India look to rally as England pace threat looms at Lord’s
Down 10 in the 5match series, visitors seek inspiration from 2014 win vs Anderson & Broad
LONDON: World No 1 India face crunch time as they face a buoyant England in the second Test starting at Lord’s on Thursday with Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, the most successful bowlers at the iconic venue, looming as big threat.
Be it blinking or counterpunching, India must revisit plans and execute with precision if they are to bounce back and make amends for the 31-run defeat at Edgbaston that has set them back in the five-match series.
On the South Africa tour in January, focus was on whether the team management picked the best batting line-up to counter the Proteas pace threat. By the time they recalled Ajinkya Rahane, the series was lost, with victory in the final game in Johannesburg proving a mere consolation.
India will thus look to be more proactive as falling 2-0 back will make comeback next to impossible. Rahane hasn’t looked anywhere near his best though, while calls for bringing back No 3 Cheteshwar Pujara have grown after the top-order collapses in the first Test. England skipper brushed aside a knock on his left hand while batting, and hinted Moeen Ali could play as a second spinner. India’s skipper Virat Kohli didn’t rule out a second tweaker either, and Ravindra Jadeja, who can also bat, and chinaman bowler, Kuldeep Yadav are available. With Kohli not having played the same eleven, a top-order batting change too can’t be ruled out.
Kohli has acknowledged a fivematch series, unlike three Tests in South Africa, allows scope to rally. After Edgbaston, where England rode on all-rounder Ben Stokes’s fourth-day bowling heroics, India’s focus will be on batsmen, barring Kohli.
Both sets of batsmen succumbed against swing and seam — England against spin as well, but the win has given the hosts breathing space, leaving visitors to devise Plan B. The match has again been billed as Kohli versus Anderson, after their battle set up the Edgbaston classic, where Kohli hit an imperious 149 and 51. Anderson and Broad though head the all-time bowling list for wickets at Lord’s. Anderson, 36, who will play in his 23rd Lord’s Test, is six short of 100 wickets at the venue. Broad has 78 scalps from 20 Tests. However, six India players in the eleven at Edgbaston played in the 2014 victory, after a seven-wicket second-innings haul by Ishant Sharma.
England will miss Ben Stokes, standing trial in Bristol on affray charges. They are set to cap Surrey batsman Ollie Pope, 20, in place of axed Dawid Malan. The latter dropped three catches at second slip, two of Kohli, in Edgbaston. On Tuesday, England’s new slip cordon of Alastair Cook, Jos Buttler and Keaton Jennings had a long drill. Who fills Stokes’s spot will be decided on whether the pitch favours spin or pace. It has been dry in London, but there were showers on Tuesday with more rains forecast during the week. The choice will be between pace-bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali.
For India, all-rounder Hardik Pandya did little in the first Test, but they may be reluctant to give up the extra pace option.