By Peter Hayter
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PICTURE DISPUTE
We are unable to carry live pictures from the First Test in Ahmedabad due to a dispute between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and international news organisations.
The BCCI has refused access to Test venues to established picture agencies Getty Images and Action Images and other Indian photographic agencies.
MailOnline consider this action to be a strike against? press freedom and supports the action to boycott BCCI imagery.
About 4.40am UK time on Saturday, from his Sky TV commentary position off the A4 out of London, former England coach David Lloyd offered viewers the following suggestion.
As England's first innings score in the first Test in Ahmedabad flashed on to the screen, showing Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell had fallen in successive deliveries to leave them 69 for five, Bumble advised those in England now abed to stay right where they were.
'Pull up the duvet,' he said. He stopped short of his catchphrase, 'Start The Car!', but as we watched England succumb to the spin on the subcontinent once again, all out for 191 at tea on day three and forced to follow-on 330 runs adrift of India's first innings 521 for eight declared, you felt it is only a matter of time.
Going good: Nick Compton showed a good understanding with Alistair Cook
How much closer to the moment of defeat they might have been this morning had India not been so steadfastly opposed to Decision Review System as to insist it will not be used when they are playing at home?
Indeed, without Alastair Cook and Nick Compton's excellent century stand which helped England to 111 for at the close, a deficit of 219 runs with two days remaining, and much, much more of the same from them and their colleagues from now until the end of the four-match series, the dire assessment of former captain Michael Vaughan could be right on the money.
'It's now absolutely official,' said Vaughan on Twitter. 'This England side cannot play spin ... 4-0 is definitely on the cards...'
For anyone observing Cook's side slide from 41 for three overnight to 97 for seven against the arts and crafts of Pragyan Ojha and R Ashwin, it was difficult to argue, not least because the force of recent history is also against them.
In six Tests against spinners on overseas wickets since the turn of 2012, against Pakistan in UAE, Sri Lanka and now here, this was the sixth completed innings of 200 or less, the latest in a dismal run that reads 192, 160, 72 and 141 (v Pakistan), 193 against Sri Lanka and now 191.
Only twice in 11 innings have they reached 300 only once have they topped 400, in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo, their only victory abroad this year.
Solid: England captain Cook (left) oversaw a good fightback
And no matter how loud and how often England rail against the suggestion that they are woefully out of their depth against top class spin, the way they batted during the first session showed why those figures cannot be regarded as a statistical anomaly.
Kevin Pietersen's reintegration into the England side may have been hailed as an unequivocal success, but his latest nervy disintegration against left-arm spin must have been a major concern.
From the very first ball of the day, flighted beautifully by Ojha, Pietersen lunged and missed, but somehow the ball slid past the outside edge, off stump and the gloves of MS Dhoni.
Four balls later, his desperation to impose himself almost painful, he squirted the ball into the offside, set off for an insane run, then threw himself back into his crease as the throw missed the stumps.
From the first ball of his next over Ojha beat him again, and he is probably still wondering how this one also missed leg stump and how, with the batsman overbalancing out of his ground, his skipper was unable to collect the ball for a simple stumping.
When he finally broke through in the 33rd over, Ojha's success was almost an act or mercy, as a ball that pitched straight on continued its journey past Pietersen's familiar curtain rail shot and unerringly into the middle stump, sending it cartwheeling out of the ground.
As if Pietersen's 24th Test dismissal against the left-arm spinners he maintains are not the bogeyman was not bad enough, what happened next caused the jaw of batting coach Graham Gooch to hit the floor with a thud that reverberated all round India.
Ian Bell marched to the crease bristling with attacking intent, advanced down the track to his first ball and hoisted it high into the outfield at mid-off where Sachin Tendulkar took two steps back and swallowed it whole with the crowd unsure whether to cheer or laugh.
While the idea was understandable, did he have to try to put it into practice quite so early in his innings? Or did the idea of his impending return home to be at the birth of his first child, which means he will miss the second Test in Mumbai and which he admits has been a distraction, simply render him a walking wicket.
Michael Atherton was in no doubt: 'For a senior player, it was a disgraceful shot.' He groaned. 'After that, take as much paternity leave as you like.'
Cook dug in for 41 until he pushed too hard at Ashwin and was caught at slip by Virender Sehwag, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan and Stuart Brad batted sensibly as the pitch appeared to lose its earlier spite and Samit Patel was unlucky to be given out, though he was luckier still to survive an earlier shout.
What is more, leaving aside the DRS opportunities they denied themselves, India also dropped two straightforward catches, the sum total of their dominance adding up to another dreadful shambles against spin which left Cook's new England facing their seventh defeat in 12 Tests since they ascended to the summit of Test cricket, by beating India 4-0 in 2011.
Encouragingly for England, when asked to bat again to save the game and their credibility Cook and new opening partner Compton survived the final session with something approaching ease.
And the grandson of the great entertainer Denis showed how quick a learner he is by taking off-stump guard against Ashwin as Hashim Amla did to such blunting effect against Graeme Swann last summer.
But the questions that have dogged England all year remain and unless they find the answers quickly the victory in Asia Cook called 'the final frontier' looks like being out of range once again.
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