India and England are all set to lock horns with each other in the fifth, rescheduled and the final Test of the series that was halted last year after the Indian team had Covid-19 cases in the contingent.
A lot has changed since then and majorly in the leadership group. Both Joe Root and Virat Kohli stepped away from the captain’s post of their respective teams while the hosts also have a new coach Brendon McCullum who has had a brilliant start to his stint with the side.
England have now handed the skipper’s hat to Ben Stokes who lead the side to a 3-0 Test series win against New Zealand recently.
For India, the situation is a bit tricky. Rohit Sharma who was earlier named the captain of the side had tested positive for Covid-19 while the team doesn’t have the services of KL Rahul who was ruled out due to injury from the tour.
Now, pacer Jasprit Bumrah is the front-runner to lead the side if Rohit is not fit to take part in this clash. If this happens, he would be the second fast bowler to lead India in Tests after Kapil Dev.
But before that let’s take a look at some contests within the contests.
Joe Root vs pacers: In the four matches that the two sides played, the then England captain Joe Root was dismissed six times in the seven innings that he played. Interestingly, all his dismissals came against the Indian fast bowlers. While Jasprit Bumrah scalped Root’s wicket thrice, he was dismissed by Shardul Thakur twice and by Umesh Yadav once.
Root was the highest run-scorer in the four matches after notching up 564 runs in four matches but he was troubled by the Indian pacers who persisted with length deliveries around the off stump channel. While the right-hander edged some behind, he was deceived with the ones nipping back in to either get cleaned up or get trapped in front of the stumps. Overall, despite having runs under his belt, Root would need to be careful against the length deliveries bowled just on and outside of that off stump.
Virat Kohli and outside off: Virat Kohli was thoroughly troubled by James Anderson with the deliveries pitching on and outside off when he visited England back in 2014. He ended up getting just 134 runs in 10 innings on that tour. But the right-hander negotiated this very well when Kohli returned back to England in 2018. The former India captain just made a small tweak in his batting then taking the conditions into consideration.
He let alone the outside off stump balls and concluded the trip with a mammoth 593 runs in five matches.
Kohli was back in England once again last year. He already has had a hundred drought and the fans expected a repeat telecast of the 2018 tour. But that didn’t really happen in the first four games.
The then India skipper was among the top five batters before the series was halted but the runs tally of 218 in seven innings didn’t really do justice to his caliber. Kohli batted in seven innings in four matches where he was dismissed by the fast bowlers on six occasions. While Anderson has been someone who had troubled Kohli in the past, the experienced pacer was joined in by Ollie Robinson who dismissed him thrice in the first four Tests.
Kohli has once again struggled against the deliveries bowled at length and outside off (sometimes very wide), and has been found guilty of poking at deliveries he should have shouldered arms to. Looking closely at his dismissals in the four matches, one can easily figure out how desperately Kohli has tried to get runs through his “go-to stroke” but that hasn’t worked for him.
The only time a spinner got his wicket also came through a delivery in the corridor of uncertainty. The only change that Kohli needs to make or probably keep a close look at is not playing to the deliveries that are pitched around the fourth and fifth stump.
Ravindra Jadeja vs England: India's Ravindra Jadeja has picked 6 wickets in the four matches but the left-hander can play a crucial role in providing the visitors with some important wickets and control from one end.
If India opts for four seamers, Jadeja's role becomes all the more crucial as he would operate with the seamers and allow them to relentlessly attack from one end. Jadeja has the ability to rush in his overs and bottles one end up in the process.
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