The Lancashire opener will fly home for treatment on his injured finger but his rearguard action against India in Mohali further demonstrated his potentialHaseeb Hameed, England’s 19-year-old opener, has seen his tour of India ended by the broken finger sustained during the eight-wicket defeat in the third Test but will fly home with his team-mates in awe and the praise of his captain, his coach and his idol ringing in his ears following an innings of remarkable courage and skill.As the right-hander was repelling India’s bowlers for just shy of three hours from No8 with an unbeaten 59 on the fourth day of the match – one that ended with Alastair Cook’s going 2-0 down in the series with two...
India’s captain is leading the way with the bat and in the field, where his energy has transformed his team into the No1-ranked Test nation and made them imperious on home soilThe challenge is familiar for England’s tourists. In Visakhapatnam the India spinners eventually suffocated their opponents, just as they have New Zealand and South Africa in the last year. The old order was restored as Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, with a little help from the newcomer, Jayant Yadav, patiently undermined batsmen, some of whom have never experienced the peculiar torment of being trapped and then exposed in the final innings of an Indian Test match. They were surrounded by vulturine fieldsmen yet seldom have they felt more lonely.There...
India’s captain decides against enforcing the follow-on as Ashwin reminds England why he is the world’s No1 bowler with five wickets in the second TestAt 1.36pm on the third day in Visakhapatnam, with a round 200-run first-innings lead safely tucked away in his back pocket, Virat Kohli opted against enforcing the follow-on and with it delayed England’s next trial by spin on the subcontinent temporarily.Kohli’s opposite number, Alastair Cook, knows all about the chuntering from the golf-mad commentariat that can result from such a call – Old Trafford against Pakistan last summer springs to mind – and yet on this occasion, with just under half the Test remaining and a pitch to wear further, few could groan at the India...