India v England, 3rd Test: England Player Ratings

India took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series by beating England by eight wickets in the third Test in Mohali. Chasing 103 for a win, India chased down the target with only two wickets down in 20.2 overs. Parthiv Patel entertained the crowd during the chase hitting his fifth Test half-century and finished unbeaten on 67. Earlier, England was bowled out for 236 in their second innings with Joe Root leading the way with a defiant 78. Haseeb Hameed remained unbeaten on 59.  Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Yadav took two wickets each while R Ashwin picked up three wickets before Mohammed Shami cleaned up the tail-ender to bowl out England. 

1.Alastair Cook – 5/10:

English skipper Alastair Cook could not do anything significant in this Test and end up with scores of just 27 and 12. Cook, who normally is a tormentor of spin bowling, succumbed to spin on both the occasions.

Ravichandran Ashwin, in particular, can be credited to his poor scores in the match. It is almost insensible to expect Cook commit any mistake while batting in such conditions. But, in a rare case, Cook, in the first innings, tried to cut a ball way outside the off stump and nicked one behind to Patel.

While Cook can blame himself for his dismissal in the first innings, no one can take away the credit from Ashwin for producing an extraordinary delivery which beat his defence and clean bowled him in a spectacular fashion.

2. Joe Root – 8/10:

Joe Root had a mixed Test match. The right-hander could not contribute much batting at number three and returned with just 15 runs to hi name. The Yorkshireman, however, did not disappoint in the second innings and played a commendable knock when the needed need him.

England had a tough task of overhauling a 134 run lead by Indian before setting a target for the Indians to chase. The right-hander took charge of the proceedings and top-scored for his team with 78 runs.

His knock acted as the backbone for the visitors in the second innings. Rest of the batting order, unfortunately, could not support him much as England ended up setting a functional target which proved nothing in front of India.

3. Haseeb Hameed – 8/10:

Haseeb Hameed had a troublesome match as he struggled with a finger injury. In the first innings, he was dismissed cheaply for just 9 runs. But, in the second innings, the teenager added more layers of reputation and won over the heart of the cricket fans and experts by hitting an unbeaten 57 runs knock after coming down to bat lower in the order.

It was very inspiring to see him come and bat this way. Not only his knock helped the visitors extend their overall lead past 100, he also has potentially given England the Test opener they were searching for so long. He has surely been a revelation for the visitors. But, there was a bad news for the England team as Hameed is now scheduled to return home due to the injury. Cook made the announcement in the post-match conference.

4. Moeen Ali – 3.5/10:

Moeen Ali was a complete failure with the bat as well as with the ball. The off-spinning all-rounder could contribute only 16 runs in the first innings batting at number four and 5 batting a position above in the second innings.

He was trusted to take up the role of a top order batsman while being the lead spinner in the XI ahead of the Test match after underperforming Ben Duckett was dropped. But, it was quite unfortunate, that Mo could not live up to the expectations.

5. Jonny Bairstow – 6.5/10:

Jonny Bairstow made sure he played his role in the match. The right-handed cricketer seems to have completely understood the process of handling Indian bowlers. An example of it, he gave in the first innings was he hit a match-defining 89 to not only rescue his team from problems but also ensure a respectable total id put on the scoreboard.

In the second innings, where he could make only 15, was a silent affair. England needed him to repeat his performance once again but, unfortunately, he failed. But, no matter what, his overall contribution was praiseworthy. He also made no mistakes behind the stumps and was almost flawless with his glove work, claiming three catches at the end of the game.

6. Ben Stokes – 6.5/10:

Ben Stokes, England MVP, had a satisfying game altogether. From the batting perspective, Stokes managed just 33 runs in both the innings after batting so well at Rajkot and Vishakhapatnam. England desperately needed him to perform in both the innings.

He promised to do so in the first innings by getting off to a start, scoring 29 in a valuable 57 runs stand with Bairstow in the first innings, but, unfortunately, his outing in the second innings yielded him just 5 runs.

But, failure with the bat did not hurt his bowling performance as he made his presence felt by picking a 5 for in the first innings of the match. Also, not to forget his faceoff with Kohli which added a tang to the contest, extra half points for that too.

7. Jos Buttler – 4/10:

Jos Buttler made a good case for himself in this match. Although he did not outperform anyone in the match, Buttler was somehow better than the player whom he replaced in the squad.

The right-hander started off with a commendable 43 runs knock in the first innings. His knock played a key role in England’s revival in the first innings. Batting with Bairstow, he added 69 for the 6th wicket take England from 144/5 to 213/6.

The following innings wasn’t that great where he lost his wicket which trying to be aggressive. With a target to set, Buttler opted for an attacking approach and made a run a ball 18 runs with Hameed before failing to get going and losing his wicket.

8. Gareth Batty – 2/10:

Gareth Batty, the domestic veteran could not create any trouble for the Indians and was largely ineffective with his approach. Sometimes, it seemed Cook used him as an after-thought. Often trying hm later in the day after trying out the fast bowlers and The skipper cannot be blamed though if he actually had such things in his mind. The numbers are clearly against the off-spinner. In the 16 overs he bowled, he could not pick a single wicket in the first innings.

9. Chris Woakes – 2.5/10:

Chris Woakes was off colours in the match. England missed his performances, especially with the ball.  While he managed to do his bit with the bat with scores of 25 & 30 in both the innings, he was largely a failure as far as bowling was concerned.

In the first innings, he returned wicketless after giving away 86 runs. His inability to perform in some manner put the pressure on Ben Stokes. He didn’t have much to do in the second innings with a low target to defend. In spite, of that he was able to open hi wickets account with the wicket of Woakes to finish with 1/16

10. Adil Rashid – 7.5/10:

Adil Rashid snapped 4 for 118 and 1/28 in both the innings to finish as the best England bowler in the match, over-shadowing his spin bowling mates Moeen Ali and Gareth Batty.

Rashid was only bettered by Ben Stokes who took a five-wicket in the first innings. Otherwise, he was by the far the most effective bowler for England in the match.

11. James Anderson – 2.5/10:

The ace swing bowler failed to have an impact in the match and ended up wicketless in both the innings. Anderson was one of the key players to watch out for ahead of this match after his impressive performances at Vizag. His pace variations on pitch which offered very little to him yielded him good results in the previous match. But, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to emulate those performances at Mohali.