High on ability, India have noses ahead in Headingley
Settled and on song, Kohli’s men look like the opposite of what depleted England do before the third Test
KOLKATA: India are close to something special. It’s not an unfamiliar feeling but rarely has the conviction in an Indian team been this high on a tour of England.
Rain washed away India’s chances at Trent Bridge but if a strong performance was what Virat Kohli sought from the second Test, he was more than vindicated with a 151-run victory. With Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane too finding their feet, the middle-order clicking as a whole could be just an innings away.
But here’s the clincher for Kohli: in the course of two Tests he has chanced upon a settled opening batting combination, incited the implosion of James Anderson and found ways to fire up his fast bowlers to deliver with ball and bat.
By not sticking to a particular bowling hierarchy, Kohli has managed to keep England guessing. Jasprit Bumrah has been the obvious choice to lead the new-ball attack but Kohli has kept tweaking the other half in all four innings.
If Mohammad Shami and then Mohammed Siraj partnered Bumrah in Nottingham, at Lord’s it was Ishant Sharma and Shami. Throwing the new ball to Shami and Bumrah during the second innings at Lord’s was a tactical move, considering the needling both had to take from England while batting. It had its desired effect in the first two overs with Bumrah sneaking up on Rory Burns’s leg-side to induce a leading edge and Shami drawing Dom Sibley into nicking a straightened length ball that had him squared up.
Their job done, the ball was quickly passed on to Siraj and Sharma after Jadeja had a brief go at Joe Root. Unsurprisingly, Sharma prised out Haseeb Hameed in his first over, reducing England to 44/3 and leaving them struggling to cope with the consistency of good balls in the corridor.
To keep the home side pinned down with quality bowling is any captain’s dream. And with each Test, India are successfully creating the aura of a world-class bowling attack which does not release the pressure even with the first or second change bowler.
Siraj takes bulk of the credit here, coming in and delivering whenever he is asked to. If his lengths are nagging with the old ball, Siraj can tease with the new ball as well.
He doesn’t extract much movement but at this level, only the hint of it at a fair click makes the batsmen’s guard go up automatically. Siraj pries on this defensive instinct of batsmen. But he bowls within his limitations. To left-handed batsmen, he can peg away at the fourth or fifth stump but to right-handers, Siraj often comes up with the in-dipper or the scrambled seam. Look no further than the second-innings dismissals of Jos Buttler—falling to the off-cutter— and Moeen Ali—snick to first slip—to understand what Siraj is capable of.
Siraj, the go-to bowler
It also tells you why Siraj is proving to be India’s go-to bowler, irrespective of the pitch or the state of the ball. “He is a guy who has always had the skill,” said Kohli in a virtual press conference on Tuesday. “You need the confidence to back that skill, the Australia series provided him with that boost and confidence. I am really happy to see him coming into his own. He is going to be this bowler who is in your face and who is looking to get guys out and who is not scared, he is not going to take a backward step.”
Hosts in a shambles
England are in shambles heading to Headingley in Leeds. With the exception of Joe Root, their batting has looked pedestrian.
Starting the series without Jofra Archer (elbow injury), Chris Woakes (heel injury), Olly Stone (back stress fracture) and Ben Stokes (indefinite break to focus on mental wellbeing), England have now lost Stuart Broad (calf injury) and Mark Wood (jarred shoulder) in back-to-back Tests. Craig Overton should supplant Wood unless England fancy giving a debut to right-arm pacer Saqib Mahmood but there is no doubt that they will stay worried at the prospect of not giving Anderson any break till they draw level in this series.
The second innings at Lord’s showed India had finally got a good measure of Anderson so the onus will be on the veteran pacer to wrest back the initiative he had won so convincingly with a five-wicket haul in the first innings. That said, Ollie Robinson is expected to continue to play a key role, extracting bounce to prevent England’s bowling look from looking too one-dimensional.
Kohli too has no reason to break the winning combination but the pitch may have a final say in Ashwin finally getting a game. “As far as Ashwin playing is concerned, we are quite surprised to see the pitch. I thought there would be more grass on the pitch and it would be more spicy and lively, but it wasn’t the case. Anything is possible,” said Kohli.
With forecast of minimal rain throughout the five days— it could get heavily overcast though—in Leeds, India should find plenty of time to force a result even if they need to slow down the game for a session or two. This is not exactly foreign territory for India, drawing the first Test and winning the next in England. The tour of 2014 too had started on a similar note---with a draw at Nottingham and a win at Lord’s before it all came crashing down in the next three Tests. This tour, however, promises a different thrill.