From The Pavilion End..‪.‬ Debopam Roy

We take a final look back at the India England series.

- There's one stat which shows how effective India was both in defense and outbazballed the bazzball team in attack.

- we rate all the players and other protagonists of the series



We evaluate India WT20 certainties and hopefuls as IPL comes along.

Who are the players who have booked their slots? Who are the contenders for the remaining slots? Who are the long shots who may upstage all calculations if they have a great IPL

This is the final episode of Season 1. Thanks for all the love you all have given us.

We will take a break during IPL and come back later with Season 2.

As the dust settles on India vs England series which was fiercely fought at most times we look back at where the difference between the teams were made.

3 points where the gap came up were

- England's strategy to prepare on set pitches in Abu Dhabi and avoid any coordination in local conditions

- How India took the learnings from the 1st Test

- England's reluctance to use any backups or England Lions whereas India picked up 4 members from the India A team

We also debate around

- which was the pivotal result - 2nd test at Vizag or 4th Test at Ranchi?

- where was the series won/lost - batting or bowling or management

Finally we attempt our interpretation of Bazball and if it has a future in cricket.

The 5th Test between India and England was played at picturesque Dharamshala and we discuss if we should have this as a regular Test venue.

We discuss the various protagonists of the match

- why couldnt the English players pick Kuldeep Yadav

- discussion on why people still question Ravi Ashwin's performance

- Has Jimmy Anderson achieved the pinnacle of fast bowling or has he let his legacy be defined only by his longevity

- who among Ashwin and Anderson has a better away+neutral record? and why is the perception different from actual fact?

- How Rohit and Subhman's 100s and Sarfaraz and Devdutt's 50s stock up and set them up for future roles in Indian batting line up

- Has Zak Crawley cemented his position as the next best English batter after Root? or was there some incorrect bowling changes of Rohit to credit this

- Which is worse - Bairstow the 100 test man or Bairstow the sledger?

- Does Bashir have a future in Test? What about his DRS skills?

This is a 5th Test review focussing on individuals rather than events. We will be back with a series review and points for each stakeholder in this series

India and England has played a fascinating series...but what has Virat Kohli got to do with it??

We look at the pitch and the team combinations - Is 2 seamer strategy bound to backfire? Should Rajat Patidar play or will Devdutt Padikkal become India's 5th debutant of the series.

We look at the recent fad of centurions. What connects the Fab 4 in their century tests?

We put a marker on Ravi Ashwin and Jonny Bairstow's careers till their 99th test.

Finally we look at the narrative of Bazball before this final test and do our predictions round.


Lastly we do apologize for getting this preview out so late. Hope you like it.

India snatch the win on an alien pitch having lost the toss, conceding a first innings lead and missing their best bowler of the series. As they say - it was a satisfying win.

But what even made it more heartening were the characters behind it - Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel were just two cogs.

We also talk about Joe Root, Ollie Robinson, Shoaib Bashir.

We discuss the curiously happy knack Shubhman Gill has of scoring in the 2nd innings.

Finally we talk about 3 facets which have ensured India win the series despite all the obstacles.

The bandwagon moves east to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's hometown Ranchi for the 4th test.

The difficulties of the Indian squad is compounded by continuing unavailability of KL Rahul and imposed resting of Jasprit Bumrah. Is this the worst that England will ever find India at? Alternatively - how can Bazball not win this test match?

Find out our pitch preview and teams analysis with impending changes analyzed in our 4th Test Preview