The shine on show, and the sixth-bowler advantage

The pitch
Indian pitches with relatively bigger spaces between cracks don't crumble; this pitch has proved that theory right, once again. While the cracks have become wider and the edges have become a little loose, the deterioration isn't something worth losing sleep over if you're a batsmen.

The Stokes factor
England's resources allowed them to play six bowlers and that has put them in an envious position. Reverse-swing is at its best when the ball moves late in the air, that happens only when you have extra pace, and for that you need to be reasonably fresh. You can't expect a bowler to be really sharp if he has already bowled 30 overs. Stokes had bowled only 10 overs at the 126-over mark and that allowed England to have a fresh bowler at such a late stage in the innings.

Rashid v Mishra
If you were to err as a legspinner, you must err on the fuller side. The moment you allow the batsman to play off the back foot, you make his job a lot easier. Barring a freak hit-wicket dismissal, you aren't likely to get many batsmen out off short-pitched deliveries. Adil Rashid's pitch-map suggests that he has bowled shorter a bit too often and the reason for that, in my opinion, is his delivery action. All spinners are told to have a "pause" before delivering, for that allows you more control. Rashid runs through the crease. Amit Mishra, on the other hand, take a fraction longer than Rashid from the time he lands his back leg in his delivery stride to the time he releases the ball. While this affects his consistency, it does give him fizz off the surface.

Does nobody hide the shine anymore?
As a batsman, you rely on spotting the shine to play reverse-swing. If you're able to see it, you plan your response well in advance. You stay inside the line for the balls coming back in and leave the balls that are expected to go away. In the '90s Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis wrecked havoc with reverse-swing for a few reasons: they were sharp in the air, they maintained the ball better than many and, also, they were able to hide the shine on most occasions. While the ball has been reverse-swinging in Rajkot, nobody has tried to hide the shine. In fact, it is not limited to just these two teams and Rajkot; hiding the shine of the ball seems no longer in vogue. I wonder why.

Ashwin on the back foot
Batting against spin becomes easier if you get to play it off the back foot. Ashwin has the unique ability to play perfectly good-length balls, ones that others lunge forward to, off the back foot. This approach to spinners forces them to bowl even fuller and he is equally adept at driving off the front foot.

Haseeb Hameed's adjustment How do you judge a developing career? The best way is to look for evolution, if there's any. In the first innings, Hameed was trapped leg-before by Ashwin, when he went around the wicket, with the front foot landing pretty straight. In the second innings, when Ashwin tried the same ploy, Hameed had a different plan; he stood on middle stump instead of on leg stump and then shuffled a little too. Therefore, when he got beaten the same way in this innings, the ball was missing the stumps. He has shown the awareness to address a concern, and the aptitude to make an overnight adjustment.