India face tougher than expected England test

Ajit Vijaykumar 04:59 07/11/2016
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  • Returning: James Anderson.

    As England prepare for one of their toughest tours in recent times, many are expecting the worst for Alastair Cook’s team. A five-Test series in India is a daunting task for any team and with the Indians in superb form in Tests at home, the road ahead looks treacherous.

    Add to that, England’s heavy defeat in the second Test against Bangladesh and you can understand why there is trepidation.

    While England lost 10 wickets in one session against the spirited Tigers in Dhaka, India were at their ruthless best against the Kiwis, winning 3-0. Debutant Bangladesh spinner Mehedi Hasan was the tormenter in chief for England, picking up an incredible 19 wickets in two Tests. If Hasan can do all that damage on dry wickets, you wonder what Ravi Ashwin will do.

    Ashwin will be desperate to have another shot at a side that picked him apart in the previous series at home in 2012, where he tried way too many variations and ended up with 14 wickets from four Tests at an astronomical average of 52.64. England spinners Graeme Swann (20 wickets at 24.75) and Monty Panesar (17 scalps at 26.82) were streets ahead of him.

    However, that’s not the case this time. Ashwin has revamped his game and gone back to a classical style of bowling which has seen him pick up 106 wickets in 16 Tests in the last two years. But a couple of developments have balanced the equation ahead of the first Test which starts in Rajkot on Wednesday.

    First, the Indian camp will be a worried lot as its squad has been hit by multiple injury blows. Opening batsmen KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan and middle order batter Rohit Sharma are unavailable for the first two Tests due to injuries, leaving a massive hole in the batting department. Rohit has been ruled out for three months with a thigh problem which means we won’t be seeing him bat in this series at all.

    As things stand, captain Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are in good nick going into the Test series. Opener Murali Vijay has two fifties in 13 innings but that means the hosts will be relying on a handful of players in the batting department.

    The rest of the line-up will not give England bowlers any sleepless nights. Gautam Gambhir has been retained in the side but it is a stopgap arrangement which will change once the main players regain their fitness.

    India’s lower middle order is lightweight with wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja likely to be joined by a debutant – batsman Karun Nair or all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Whichever way you look at it, this is not a world-beating batting line-up.

    On the bowling front, however, India are in good shape. Ashwin and Jadeja alone should be more than capable of keeping the English batsmen on a tight leash while they should find good support in pacers Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav.

    It is safe to say Kohli will be confident of getting 20 wickets without much damage. But because it is unlikely that India will be able to impose themselves as a batting unit that will put more pressure on the bowlers. In fact, the team for the first Test in Rajkot won’t be solid and will depend on individual brilliance as there won’t be any cohesion in the unit.

    If Kohli or Pujara score big and Ashwin and Jadeja do their job on tailor-made tracks, it should be fine but if not, then England will have chance. And that’s because while India have injury issues, Cook’s team are preparing to welcome James Anderson back into the side after the pacer recovered from a shoulder injury much earlier than expected.

    Anderson should be fit by the second Test and will give a massive fillip to the tourists. It was Anderson, according to the then India Test captain MS Dhoni, who was the biggest difference between the sides during the 2012 series won by England and underscores the value of a quality pacer in Indian conditions.

    Anderson is 34 and this should be his last tour of India, so he will be keen to give it his all. England don’t have world class spinners and Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid will have to be at their very best to make an impact. But the presence of Anderson in the side, along with the injury issues plaguing the Indian batting line-up, has levelled the playing field and reduced, to a great extent, talk of a 5-0 whitewash.

    India will still be favourites at home while England are a bit thin on the batting front themselves. Cook and Joe Root are the only ‘big’ names in the line-up which relies heavily on the all-round abilities of Ben Stokes, Ali, Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairstow. But at least it is a set-up they are familiar with.

    For India, it will be a fresh challenge, at least for the first two Tests, and that has set the stage for a keen contest.

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