Variety in India pace attack a departure from past: Cook
BIRMINGHAM : England opening batsman Alastair Cook returns to the scene of his greatest Test innings, a career-best 294 that set the tone for a crushing win over India on the 2011 tour when the visitors lost the series 0-4.
Having quit as captain after India drubbed England 4-0 at home in 2016, Cook looked forward to focusing on his main job in the memorable 1000th Test for the hosts when the series kicks off at Edgbaston on Wednesday.
It was nostalgia initially as Cook was asked to pick his favourite Tests in England’s long journey. As a player, it was crushing Australia by an innings in Sydney to wrap up the 2011 Ashes series, and finishing Manof-the-match and Man-of-the-series. As a fan, it was the stunning win over Australia at Edgbaston in another Ashes series win in 2005.
It was quickly down to reality as he was peppered with questions about what he thought made the 2018 team led by Virat Kohli different from the past sides, with India having lost heavily on their last two tours since the 1-0 win in 2007.
“I’ll answer the question at the end of the series,” he started during a news conference on Monday. “But they seem to have got a good variety of bowlers and pace bowlers, which is probably unusual, and strength in depth in their pace bowling.
Ashwin, if picked, is expected to bat at No 8. Although he flopped in 2014, his experience could be vital if the pitch wears out faster due to a dry English summer until this weekend.
Umesh looked the sharpest in the warm-up against Essex, taking four wickets. He bowled with pace, extracted late movement and ball skidded off the pitch too.
Having played 12 of the 13 matches during India’s home swing in 2016-17 and done well, he didn’t get a game in South Africa. This five-match series will be seen as a great opportunity for Umesh to pair up with Ishant.
Of his 37 Tests, he has played 15 away, seven of them in Australia where he has a decent record. Letting him loose here could be a game-changer if he bowls with discipline.
Ishant will be expected to deliver. On India’s 2014 tour, he captured seven wickets in the second innings to hand the visitors a famous win at Lord’s. After his stint with Sussex, he was solid in the Essex game, taking three wickets.
Shami, India’s most successful bowler in South Africa with 15 scalps, was rusty. He has had little match practice since that big series, and missed most of IPL games due to a family dispute. His dodgy knee too needs to be managed, but is the most skilful among the pacers.
With England looking to rotate James Anderson and Stuart Broad to manage workload, and Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar expected to play later on, it could be time to show India have come of age in pace department.
“Over the last couple of years – certainly in the last 10 years I’ve played them – they haven’t had the option of playing five or six different types of seamers. That’s different to what I have experienced in the past but we’ll see over the next six weeks.”
However, Cook acknowledged that India are the No 1 Test side and that it takes consistency to reach the top of the rankings. “It takes two or three years of really good results and we haven’t had that. The team has been changing as we’re finding out different things about different players and different combinations.
“You go back to that side in 2011, that was probably the end of two or three years under Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower (coach) playing really good cricket with the same 15 or 16 players.”
Asked about India’s top-order batsmen stuggling, after Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara failed in the practice game against his county Essex, Cook said: “With very good players, form is certainly temporary. The reason they’re very good players is the number of runs they’ve scored in the past over a sustained period of time.
“You can go a couple of innings not scoring any runs, and suddently you get a couple away and start to get the rhythm and timing back – and you get a big one.”