India gear up for England pace test
FIRST TEST Onus on skipper Kohli to help visitors reverse the failures during the 2011 and 2014 tours
and 2007.
But the big number Indian fans hope will improve is 13.4 -- the average Kohli collected in 2014. He bounced back with four centuries on the 2014-15 Australia tour that followed and hasn’t looked back since. However, he has the additional challenge as skipper this time.
England still have swing master James Anderson, who turned 36 on Monday, to look up to and his partnership with Stuart Broad will test the Indian bats- men. Opener Murali Vijay’s patience to weather the new ball threat and the confidence he draws from his success on the previous tour will be vital though India may opt for in-form KL Rahul over Shikhar Dhawan to boost the top-order.
Kohli has repeatedly said 2014 won’t play on his mind, but he will be the target for England pacers, boosted after rain at the weekend freshened up the pitch. India have lost five of six matches at Edgbaston and England picking a lone spinner in Adil Rashid indicates a more seam-friendly pitch.
Kohli was in good touch on a pitch with early life when he hit 68 in the practice game against Essex, but he can still take a leaf out of idol Sachin Tendulkar’s book.
The 29-year-old’s tendency to reach out to deliveries outside offstump early on is cited as a weakness. At the nets on Monday, he was drawn a few times into deliveries that shaped away.
But he only needs to look at Tendulkar’s famous 241 not out at Sydney in 2003-4 after he cut out the cover drive. His coming on top of the bowling will be half the battle won for India.
England will hope Alastair Cook’s experience and skipper Joe Root’s class will help hold together the unsettled batting unit. Root has struggled to convert Test fifties into centuries of late, but showed with back-toback centuries in the ODI series win that he may be ready to change that record.
England will once again look to keep India skipper Virat Kohli quiet to extend his poor run in the country in Tests, but his counterpart Joe Root is also aware a player of his class will know how to make amends for his failures in 2014.
Asked if he felt Kohli’s poor record on the last tour, when James Anderson dismissed him four times, will be playing on his mind, Root said that England know how to get Kohli.
“The only person that can answer that is Virat,” he said when asked if the 2014 dismissals will be playing on the India skipper’s mind. “Ultimately we know how good a player he is. He has come a long way in the last few years in particular in this format. We feel we got some strong plans in place. Ultimately when you play against the world’s best players, they generally have the answers. We have got to be very strong on the areas we bowl to him and very clear how we want to get him out.”
ATTACKING WITH ADIL
England picked leg-spinner Adil Rashid as the lone spinner, an indication that the pitch would help seamers, especially after rain at the weekend. All-rounder Sam Curran also comes in while off-spinner Moeen Ali and uncapped seamer Jamie Porter will sit out.
“We looked at the surface and decided we want to go with only one spinner and that will be Adil.
Sam is going to play
and Jamie is going to miss out.
“With the amount of righthanders and what we think is going to be India’s team, Adil gives us a very attacking option. We are very excited; he is obviously bowling with a huge amount of confidence at the moment,” Root added.
Rashid’s last Test was in the 2016 series in India, and going into his first home game, his selection has been a huge controversy having refused a red-ball contract with Yorkshire.