolical full toss that Sehwag heaves contemptuously for four, and then Pujara drills an accomplished cover drive for four more. A poor first over from Monty.

"Gorgeous (ie only averagely smoggy morning) here in Delhi," says Martin Wright. "Would love to be in Mumbai but sadly stuck here writing report on 'India: Innovation Nation' – which almost rhymes with 'defenestration'. Don't break the windows, Viru!"

6th over: India 17-1 (Sehwag 6, Pujara 7) Cheteshwar Pujara's forward defensive is going to crush many a bowler's soul over the next decade. He looks formidably secure. On Sky, Bumble is worried that England might be mixing up their length a bit too much. A quiet over from Broad brings a couple of singles.

"Morning Rob," says Nic Clarke. "I'm currently 6000 feet up a mountain in California waiting my turn on one of the mount Wilson Observatory telescopes.
Any chance that the readers of this divine blog know if I can pick up the cricket on the radio, I have an am/FM alarm clock radio to use as equipment..."

5th over: India 16-1 (Sehwag 5, Pujara 6) Sehwag hasn't had much of the strike thus far – just nine deliveries in five overs – and has been pretty watchful when he has faced up. That has allowed England's bowlers to dictate the tempo of the first few overs, although it won't be long before Sehwag tries to defenestrate them.

"As a fellow Morgan fanboy I thought you might appreciate wind of my nascent social media campaign #openwithEoin," says Harry Tuttle. "We've had a huge gap in the batting order since Collingwood retired, and a prodigiously gifted left-handed batsman who can do things with the bat that most other England players can't. Did I say most? I meant all. Rather than letting this spare part go to waste, I say take full advantage of the present batting lacunae by shoving him up top and letting our other contenders – Compton, Root, Taylor, Patel, Bairstow, Boparaforhisbowling – scrap it out for the considerably more comfy gig of batting at six. Too often Eoin has either been superfluous – England declare without getting to him – or wasted – he's sent in to rescue an innings, when barnstorming is more his gig. Your thoughts?" In the nicest possible way, what a terrible idea! He's far too vulnerable to the moving ball. But I would give my last Rolo and even my last sliver of dignity for Morgan to be successful at Test level.

4th over: India 13-1 (Sehwag 4, Pujara 4) Broad beats Pujara with an immaculate corridor delivery and then raps him on the glove with a good short ball. He is bounding in with a fair bit of purpose.

"Not so sure about 2-0 Robbie," says Aditya Anchuri. "This pitch will have a bit more bounce, and will probably turn throughout. So Swann/Panesar will be more than a handful. Not sure why India are playing three spinners – Dhoni getting a bit carried away. Idiot."

3rd over: India 12-1 (Sehwag 4, Pujara 3) England certainly aren't bowling dry here. In fact they're bowling wet wet wet, mixing up their length and trying to take advantage of both the bounce and the swing. It's almost two-lengths bowling, but in a good way. Pujara Robinsmiths out of the way of a sharp short ball from Anderson, whose line is otherwise a bit too straight in that over.

"Morning Smyth, morning everyone, (because eff you, Josh Robinson. Oh yeah, and you, Richie Benaud)," chirps Mac Millings. "It's Thanksgiving, everyone's except me and the baby has gone to bed, and I'm drunk. All that lies between my couch-sleeping daughter and the cold, hard floor is a precarious pillow and an oblivious father. Must be Thursday night, then. How do you pronounce PSY, by the way? (And it is ALLCAPS, right?) Is it simply 'Sigh'? Seems appropriate." You're asking the wrong man. I recently realised I was Past It when I had a conversation with a colleague about how to pronounce Tinie Tempah. Neither of us knew.

2nd over: India 10-1 (Sehwag 4, Pujara 2) Virender Sehwag is playing his 100th Test. He has been a remarkable and perhaps slightly underrated player, right up there with Viv Richards, Adam Gilchrist and Blair Pocock when we discuss the most punishing batsmen of the modern era. His first ball brings an appeal for a catch down the leg side by Matt Prior and Stuart Broad. Aleem Dar wasn't interested, and replays showed the ball hit only his shirt. He gets off the mark later in the over with a gorgeous push-drive between extra cover and mid off for four.

"Never smoked a dictionary, but short of papers at school we smoked Revelations and Kings from the Bible," says Hugh Maguire. "I am really going to hell, aren't I?" For no particular reason, this reminds of the story about the footballer Peter Reid, when short of a mixer, necking glasses of vodka and Listerine.

1st over: India 5-1 (Sehwag 0, Pujara 1) Replays show that ball from Anderson just pitched in line, so it wouldn't have been overturned even if we were using DRS.

"A very good morning to you Rob," writes Gary Naylor. "The sun is just coming up in Yerevan which puts me between you and Alastair Cook, which isn't too pleasant thought really. Reading about cricket when over a thousand miles from the nearest ground is a joy unconfined. And yep, this is a big match for England, whose stock is falling faster than HMV's. How did so complex and varied a game as Test cricket create two such long lasting dynasties as West Indies and Australia? Maybe if history had been different and that remarkable generation of South Africans played through the 70s, the West Indies wouldn't have been so dominant. And if Warne's great-great-great grandfather hadn't pinched that orange in Spitalfields Market, well..."

WICKET! India 4-1 (Gambhir LBW b Anderson 4) Got him! What a start for England! Gautam Gambhir flicked the first ball of the match for four and then fell to the second, trapped LBW by a fine inswinger from Jimmy Anderson as he flicked around his front pad. I'm not entirely sure that pitched in line; the umpire Tony Hill had no such doubts.

"Let's watch a few overs before calling the pitch a 'bunsen', as the first Test shows no one really knows how a pitch is going to play over five days," says Dominik Hindal. "It turned yes, but was hardly lethal."

Fair point. I was parroting the received wisdom. Lazy OBOing. It does seem, however, that it will help the seamers this morning and turn by day three.

There is more pace and bounce in this pitch than at Ahmedabad, and it's not entirely grassless, so Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad need to do some work in the first hour.

Team news India have picked three spinners on what looks like a raging bunsen. Just like they did in 1992-93, when Anil Kumble, Rajesh Chauhan and Venkatapathy Raju defenestrated England. There are two chances for England, with Jonny Bairstow and Monty Panesar replacing Ian Bell and Tim Bresnan.

India Gambhir, Sehwag, Pujara, Tendulkar, Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni (c/wk), Ashwin, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Ojha.

England Cook (c), Compton, Trott, Pietersen, Bairstow, Patel, Prior (wk), Broad, Swann, Anderson, Panesar.

MS Dhoni has won the toss and India will bat first Congratulations to India on taking a 2-0 lead in the series.

An email "Defenestrated?" says Alan Belk. "What are you smoking?"

Have you never had an Oxford English roll-up? You haven't lived.

England's last Test here, in 2006, produced one of the feelgood victories of the decade, inspired by the unlikely partnership of Johnny Cash and Shaun Udal. I wonder what's on the iPod today. Probably Psy, which isn't really helping anyone, is it.

Preamble Hello? Helloooooooooo? When England defenestrated India 4-0 last year, it seemed like this return series would be their final frontier. Now it's starting to look like the end of the road. If they lose this match they will be 2-0 down with two to play and in need of a lot more than snookers. The whole thing is on the verge of collapse. We're a bit too close at the moment, but when we look back in 20 years' time we'll be staggered by how quickly it has all unravelled for this team. After losing no Test matches in 2011 they have lost seven this year, only one short of the record for England in a calendar year. A year ago the team picked itself; now only Alastair Cook, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson are certain of their place. Every Test is generally more important than the last but, even allowing for that, this is a huge match for England.

England in India 2012-13India cricket teamEngland cricket teamCricketRob SmythSimon Burnton
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