Jonny Bairstow’s gentlemanly spirit of cricket was nowhere to be found and Ben Stokes committed a schoolboy error as England were soundly beaten by 106 runs in the Second Test at Visakhapatnam.
Bairstow was involved in a fiery exchange with Ravichandran Ashwin after the English veteran was given out LBW at a crucial stage of the run-chase as the tourists went down swinging to be bowled out for 292 in pursuit of the improbably victory target of 399.
After he was trapped in front, Bairstow reacted to Ashwin celebrating close by, appearing to mouth “fuck off” to the feisty spinner.
He reviewed the decision but was sent on his way for 26 when the replay ruled the ball was hitting leg stump on an umpire’s call.
Bairstow, who complained bitterly after being legitimately stumped last year during the Ashes, could face a sanction from the match referee for his outburst.
His dismissal came on the stroke of lunch on day four to reduce England to 6-194.
Stokes fell early in the second session when he cantered down the pitch for what should have been an easy single but was then caught short of his ground by a direct hit from Shreyas Iyer.
He seemed to jog through before speeding up at the end when it was too late as the throw came in.
The skipper’s unneccessary departure for 11 left his side at 7-220 and virtually no hope of victory.
Bumrah mopped up the tail for India to level the series at 1-1.
England batter Jonny Bairstow leaves the field after being given out in Visakhapatnam. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Earlier, left-arm spinner Axar Patel removed Rehan Ahmed, who did a decent job as England’s nightwatchman by scoring a brisk 23.
Ashwin then rattled England by dismissing Ollie Pope and Joe Root in successive overs.
Pope made 23 before edging the off-spinner and the ball stuck to Rohit Sharma’s outstretched left hand at slip.
Root, nursing a finger injury, smashed Patel for a six but gifted his wicket when he danced down the track to hit Ashwin and ended up offering a top-edge to Patel at backward point.
Opener Zak Crawley had looked the man most likely to do something special and his dismissal for 73 just before lunch turned the game decisively in India’s favour.
Kuldeep Yadav’s lbw shout was initially turned down by experienced umpire Marais Erasmus, who judged the ball to missing leg stump, but DRS ruled in the bowler’s favour when ball-tracking suggested it was going on to hit.
England lost Bairstow in the next over and never quite recovered.
“My personal opinion is that the technology has gone wrong on this occasion. That’s where I stand on it,” Stokes said.
“Technology in the game is obviously there and everyone has an understanding of the reasons it can never be 100 per cent. That’s why we have the ‘umpire’s call’.
“So when it’s not 100 per cent, I don’t think it’s unfair for someone to say ‘I think the technology has got it wrong’.
“I will say that, but in a game full of ifs, buts and maybes I am not going to say that’s the reason why we haven’t got the result we wanted.”
England’s score was the second-highest fourth-innings total any overseas team have scored in Indian conditions, but the scale of their target was simply too great to overcome without a big century to build around.
Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes and Tom Hartley were all battling against illness that emerged in the camp overnight, along with the injured Jack Leach at the team hotel, leaving Stokes proud of the fight his side put up.
“There’s a bit of a virus going round, a couple of guys woke up not feeling great,” he said.
“It’s not ideal, you want everyone to be feeling great but I’m proud that the guys who were feeling under the weather didn’t shy away and gave it their best.”
England’s aggressive display in defeat and even dismissals like Joe Root’s for 16, an agricultural heave from the side’s most elegant player, do not give Stokes pause for thought.
“I think our approach is what we’re known for, the way in which we play,” he said.
“We want to stay very true to ourselves. I was happy with the way we went about that chase. That’s exactly how we play cricket. It won’t always work but a loss is a loss; you don’t get any points losing by five and you don’t get less for losing by 100.”
The third Test in Rajkot begins on February 15.
with AAP
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
my deets coming soon :laughing:
Curmudgeon1961
Roar Rookie
Pant too (albeit for a long time). He is a talisman for India
Curmudgeon1961
Roar Rookie
Gee they do some lazy cricket don't they? The LBW looks out to the naked eye. I dont pay as much attention to the cartoon sorry I mean ball tracking technology
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
I agree with Stokes that ball tracking is rubbish. Lots of physics and gravity defying feats apparently over the years, all over the world. Perhaps the powers that be should be reviewing reviews?
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
I played in a schoolboy game where a bloke hit a skier. I got underneath it but got in a really bad position, so I was looking straight into the sun. Completely lost sight of the ball, so put one hand on my head (that was to stop getting hit in the noggin) and held up my left hand in the vain attempt to take a catch - and the thing fell in! I'm sure I had exactly the same look on my face as Rohit had on his
astro
Roar Rookie
Sorry, but its whinging in my book. Stokes has every right to raise his concerns about the accuracy of ball-tracking but to do so after being beaten and only in regards to the Crawley decision, makes it a whinge.
whymuds
Roar Rookie
I'm not sure, but I also think the media and some fans make a much bigger deal of Indian pitches than they need to. If you do a quick scorecard review of the past 5 BG series in India you’ll find that out of the 16 tests in total, only 2 or maybe 3 were horrible pitches. All of these were during the 2022/23 series – Delhi was a turner but India still managed to score some runs on that, Indore was a rank turner and Ahmedebad was a featherbed. In all the other games, at least one team managed sizeable scores (i.e. more than 450 across 2 innings, but generally way more than that). Popular opinion is that big turners simply bring opposition spinners into the game and bring the result closer to a lottery, which I tend to agree with. So it’s nice to see some balanced pitches being prepared for this series so far.
Khun Phil
Roar Rookie
Brings back memories of probably the only good catch I took in my cricket playing days.I bowled a rank long hop and the batsman smashed it back,stuck out my left hand as a reflex action and somehow the ball stuck in it!Could hardly use my hand for a long while after :laughing:
Khun Phil
Roar Rookie
And Hazelwood stays under the radar!
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
First instinct would be Cummins and Afridi but conditions blah blah blah...
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
There's an article online that talks about the margin for error in the technology and from memory it's something like +/- 2 or 3 mm. That makes Stokes comments about Bairstow fair enough. The problem for Stokes is, he was happy enough to say nothing when a batsman )I think it was Steve Smith) had to wear an lbw decision in the Ashes where the ball was maybe hitting the top millimetre of the bail. He and the rest of the complainers need to remember this technology was not designed for close decisions, but for the howlers. There's only one choice to be made - use it and put up with the super tight calls or don't use it and put up with the howlers that are missed
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Your comment about no sendoffs is exactly right. I'm genuinely surprised there's not been any physical confrontations over the years, given some of the sendoffs batsmen have had to put up with. The problem is way worse when you get to lower levels of cricket. Lots more sendoffs and lots more guys willing to respond
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
I have no problem with Bairstow telling Ashwin to F off. Sendoffs are far worse than reacting to them. There was a reason sendoffs rarely happened for most of cricket history. Not only are they cowardly and break the no-d—kheads rule, they could easily make for a very nasty game and even a physical confrontation. It’s particularly cowardly in Tests because the fielding side knows there is no risk of something getting physical. I thought England batted well from what I saw, apart from Root and Stokes. It was a very good pitch by Indian standards, but still a fair bit in it for both seamers and seamers. I’m not confident our batters would have done as well. Stokes’s main problem in the runout was looking at the fielder as he threw. Never do that.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
It wasn’t whingeing. Just part of the press conference. I agree with Stokes. It’s a plain fact that there is a margin of error with ball tracking, which as Stokes said is why they have umpire’s call. It looked like it could have been missing, umpires call at best. Even the trajectory on ball-tracking showed a line towards an umpire’s call but mysteriously came up as hitting the stumps. I like seeing England lose as much as anyone but let’s keep it real.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
He had that "how the hell did that get there?" look on his face, the split second he realised he'd actually held it.
astro
Roar Rookie
“My personal opinion is that the technology has gone wrong on this occasion. That’s where I stand on it,” Stokes said. This comment is unbelievable from a Test captain. Grow up...Stokes really thinks his eye is more accurate than ball-tracking technology? Seriously? I wonder if he's ever felt the technology has 'gone wrong' when England's opposition was given out using ball-tracking? The ball pitched in line and was hitting leg. Yadav knew immediately. Crawley played back and was caught deep in his crease. The Ump made an error and the technology corrected him. End of story. Stokes' comments make him and his team look petty. The level of whinging in that locker room must be astonishing...
RayinSydney
Roar Rookie
He’s probably a very nice bloke, just as a cricketer comes across as a bit…dim.
Short Arm
Roar Rookie
Yep, a very sharp catch. It was in his hand before he realised it.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Apparently South Africa have never lost in New Zealand (a series that is), so this is definitely new in that sense. My point about the thrashing side of things is only to point out that test cricket has seen many floggings in history, though RSA aren't usually on the other end of them.
astro
Roar Rookie
Not just Kohli. No Jadeja and KL Rahul either!