LONDON: The Indian cricket team would expect its floundering batsmen to take more responsibility in pursuit of a series-levelling victory in the second Test against England, starting Thursday at the Lord’s.
If captain Virat Kohli had got support from his batting colleagues in Birmingham, the scenario would have been completely different.
The world number one Test side came close to taking the lead but fell short by 31 runs. The mood in the Indian dressing room, though, is quite upbeat. Two days before the game, there was healthy amount of grass on the Lord’s pitch. It is expected that the groundsmen will shave a few bits off before the first ball. But even if they don’t, the general expectation is that the pitch would turn out to be quite dry.
This has also prompted a rethink in the Indian camp as to what bowling strategy they would want to go in with. Despite India’s overall failed batting effort at Edgbaston, bowling coach Bharat Arun ruled out playing an extra batsman here. He also mentioned that the second spinner could come into contention. In that scenario, Umesh Yadav can expect to be left out with Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya handling the pace duties.
Toss-up for the second spinner’s slot is an interesting one. The last time Ravindra Jadeja played at the Lord’s (in 2014), he took 3-99 in two innings but scored 68 in the second innings that underlined his value with the bat and helped India put on a match-winning total. It isn’t easy to overlook Kuldeep Yadav either. There is a strong appreciation for his talent in the Indian camp, and it was once again noticeable in the nets as he bowled to skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday, beating him with drift and turn on more than a couple of occasions.
He got thumbs-up and smiles of admiration from the star batsman. In dry English conditions, wrist spin is a premium weapon, particularly against a line-up that hasn’t faced Kuldeep much (barring Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler). Away from bowling attack permutations, Kohli will face a tougher dilemma regarding the batting line-up.
The skipper played Shikhar Dhawan ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara at Edgbaston, fitting-in KL Rahul in the eleven appropriately. Experimentation with the number three spot is nothing new. Back in 2014-15, Rohit Sharma was picked ahead of Pujara for the fourth Test against Australia at Sydney.That experiment lasted two Tests against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, before Sharma was moved down the order with Ajinkya Rahane batting at number three in the next two Tests. (PTI)
‘England need to be more clinical’
LONDON: Wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler feels England need to be more clinical in some aspects, including catching, as they seek to extend their lead over India in the second Test starting here on Thursday.
Virat Kohli may have compiled a fine century in the series opener but, Buttler also took solace from the way the Indian captain was made to work for his runs. “It was a brilliant hundred from Kohli in the first innings, but you have to give the bowlers credit too. He really had to battle for all of his runs, and we created some chances which weren’t taken. That’s something for us to work on.” He said. (PTI)