Day 38: Lucky or good, England hope for the Bess

There aren’t many sports where the condition of the playing surface changes as much as in cricket. Tennis may be the nearest, although there aren’t the same amount of variations once on the court.

It might come as a surprise to some that England has adapted to the conditions in Chennai. England was told they didn’t stand a chance; destined to be a 4-0 win for Virat Kholi’s side, England needn’t turn up.

They have turned up, with Jonny Bairstow levels of wanting to prove a point; albeit without Bairstow, for the time being.

England’s tactics have been executed with efficiency. There was a call for England to declare yesterday evening and start putting India’s batsmen under pressure. England ignored that and batted on this morning.

It garnered another 23 runs, they may, or may not prove crucial. If England takes the last four wickets early on the fourth day with a sizable lead, I would not expect them to ask India to follow-on. It would mean that India’s bowlers will have bowled on all four days of this Test. These things can be crucial in the long run.

Jofra Archer and James Anderson bowled well for England early on as Archer helped remove openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill to leave India 44 for 2. Much would relay on the Indian middle-order. Cheteshwar Pujara was solid as ever until he smashed a Dom Bess delivery at Ollie Pope at Short Leg only for it to bounce off his back and into the hands of Rory Burns.

Bess is developing a happy knack of picking up wickets. If you asked Joe Root if at this moment that he would rather have lucky spinners or good ones I think we would know the answer.

There wasn’t any luck about the way that Bess dismissed Kholi, forcing the India captain to prod the ball to Pope under the helmet at Short-leg.

Jack Leach, who came into the Test as England’s top spinner, was treated with disdain from Rishabh Pant. The left-arm spinner was not allowed to settle and was going for over ten an over at one point.

Pant is one of those players that plays the attacking shots when others would think twice. For most, it would be a foolish move, but Pant clears fielders for fun.

He looked good for a century before that man Bess struck again with Pant on 91. Leach holding on the catch was suitably relieved.

India will start day four 321 runs behind with four wickets in hand. If England can get the early breakthrough, they will be confident of the win. Washington Sundar and Ravichandran Ashwin looked comfortable batting together. It might take a moment of brilliance of pure luck from Bess to make the inevitable result an England win. Although India proved in Australia that they could never be counted out.