The five- Match Test series against England will begin soon, the Indian team will come out with the intent to put an end to poor performance on foreign tours. On the other hand, the eyes of the hosts will be on finding its lost form in Test Cricket at their home turf. It will be England’s 1000th Test, but the world’s number one Indian team can be a spoil spot for England team.
Take a look 👀👀 at the pitch for the 1st Test against England.
Thoughts?#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/sEDKtIvz0f
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 1, 2018
Last time India had won the Test series in England in 2007 was led by Rahul Dravid. It will not be easy for skipper Virat Kohli’s team to repeat the success. In the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian team in 2011 and 2014 respectively has lost Test 4-0 and 3-1 respectively. India has won only six Tests out of 57 in England.
The last form of England is also worrying. Since September 2017, England have won only one of nine Tests against Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan. In the last five home Tests, it was defeated by the West Indies and Pakistan. Both teams took advantage of the huge reliance on the route, Janny Bairsta and Cook in batting.
On the other hand, the Indian team has registered 3 out of 6 victories since 2002. India’s assistant coach Sanjay Bangar was part of the Test team which won the LeedsTest match under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly. Wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik was in the 2007 team. Captain Virat Kohli 2011 and fast bowler Ishant Sharma have been here in 2014.
The Indian team will have to avoid the mistakes made during the tour of South Africa. At that time the team management had given Rohit Sharma the preference to Ajinkya Rahane. This time, KL Rahul is also a claimant for selection but Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri have said that as a third opener, Rahul has to wait for his chance. Rahul scored 58 not out against Essex and 36 not out in the second innings.
On the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan has been able play only four balls in both innings of the practise match. Cheteshwar Pujara is also not in beat of touch. He could only make 172 runs in 6 county matches for Yorkshire. Against Afghanistan he scored 35 runs in Bangalore. In Chelmsford, he scored 1 and 23 in the practice match.
R Ashwin and Ishant have the county experience in bowling. It is believed that the preparation of Indian bowlers is better this time. India will have to face the dilemma Ashwin and the rest of the spinners. After the summer, cold winds are blowing here now. There will be moisture on the pitch because of heavy rain since Saturday to Tuesday.
