I think that India have done everything right so far apart from Laxman when he was batting with Kumble as he carried on at the same slow pace,bat long and have another days sun on the pitch was obviously the plan and that is what they did.

If England survive this game they need to bat extremely well but it won't happen.I expect India to get the win their play has deserved some time after tea with Kumble picking up another 5 wicket haul.

Anderson has not been bowling as well in this Test as he did in the previous one... and sure, he's nowhere near the class of Sidebottom... but Anderson at this level is still a better new ball bowler and swing bowler than Flintoff... whose merit is essentially (when 100% fit, as he wasn't in Australia) his reliability in any conditions and his ability to manage at least passable control of reverse swing.

Anderson is able to bowl 25 overs a day but cannot contribute much with the bat... though he is a more than passable fielder in the deep. If Flintoff could only bowl 12-15 overs a day... but is a credible no 7 bat... and is an excellent slip fielder.

Picking Flintoff probably means dropping a batsman... as Flintoff can't shoulder a genuine workload... so you might be looking at losing (say) Strauss: Flintoff's batting is never going to compensate. Picking Anderson rectifies that.

To my mind... Flintoff needs to be offering 18-20 overs a day to oust Anderson on the basis of bowling and batting... but England desperately need another slip fielder to release Collingwood as an attacking force in at backward point (mind you, I'd put Panesar in the slips in order to get Collingwood at backward point: I can't believe he's being wasted at present).

ps. Why cut Prior any slack? Prior is to glovework what Bell is to Test level bowling... and you'd never contemplate playing Bell ahead of a rival on the basis of his bowling!

I don't think anybody disagrees but i think the England management are hoping that he learns to become a decent keeper like Alec Stewart did while gaining the benefit of his runs in the meantime.Rightly or wrongly this is what they have done and like Geraint Jones before him he deserves a chance,i hope he takes it unlike Jones who lost the plot completely.

We all know Read is the best keeper in the country but he isn't up to it in the eyes of the selectors so we need to get behind the man in possession before crucifying him too much.

Jones was a pretty poor 'keeper... but he improved and had the potential to be better stood up to the stumps than Stewart and quite possibly margially more technically proficient (if less reliable) than Stewart when stood back.

To my mind, even that standard is disgraceful... but I can't envision Prior even being that passable!

It will be interesting to see if anything happens in the Zaheer Khan bat waving incident,for me a quiet word with Khan is enough but a fine for the England player who i think was KP as he must have said something way over the top to get a reaction like that.

Not nice to see and i hope we see no repetition.

If the on-field sledging and players behaviour is not controlled, the day is not far when there is an all out physical fight (no pun intended) on the cricket field.

India played well yesterday and I think Tendulkar deserved his hundred. Anderson once again bowled poorly but at least it is only 19 more games before he bowls well again . Tremlett impressed me and he could have picked up more wickets but he will only improve. I dont think England are quite out of this game yet. Battting is still easy and England are quite capable of scoring a big score. Of course Kumble will have a lot to say about that so a lot depends on how well England play Kumble. Any lead of 150 will be tricky for India. Lets wait and see. Good match though

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?

I expect England to bat out this game. I have a feeling it will be like the Sri Lanka game from 2001 (I think it was). One bad innings and then the batsmen knuckle down and put 500 on the board.

The pitch has definitely eased out enough for England to fancy a draw. The openers showed some good positive attitude yesterday. I expect to see the spinners bowl majority of overs today. Kumble and Tendulkar will play an important role and I hope they will be able to remove at least six wickets today without conceding too many runs.

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My computer can beat me at chess.....but its no match for me at kick boxing.

Although he took over 100 wickets in a county season once, Kumble really needs to show that he can go through a team in England where he has consistently underpeformed ever since he was smashed all over the place in 1990.

His record here is woeful - he has the chance to show he can be a big match winner in all places, something that is still very much in doubt (even though he approaches 600 test wickets)