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India’s Test series against England starting on Thursday comes as welcome relief. There’s been a surfeit of T20 cricket recently. Watching big hits and brilliant fielding is exciting, and every now and then you get an edge-of-seat thriller like the double Super Over humdinger against Afghanistan last week. But I am not a glutton for this format and have been counting the days for this rubber to begin.
Alas, there have been some setbacks before the series began. England’s precocious young batsman Harry Brook has returned home for `personal reasons’ and India’s majordomo Virat Kohli has withdrawn from the first two Tests, also for personal reasons, which leaves their respective teams in a quandary.
Apart from Ben Stokes, Brook, a flamboyant, uninhibited stroke player, has been the most manifest metaphor of BazBall, which has revitalised England in Test cricket. Kohli, after more than two years in a major form slump, has found a magnificent second wind that has seen him again become India’s best run-getter in all formats.
For Test cricket to thrive, not just the matches have to be exciting, the best players need to be playing this format regularly. The absence of Kohli and Brook will impact both the quality of cricket as well as box-office value of the series. Hopefully they’ll be back soon.
How do the teams square up?
WTC and ICC Test rankings are confounding. In WTC, India come in second, behind Australia, while England languish at No.8. In the ICC rankings, however, while India are No.2 again to Australia, England astonishingly jump up five places at No.3!
A more pertinent perspective comes from how England have fared in their previous two Test series in India.
In 2016-17, Alistair Cook’s team was beaten 0-4 in 5 Tests. In 2021, with Joe Root in charge, England won the first Test but lost the remaining three. In both series, England’s batsmen were gobbled up by ravenous Indian spinners R Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja on turning tracks.
Will it be different this time? On the face of it, unlikely. The pitches will not be much different. Ashwin and Jadeja are still around and still at the top of their game. India’s pace attack, even without Shami — he will miss the first half of the series — is potent with a fit, hungry-for-success Bumrah back as spearhead, feisty Siraj approaching his peak and newcomer Mukesh Kumar showing fine skills and an unflappable temperament to succeed at the highest level. Kohli’s absence leaves a difficult-to-fill void but with Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Indian batting still looks heavy duty even if the young guns haven’t been firing consistently recently.
The choice of wicketkeeper between KS Bharat, Dhruv Jurel and Rahul though is unclear. Moreover, which of three left-arm spinners from Jadeja, Axar and Kuldeep to keep out of the playing XI is a lingering dilemma, so all is not hunky-dory with India.
Even so, England’s concerns seem more serious.
The pace department, despite the ageless Jimmy Anderson, looks flaky unless Stokes is ready to turn his arm over for 15-20 overs in a match, which looks remote. He hasn’t done that in almost two years. There are four spinners in the squad, two of them debutants, the other two without great depth of experience. On Indian tracks, that’s a risky, hit-or-miss situation. The batting, with Root, Bairstow and Stokes, all `India veterans’, is well served, but losing Brook is a big, big blow as, apart from all else, it also riles the batting order.
England’s approach is the key to how they fare. Will McCullum and Stokes opt for the daredevilry that has defined their cricket over the past 18-20 months? Bazball, in spite of it being patently high-risk, and at times propelled by eccentric logic, has brought rich rewards: England haven’t lost a series since mid-2022, at home or away. The trail of successes also includes a 3-0 sweep against Pakistan, revealing an unexpected level of expertise on sub-continent pitches.
Will McCullum-Stokes persist with the `total attack’ strategy that has got them such rich dividends? India is a far more accomplished team than Pakistan, the skill levels of their players considerably higher at this point in time. Will England balance aggression with tactical defence this time is open to speculation.
On paper, India certainly look way ahead but history cautions against overconfidence. In the last 50 years, England have won three series in India (1976, 1985, 2013) and in all of these started as underdogs. In fact, in 1985 and 2013, they turned the series on its head after losing the first Test badly.
All said, this is an important rubber on multiple counts.
What happens over the five Tests will not only impact the historical narrative of India-England cricket — now 92 years old! — it will also define a roadmap for both teams in the ongoing cycle of the World Test Championship.
For India, optimising opportunities at home and gain as many points as possible is crucial in the quest for reaching a third consecutive WTC final. More so because two other 5-Test rubbers in this WTC cycle are both away – Australia and England – where the hardship quotient to win will be greater. Though the pitches were nasty, failure to beat a weak South Africa in both Tests recently cost India valuable points. Meanwhile, England, seeking a maiden appearance in a WTC final, badly need an overseas series win to be strongly in the running.
The longest format is currently in a precarious place after West Indies and South Africa, bowing to the demands of T20, sent sub-par Test teams overseas. It needs succour.
The flavour and tenor of this series could have a big influence on the future of Test cricket.
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