How spin swayed Cook

An early let-off for India's batsmen
At the start of the third day, the second new ball was only four overs old and, considering the help the England seamers got in the first hour of the previous days, it came as a surprise when Alastair Cook started with Mooen Ali from one end. The first few overs after a break, especially at the start of a new day, are critical from a batsman's perspective and I'm sure both R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja would have also preferred facing Mooen instead of James Anderson in the morning.

Rotation only for bowlers?
Chris Woakes was the best bowler from both sides in Rajkot and even though he picked up a niggle, he was available for selection in Visakhapatnam. Cook mentioned at the toss in Visakhapatnam that Woakes has been rested 'under the rotation policy'. Incidentally, Woakes has not looked the same bowler in Mohali. Could this be due to a loss of rhythm? Would England rest a performing batsman under the same 'rotation' policy?

The case for unpredictability
The third ball of the 89th over in India's innings, bowled by Woakes, was a bouncer. The fourth a fast offcutter that hit the inside edge of the bat. The fifth was a wide and full delivery, which Ashwin played and missed. While there is a lot of focus on discipline and pitching it around the same spot ball after ball, there is also merit in mixing things up quite radically once in a while, especially on flatter pitches. Unpredictability is a tactic worth exploring sometimes.

Ashwin's lightweight pads
An inside edge on to Ashwin's pads flew towards the empty point region. His leg guards are the ones without bamboo sticks and cotton inside, and therefore don't absorb the shock. They are much lighter than the ones used by most players (a single leg guard with bamboo sticks inside weighs more than a pair of foam-based leg guards) and allow a batsman to move faster. Since they're lighter, they don't tire a batsman as much either. The flip side: one has to be careful with bat-pads going faster and further, sometimes straight to fielders stationed a few yards away from the bat.

(Sachin Tendulkar used the same leg guards throughout his life. Virender Sehwag started using them but stopped it when he got caught and bowled to a seamer courtesy the extra bounce from the pads)

Spin and the lack of it
In the 10th over of England's second innings, bowled by Ashwin, Cook was adjudged leg before to a ball that spun sharply after pitching. The England captain reviewed the decision and HawkEye confirmed that the ball pitched outside leg stump. While that ball did not dismiss Cook, it created doubt in his mind. He started playing for the spin and kept missing the ball that went straight after pitching. The delivery that got him out eventually also went straight, but Cook played for the spin and missed the line.

Root's view at the non-striker's end
At the non-striker's end, Joe Root stood close to the stumps instead of standing at the corner of the box. While that prevented him from taking a start, it did give him a good view of where the ball pitched and headed on for a leg-before appeal. Obviously it is impossible to get the umpire's view, but Root did his best to get as close to it as possible to be able to offer the most accurate opinion on whether a decision should be reviewed or not.

How boundaries help strike-rotation
The England scoreboard almost came to a standstill in the phase when Ashwin and Jadeja were bowling in tandem. While the talk is always about taking singles, the fact is that if you can't hit boundaries, it's highly unlikely you will be able to put the ball in gaps, too. The moment you hit a few boundaries, the field spreads out and that allows you breathing space. Therefore it's not surprising that England's dot-ball percentage against spin was a whopping 80% today.