India vs England 2nd Test today
Kohli hints at adding second spinner in bid to turn India’s fortunes at Lord’s
London, Aug. 8: Indian would expect their floundering batsmen to take more responsibility in pursuit of a series-levelling victory in the second Test against England, starting on Thursday at the Lord’s. If captain Virat Kohli had got support from his batting colleagues in Birmingham, the scenario would have been completely different. The world number one Test side came close to taking the lead but fell short by 31 runs. The mood in the Indian dressing room, though, is quite upbeat. Two days before the game, there was healthy amount of grass on the Lord’s pitch. It is expected that the groundsmen will shave a few bits off before the first ball. But even if they don’t, the general expectation is that the pitch would turn out to be quite dry. This has also prompted a rethink in the Indian camp as to what bowling strategy they would want to go in with. Kohli did drop a hint that a second specialist spinner in either Ravindra Jadeja or Kuldeep Yadav could be an option as the surface looks dry.
“It could be a tempting thought. Just walking here the pitch looked very hard and the surface looked very dry. It has been very hot in London for the last couple of months. There is good grass cover on it and that is required basically to keep the wicket together, otherwise it is going to be very difficult to hold it together,” Kohli explained.
“It is a tempting thought to field two spinners but we have to take a call on that depending on the team balance. But two spinners are definitely in contention,” he said.
Toss-up for the second spinner’s slot is an interesting one. The last time Ravindra Jadeja played at the Lord’s (in 2014), he took 3-99 in two innings but scored 68 in the second innings that underlined his value with the bat and helped India put on a match-winning total.
It isn’t easy to overlook Kuldeep Yadav either. There is a strong appreciation for his talent in the Indian camp, and it was once again noticeable in the nets as he bowled to skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday, beating him with drift and turn on more than a couple of occasions.
Away from bowling attack permutations, Kohli will face a tougher dilemma regarding the batting lineup. The skipper played Shikhar Dhawan ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara at Edgbaston, fitting-in KL Rahul in the eleven appropriately. Experimentation with the number three spot is nothing new. Back in 2014-15, they first played around with number three, when Rohit Sharma was picked ahead of Pujara for the fourth Test against Australia at Sydney.