Hosts trade Bazball for old-school cricket

All of a sudden, England aren't keen on entertaining anymore. Looks like they are trying to stay alive in the series. Worse, they are actually trying to play the waiting game against India.

- Somshuvra Laha

Once again the coin fell in their favour but Ben Stokes wanted to bat, and for no particularly compelling reason really. Bat England did, but minus the swagger that made their batting watchable in the last four years. No six hit the entire day, run rate plummeting to a measly three runs per over, this was the kind of drudgery Brendon McCullum is known to be outrightly dismissive of. Times change though. And England could argue that they weren't chasing after all.

It's a conundrum for those who have been closely following England cricket for a while now. Batting long was not known to be their forte in the last four years. For a side that has toppled scores of 378 and 371 in a day to sacrifice all their bluster must be humbling.