Testing Times Ahead For Team India

By Gaurang
July 22 2018

India are the current World No. 1 ranked Test Team, while England rank 5th. But as the recent Tests in Sri Lanka show, it is difficult to overstate home advantage. Sri Lanka the World No. 6 ranked team has decimated South Africa who are ranked 2nd. Can India avoid a similar fate?

On paper that certainly seems likely. Here is the squad announced for the first Three Tests:

Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, M Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur.

Unlike South Africa who relied almost exclusively on the spin of the excellent Keshav Maharaj in Sri Lanka, India have bowlers for all conditions. They have a battery of fast men and a phalanx of spinners to trouble the opposition regardless of the nature of the wicket. Their batting line up is also strong with a mix of players who like to be patient and play the long innings like Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara and dashers like Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli (though Rahul and Kohli can also play the waiting game). The one weak spot is the wicketkeeper where India will miss the excellent Wridhiman Saha, by some measures the best pure wicket keeper in the world right now. Instead the gloves will be donned by Dinesh Karthik. While Karthik is clearly as good or even better than Saha as a batsman, his keeping will be under the microscope. In Test matches catches win matches, and a miss off a key player like a Joe Root or a Ben Stokes could be very costly.

India will miss the services of their two pace aces, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah in the first few games, and in the case of Bhuvi possibly for the whole series. The rest of Indian pace bowling unit of Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma, will have to perform at their best. The spin department however is is in very capable hands of the two Ravis, Ashwin and Jadeja, backed up by the mezmerizing Kuldeep Yadav. The x-factor is Hardik Pandya and his duel with Ben Stokes of England will also be a key factor in seeing which team comes out on top.

The stage is set for Virat to take the next step in his journey towards establishing himself and his team as one of the all time great units. They have all the bases covered techically, but the big unknown is whether they have the belief in themselves. We all know Virat did very poorly as a batsman last time in England. Will he overcome his technical shortcomings, and if not will his personal failure, lead to him not leading with the same passion and confidence that he has shown so far as captain in places like South Africa, where he not only captained brilliantly but also led from the front with his batting?

With the white ball cricket out of the way, now the REAL cricket is about to begin and India are going to be Tested for sure over the next couple of months. England have shown they can be beaten at home, having lost their first Test of the summer to Pakistan. But the way they bounced back and routed the Pakistanis in the second Test, indicates that India will not have it easy, and will need to be switched on throughout the rest of the summer to prevail. If they instead repeat the diffident performance they put up in the last two One Day Internationals, they will find it hard to beat a team that is much stronger at home than it is on the road.

Testing Times Ahead For Team India

Posted by: Indian Cricket Fever (IP Logged)

Date: 22/07/2018 20:13

What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018:12:26:00:12:56 by Birbal.