Kolkata: No Virat Kohli, no Rohit Sharma, no Ravichandran Ashwin, no Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah available for only three Tests—Shubman Gill’s captaincy debut is expected to be nothing less than a baptism of fire as India take on an unpredictable England in a five-Test series starting at Headingley, Leeds, on Friday.
Playing England in England hasn’t always been comforting. And to compound the discomfort, the first Test is at Headingley where India were dismissed for 78 the last time they had played there. Leeds has been unusually warm, meaning the pitch may not be as moisture laden as in the past. But since history finds strange ways of repeating itself, India can’t take the conditions for granted.
Technique will be paramount to surviving and flourishing in England. India, however, have deeper worries as they try to figure out the top-order. Gill will bat at No. 4, vice-captain Rishabh Pant at 5, meaning KL Rahul is most likely to accompany Yashasvi Jaiswal as opening batter.
That leaves Karun Nair as the most plausible No. 3 even though the uncapped B Sai Sudharsan has done enough and more to throw his hat into the ring. If Nair returns after eight years, it would be a remarkable comeback fuelled by stellar domestic performance, including multiple centuries in the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, a double century for India A, and a strong county stint with Northamptonshire.
Nevertheless, it’s possibly the first time in over two decades that India have had to stretch themselves over their one-down option. Between Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, and then Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, India were never made to feel the sting of transition. That said, the last one year of Test cricket hasn’t been too pretty for India despite the presence of Kohli and Sharma. A rare home series defeat to New Zealand followed by a sobering loss in Australia possibly expedited the need for new blood and new combinations. It’s a punt that India had to take some day. Away from the comfort of home, Gill will usher in a new era.
The pitches in England have flattened out to cater to their inimitable style of batting, so Indians too should find scoring relatively easy. But the fickle overhead conditions continue to be an unsung supporter of seam bowling. This is where the relative inexperience could be ruthlessly exposed.
The good thing is that Gill isn’t too perturbed. “A lot of people talk about, you know, our side is not experienced, but there are also positives that we don’t really have any baggage coming to England, because not all of the players have really been to England,” said Gill on Thursday. “So that could be one thing that really makes a difference for us because we wouldn’t be carrying any baggage.”
The same can’t be said about England. Their liberating brand of cricket, though entertaining, isn’t pretty when they start losing the plot. Which is why England have won 23 and lost 12 Tests since Ben Stokes became captain with Brendon McCullum as coach. “We know that when we are on top of teams, we are very, very good,” Stokes told the BBC.
“And where we maybe have let ourselves down in the past over the last three years is when we have been behind the game, we’ve not given ourselves the best chance of wresting ourselves back into the game, and that’s an area that we have looked at and know that we need to get better at if we want to end up being where we want to end up being as a team.”
First-innings runs have been an issue for India, considering they have crossed 300 only twice in 10 innings over the past year, but Gill is not in favour of sacrificing bowling edge. “You can’t win a Test match without taking 20 wickets no matter how many runs you score,” he said. “So, that has been one of our key discussion points, you know, how we’re gonna take 20 wickets. And there might be a case, you know, where we could only be going with some pure batters and you could see a bowling allrounder and three to four premier fast bowlers or proper bowlers.”
While that outlook may sound brave right now, it remains to be seen how India react to a batting implosion or worse, a defeat at Leeds. Too ingrained in India’s touring psychology is the tendency of packing the 11 with batting options, a tactic that failed miserably in Australia a few months back. This is a new captain though, hopefully armed with a new philosophy that can build on the positives of the past.
“The blueprint that we got from our seniors in the last 5-10 years, we can win anywhere and we will try to follow that same confidence and blueprint,” said Gill. “And, as I said, if your team has a very good environment, players feel very secure and confident and they know what their role is. So, we want to create that environment in the team. And if we succeed in creating that environment, I think our Test series and the WTC cycle will be very successful.”
