The five-Test series between India and England gets underway in Hyderabad on Thursday. Virat Kohli’s withdrawal from the first two Tests, citing personal reasons, has been a hammer blow for the hosts. Can they cope with their star batter’s absence who has 1,015 runs at 56.38 from 13 home Tests against England? Here’s a SWOT analysis of the team captained by Rohit Sharma.
Current ICC Test Ranking: No. 2 (117 rating points)
World Test Championship Standings: 2 (54.16 percentage points)
Strengths: India haven’t lost a Test series at home since 2012. Of course, they lost to England more than a decade ago, but that England side oozed Alastair Cook’s class and Kevin Pietersen’s genius in batting, and Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar’s quality in the spin department. As teams have found out season after season, it is almost impossible to beat a side on their home pitch that boasts a world-class spin attack and have batters who are excellent players against spin. India at home, intimidate their opponents. The spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel have been the biggest strength.
Weaknesses: Virat Kohli’s absence in the first two Tests makes the Indian batting light on experience. Also, this is a middle-order in transition. Shubman Gill is new to the No. 3 spot and the youngster, despite being a completely different player in comparison to Cheteshwar Pujara, is yet to offer the Saurashtra batsman’s solidity. Shreyas Iyer has scored 83 runs at an average of 11.85 in his last five Tests. KS Bharat will be the team management’s preferred wicketkeeping choice, but his batting doesn’t inspire confidence. The team also has a tendency to lose wickets in clusters under pressure, as was evident in the first Test against South Africa at Centurion. Allowing the opponents’ tail to wag is another weakness of this Indian team. However, on rank turners, that might not happen.
For the Latest Sports News: Click Here
Teaing-Off With RevSportz || Asian Cup Failure, IND v ENG Test || LIVE https://t.co/vlolSmHk59
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) January 24, 2024
X-factor: Jasprit Bumrah, turning pitches notwithstanding. Bumrah is returning for a home Test series after a gap of two years and he is going to be very important both with the new ball and the older one. The Bazball-fuelled England are unlikely to play a waiting game. They will take the fight to the opposition. If a spinner is targeted, then Bumrah can more than make up for that, getting the reverse swing going with the older ball and breaking partnerships. The fast bowler has 41 wickets from 10 Tests against England, including two fifers.
Captaincy: Rohit Sharma’s captaincy has been superb recently, be it in the World Cup and also at Newlands, where India came back to level the two-Test series. In Kohli’s absence, the skipper will have to shoulder extra responsibility with the bat. His batting was a reason why India bounced back after losing the first Test in a four-match affair against England three years ago. His 161 in the first innings of the second Test at Chepauk was the turning point of the series. Rohit ended the series as India’s highest run-getter (345 at 57.50). Yet again, the captain will have to lead from the front.
Mr Variation: Last year, during the India versus Australia ODI series in September, Ravichandran Ashwin had come up with a different variation of the carrom-ball. Marnus Labuschagne will vouch, for he was at the receiving end of the trick in the second ODI at Indore. It was a new variation from the master off-spinner. Instead of flicking it, he under-cut the ball, imparting some backspin. Test cricket is Ashwin’s natural habitat. He is just 10 wickets short of reaching 500 Test scalps. It would be interesting to see if he has something new up his sleeve.
Also Read: Rajat Patidar gets the nod to bolster Indian batting in absence of Virat Kohli