As India begin their five-test series on the 4th of August against England at Trent Bridge, we have a look at how the two sides are shaping up for the beginning of the second World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

Overview

A lot has transpired since India lost the WTC Finals against New Zealand a little over a month ago. The Indian players were given an off for a period of 20 odd days which was followed by a first-class match that they played against the County Championship XI where a handful of players were entirely ruled out of the remaining tour including Washington Sundar, reserve pacer Avesh Khan and Shubman Gill. At least for the first test, Mayank Agarwal, as well, is ruled out due to concussion after he was hit on the helmet during a net session.

How Team India can manage to avoid injuries will remain the biggest hurdle over the span of the next month and a half. An England tour is never easy to conquer and the fact that India have won only 3 test series ever since their first visit in 1932 shows that the the team needs to be at their best. Therefore, if the players can remain fit and available for selection first, they can then focus on what happens across the 22-yard strip.

Image courtesy – ECB

England have been busy with limited-overs competitions throughout the summer. After the series loss to New Zealand in June, the players have been participating in the T20 Blast, the new Hundred ball league – The Hundred and the T20 and ODI series respectively against Pakistan where the test specialists including Sibley, Lawrence and Overton were picked because of the Covid outbreak in the camp.

Team dynamics

For India, the biggest concern going into the first test will be their opening pair. After injuries to Gill and Mayank, his back-up, the options available on the bench are Rahul, Vihari and Easwaran. The batter with the experience of playing the new ball in England is Rahul, during the 2018 tour. Except for the 149 he made at The Oval, his numbers are disappointing. In 5 matches, he has scored 299 runs at an average of 29.9. Vihari, last featured in a test against Australia at Sydney where he played the match-saving innings on literally one hamstring. He has opened the innings for India in a test match against the Aussies during the tour of 2018 and is very capable of tackling the new cherry.

The last time that India played here, they had the services of Hardik Pandya who played his part as an all-rounder. His 5/28 and a half-century at Trent Bridge ( Also the venue of the first test match) won India the only match in the 4-1 series loss. Point being, a fast bowling all-rounder becomes a necessity in these conditions as he can contribute overs as the fourth seamer and add depth to the batting. India will thus have to compromise on that aspect by playing Jadeja who is more than capable with the bat but his role as a spinner would remain minimal which was the case in the WTC Finals where he bowled just 15.2 overs across the two innings.

As far as Pujara and Rahane are concerned, they will be playing in their third tour of England and with the pressure that the former is facing, it will be crucial for him to perform well so as to stop the chatter around his place in the XI. Rahane has recovered from the hamstring trouble but did not participate in the first-class game which could have added up to valuable match practice before the commencement of the series.

Virat Kohli will undoubtedly be the player that India relies on to put up a competitive total on the board. Though he has not been in the best of form, his previous tour where he amassed 593 runs in 5 tests including 2 hundreds, will boost his morale.

England have made an effort to select their best squad but injuries to Woakes and Jofra and the absence of Stokes mean that two aspects of their game will not be at full-strength. Their batting does have loopholes with the lack of experience and batters who can play the big innings. During their previous series against India, the highest-scorer was Buttler who scored 349 runs in 9 innings while their next best was Cook at 327 runs in 9 innings. They will definitely have to do better than that. With the opening pair of Burns and Crawley, it remains to be seen whether they can score runs against the quick bowlers.

England can go in with 5 batsmen, a keeper, an all-rounder and 4 specialist bowlers. For that combination to go ahead, Dan Lawrence might have to give way to Sam Curran who was India’s tormentor in 2018. The four bowlers will include a spinner and three pacers, at least. Anderson and Broad could start together given the absence of Jofra and Wood.

Venue – Trent Bridge

India’s record (vs England) : Matches – 7, Won – 2, Lost – 2, Draw – 3.

England’s record (vs India) : Matches – 7, Won – 2, Lost – 2, Draw – 3.

Key Battles

Ajinkya Rahane vs Stuart Broad : Runs – 99, Balls – 303, Outs – 6.

Virat Kohli vs James Anderson : Runs – 236, Balls – 565, Outs – 5.

(After that 2014 tour, Anderson has not picked Virat’s wicket even once.)

Jos Buttler vs Ishant Sharma : Runs – 90, Balls – 148, Outs – 5.

What they said

Virat Kohli – “The criticism has been going on for a while and I honestly feel a player of his
(Pujara) calibre and experience should be left alone.”

James Anderson – “I don’t think India can have any complaints if we do leave a bit of grass on the pitch because of what we came up against in our tour of India last time.”