England v India: A Test Classic That Refused to Follow the Script

Collapses, counter-attacks and a last-session twist — the third Test delivered five days of drama nobody predicted.

Selection is the quiet subplot. There is a settled top order on paper, but form is temporary in this format and the management has shown before that reputations buy fewer matches than they used to.

The bigger picture

Conditions will have the final word, as they always do. The surface is expected to start slow and get slower, which puts a premium on batters who can manipulate the field in the middle overs, and on captains brave enough to attack when the ball gets soft.

“Everyone has a plan for ninety minutes. The best teams have one for minute ninety-one.”

The data community has been arguing about this for months. Match-up models say one thing, the eye test says another, and somewhere between the two sits the truth. What nobody disputes is that the margins have never been thinner.

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