The series will not be one-sided, England team is giving tough competition

England’s tour of India is going to be very interesting. Two Tests of the five-Test series have been completed and currently the match is tied at 1-1. This shows that this series will not be one-sided. The Indian team has not lost any Test series in its country for the last ten years. Due to our spin attack, we have been destroying the opposition teams. The last defeat was against the English team in the year 2012-13, when the England team under the captaincy of Alastair Cook defeated Team India under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni by 2-1. Graeme Swann and Indian-origin spinner Monty Panesar dominated our batsmen so much that they were not able to score runs. In that series, Swann took a total of 20 wickets and Panesar took 17 wickets. The foreign teams were testing the Indian batsmen on pitches suitable for spin. However, that story is now old. Beating India on Indian grounds has always been a difficult task. There was a renaissance in Indian cricket after the eighties. The era of Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar has arrived. Mahendra Singh Dhoni carried forward this tradition. World class players came into our team which made it not easy to defeat us. At least on Indian pitches, no foreign team has the capability to defeat us now.

Coming back to the current tour of England. This time a new phrase ‘baseball’ is being used with this foreign team. It means defeating the opposing team by playing aggressive cricket. In the first Test in Hyderabad, the English team played in the same style and defeated India. The target of 231 runs to win became a distant dream for the Indian team and we lost the first test by 28 runs.

Batting has been India’s strength but looking at the two Test matches played so far, it seems that our batsmen are struggling to score runs. Apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal’s double century, no good innings were seen in Visakhapatnam. In the second test, Shubman Gill saved his honor by scoring 103 runs, otherwise there were demands to drop him from the team. Captain Rohit Sharma himself is not able to score runs. A captain is expected to inspire other players by playing memorable innings but his bat has become completely silent. Anyway, Rohit is a limited overs cricketer. He has rarely performed well in Test matches. His entry into the longer format of cricket also came very late. Rohit does not look like a warrior in a game that lasts for five days. It is the compulsion of the management that Rohit has to be given the responsibility of captain. Ever since Virat Kohli left the captaincy, no good captain has been found for Test matches. Despite taking a good lead in the Hyderabad Test, being defeated is also a proof of Rohit’s poor captaincy.

It is difficult to beat England just on the basis of spin attack. Our batsmen will have to score respectable scores only then the bowlers will also be able to do something. There is also talk of bringing back Cheteshwar Pujara to strengthen the batting. He is performing well in Ranji matches. Both Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara are senior players but due to not being able to score runs in the last few seasons, both have been shown the way out. However, his career is not over yet. If he is performing well in Ranji matches then he can be given one more chance.

Virat Kohli has taken leave due to personal reasons. Due to this, he did not play the first two tests. Virat’s arrival should be expected before the third Test in Rajkot. Due to his absence, the middle order looks quite weak. Shreyas Iyer has disappointed a lot. The hope that Shreyas had raised two years ago by scoring a century in his very first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur has now faded. Despite being given so many opportunities, he is continuously failing. After the injury of Rishabh Pant, Shrikar Bharat is playing the responsibility of wicketkeeper but this youngster is proving unsuccessful in scoring runs. The time has come to give a chance to someone else in his place. Ishan Kishan is the first choice for this job but after the alleged dispute with coach Rahul Dravid, his comeback does not seem easy. He asked for a break during the South Africa tour. In fact, despite being in the team, Ishaan had expressed his displeasure at not being included in the playing eleven. He is having to suffer the consequences of this.

The dominance of Indian spin bowlers was not seen in both the test matches held so far. The England team has played Ashwin, Jadeja, Axar and Kuldeep with great ease. This has put a lot of burden on fast bowler Bumrah. Bumrah proved his bowling prowess by taking nine wickets in the Visakhapatnam Test. Especially his six wickets in the first innings put the English batsmen on the back foot. On the basis of this performance, he has reached number one in the world ranking. For the first time, an Indian fast bowler has reached the first position. The team for the remaining three tests has not been announced yet. There is speculation about Virat Kohli that he will not be available for two more matches. It will not be easy to select someone who will play responsibly in his place in the middle order. The third test match will start in Rajkot from 15th February. There will definitely be some changes in the team. Such indications are being received.