India gear up for England pace test
Onus on skipper Kohli to help visitors reverse the failures during the 2011 and 2014 tours
BIRMINGHAM: It has been over a month since the Indian cricket team landed in these parts, and though the T20 and ODI series were split, no one had any doubt about where the real focus of Virat Kohli and his team was.
India begin a high-voltage Test series against England at Edgbaston on Wednesday. It will mark the hosts’ 1000th match and will show how India, world No 1 in Tests, translate ambition into performance.
India go into the second leg of three massive away contests this year. In South Africa, they came up short despite some fine performances with bat and ball. England will be a different ball game despite the hosts’ lack of consistency, be it Indian batsmen tackling seamers in helpful conditions or bowlers dealing with seven left-handers in the England eleven.
The presence of so many lefthanders is sure to throw up a selection dilemma if India plan to play one spinner and feel chinaman bowler Kuldeep is the attacking option over off-spinner R Ashwin.
India have plenty to make amends in England. The 2011 tour marked the decline of their golden generation of batsmen as they were routed 4-0, despite Rahul Dravid’s standout show. It was equally painful in 2014, when they lost 1-3.
It is not as if India have not won in England, which is not the case in South Africa or Australia where at best they’ve drawn series. India have made 17 Test tours to England starting in 1932, played 57 matches, losing 30. They have won only six Tests across 86 years, but they account for three series wins -- 1971, 1986 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 batsmen. 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.
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