‘England start favourites but do not write India off’
Sanjjeev K Samyal
MUMBAI: The fifth Test at Edgbaston from Friday will be a great opportunity for India to end England’s domination at home after being on the receiving end for three straight series. Leading 2-1, they only need a draw. But this is a transformed England side from the one that surrendered meekly at Lord’s and The Oval in 2021. England’s former spin ace, Graeme Swann, who will commentate on the Test for Sony Sports Network, feels India have their task cut out against the home side playing an exhilarating brand of cricket led by captain Ben Stokes.
Excerpts:
How do you see the challenge of playing a one-off Test?
This England team is a different beast altogether from the one that played last year, with new captain, new coach and the whole new outlook on how to play Test cricket. I am impressed by the mindset of the England team. They are now ultra-positive, ultra-aggressive and always taking the aggressive option. It has rejuvenated the Test team which was in a bit of shambles. There is renewed vigour. England are in a good space, and India have come and played only one warm-up game in Leicester. Just like the ICC World Test Championship final (2021) when India were undercooked against New Zealand, there is a danger India could be undercooked (again).
What have Brendon Mccullum and Ben Stokes brought to the side? How is this team different from the side that played India in the fourth Test?
It is almost entirely in the head, players like Ollie Pope will be unrecognisable from the Pope that played last against India. He has just scored two hundreds, is very aggressive, very confident. Joe Root with the burden of captaincy gone is batting gorgeously. It is the mind-set: before it was very negative, defence-oriented. They were picking the wrong team all the time, the Ahmedabad Test (March, 2021) when they went with one spinner on the craziest turning pitch I had seen. I was
Stoking success
England’s new skipper and coach, Ben Stokes and Brendon Mccullum, have instantly sparked a robust approach to Test cricket, underlined in the 3-0 rout of New Zealand in the first series after the change of guard. A look at what has ticked. licking my lips (that) we could at least have five spinners playing this game, over the two teams. England went in with four seamers because it seamed around in the nets. This England is more clued in to try and win Test matches, rather than see what happens.
Will you put England as outright favourites?
At the moment, I see England are favourites—they have the home advantage, won a very well-fought series against New Zealand. But I am not writing India off, especially their bowlers if they get their lengths right and enjoy bowling with the Dukes ball. Jasprit Bumrah is the world’s best when he gets going.
Looking at the conditions at Edgbaston, what combination do you expect the teams to field?
England will play one spinner, will have their three seamers and then Stokes. I can guarantee you England’s starting XI or 10 off the 11, whether Zak Crawley plays will be the one. As for India, R Ashwin didn’t play last year which surprised me, and I will definitely play him. At Edgbaston, the wicket will turn, especially later on in the game. The crowd will be interesting because a lot of Indian people live in the West Midlands where Birmingham is, so whenever you play at Edgbaston against India, there is a huge Indian crowd, very raucous. The Barmy Army will be there as well in the (Eric) Hollies Stand. It will be an incredible atmosphere. Pitch—it won’t be a wet, juicy green top. This England team will definitely not play on a wicket like that; they will play on good batting wickets where the better team will win. That’s what Stokes and Mccullum will be keen on. India should go in with one spinner, maybe two. If I was India, it would be Ashwin.
It could be a good thing for Kohli. It’s done wonders for Root. He has been incredible since, not having to worry about captaincy, just concentrate on batting. I do rather want to see Kohli perform well on one hand because I am a huge fan of his, but I don’t want to see it against England in this Test as that hands the advantage back to India.
Pujara is back. Would you play him or stick to Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas who played in the last Test against Sri Lanka?
Pujara has the advantage over rest of the guys because he came to England in the summer and scored loads of runs for Sussex. If I were India, I would look at that thing where he has the experience in English conditions this summer where he scored heavily, (faced a) lot of the bowlers he would be playing.