The English summer could not have gotten off to a much better start as England secured a victory in the first test of the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy, in the most Bazball way possible against India in the 1st test at Headingley.
Despite conceding 835 runs and 5 centuries across both innings, the England batters were up to the task, in what was their 2nd highest run chase in test history. Now, the Ben Stokes-led side braces itself for the Edgbaston test.
England Team Preview for the 2nd Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy
Heading into this series, one of the biggest questions was whether Bazball can tackle Jasprit Bumrah, arguably the greatest bowler in cricket. Even though the Indian pacer was able to get a fifer in the 1st innings, he went for 83 runs at 3.6 runs per over.
However, the England batters tackled him even better in the 2nd innings, as Bumrah went wicketless when the Indian team needed him to step up. The base for the chase was set up by Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, who were involved in a massive 188-run opening partnership.
After scoring a century and 99 in the 1st innings, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook were dismissed for 8 and a golden duck respectively, in the 2nd innings. But it was the calm head of Joe Root, who stitched important partnerships with captain Ben Stokes and Jamie Smith to take England over the line.
A big boost that the English pace attack received was Jofra Archer’s return to the squad for the 2nd test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The fiery pacer suffered an injury during the IPL and recovered to be included in the side, but was not named in the playing XI for the 2nd test, announced yesterday, where Brendon McCullum and Stokes have chosen not to make any changes to the lineup and keep the winning momentum going.
Josh Tongue was highly impressive in the opening test (7-158 in 38 overs). England would want Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse to have a better outing as both bowlers went for combined figures of 5-324 in 84 overs. Another bowler who would be eager to prove a point is Shoaib Bashir. The Indian batsmen played the off-spinner with ease as he went at 3.88/per over and accounted for only 3 of the 20 Indian wickets.
Meanwhile, McCullum would be delighted to see his captain get a 4-fer in the first innings and overall 5-113 in 35 overs at 3.23 runs/over, which is no mean feat considering India scored at almost 4 an over in both innings.
The English side can take inspiration from the last time these two sides met at Edgbaston in 2022, where England chased 378 after losing just 3 wickets. This was also their highest-ever run chase in tests.
India Team Preview for the 2nd Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy
It is not often that one witnesses a side lose a test after scoring 800+ runs, including 5 centuries. But that was the case in Headingley, where the Indian side was unable to defend and conceded a chase of 371.
The bowlers could be partly to blame, because the newly-appointed captain, Shubman Gill, talked about the need to get 20 wickets to win a test, and that they were ready to go with one batter less.
However, that was not the case in Leeds. Apart from Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj blew hot and cold and looked good in a few phases. Prasidh Krishna was highly inconsistent with his line and length, and as a result, conceded at more than 6 runs an over (5-220 in 35).
What was surprising was that Shardul Thakur, who was on the side as a bowling all-rounder, bowled just 16 overs across two innings. As a result, this added to the workload on Bumrah and Siraj, who bowled 43.4 and 41 overs, respectively.
India has yet to announce their lineup for the 2nd test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy and has kept their cards close to their chest. It remains to see whether Bumrah will play a part in Edgbaston, as there was a pre-series agreement where it was agreed that the 31-year-old would play 3 out of the 5 tests in this tour.
If Bumrah were to be rested for this test, then the Indian team would dearly miss his bowling as the Edgbaston pitch usually offers good pace and bounce, and even when it flattens by Day 2 and 3, a bowler like Bumrah could make a difference.
The other pacers India have are Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep, and Harshit Rana as his replacement. Arshdeep is yet to make his test debut and averages 30.37 with 66 wickets in 21 first-class matches.
On the spin-bowling front, Ravindra Jadeja was able to trouble batsmen in the 2nd innings, and the assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has hinted at India going with another spinner for the Edgbaston test. The options on the table for them are Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar.
Kuldeep has not put a foot wrong in his test career so far, which has spanned over 8 years, during which he has played just 13 matches, getting 56 wickets at 22.16.
On the other hand, Gautam Gambhir’s obsession with all-rounders might lead them to pick Washington Sundar who has picked 25 wickets in 9 matches at 25.64 and also scored 468 runs at an average of 42.55, including 4 fifties. Having one of these spinners would mean that one of Karun Nair and Sai Sudharshan may have to sit out.
Speaking of all-rounders, the Champions Trophy winners might be tempted to include Nitish Kumar Reddy in the lineup. The Sunrisers Hyderabad all-rounder scored a memorable century against Australia in Melbourne and also picked 5 wickets in that series
To add to this list of unanswered questions is the fact that, whether Gambhir would be able to remain India’s test coach if they were to lose this series – because under him, India has won just 3 tests out of 11, with 2 wins coming against Bangladesh and the other against Australia on a flat Perth pitch.
India would not only look to level the series heading into this match but also secure their first-ever test win at Headingley, where they are yet to win a test, having played 8 and lost 7 of them.
Predicted lineup for England vs India 2nd Test
England (announced): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharshan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep.
