Kohli-led side though has retained its number one Test ranking despite series’ losses in both overseas tours in 2018 thus far. (Source: Reuters)
A week after England took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match Test series at Southampton on Day 4 after defeating the visitors by 60 runs, India would aim for redemption in the fifth and the final match at The Oval, which starts from Friday. This match will also be the final appearence for former England captain Alastair Cook.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian unit will target to end the two-month long tour to England on a high note and win here at The Oval would see them finish 2-3, which will definitely look much better than 1-4, or a 1-3 for that matter. Despite failing to clinch a historic Test series victory on English soil, Indian coach Ravi Shastri has maintained to keep the boys motivated by describing them as the “best travelling side in last 15 years.”
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Taking a look down at the history books, it can be seen that India under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly has drawn Test series in England (2002) and Australia (2003-04). He also defeated arch-rivals Pakistan on their turf and won a Test match against West Indies, which featured Brian Lara, Carl Hooper, Shivanarine Chanderpaul.
After Ganguy’s retirement the responsiblities were handed over to Rahul Dravid, who led India to twin series in West Indies (2006) and England (2007). Under Anil Kumble, India won a Test match on a bouncy Perth for the first time while under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian team won a series in New Zealand and also for the only time drew a series in South Africa.
Having lost two series outside the sub-continent, first in South Africa earlier this year and now in England, team India under Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri has failed to attain the title of ‘best travelling side’, as claimed by the coach himself. The only positive that the side has achieved in Kohli’s era is retaining the number one Test ranking despite series’ losses in both overseas tours in 2018 thus far.
With nothing at stake and the flop display by Indian openers, it is likely to see a reshuffled squad at The Oval. After Prithvi Shaw’s inclusion in the Test squad, the Indian selectors are looking ahead to the next line of openers. And with Murali Vijay dropped, they need to firm up plans ahead as attention will soon turn to the tour of Australia in December.
A school of thought suggests that Shaw should be thrown into the deep end of the pool to ascertain if he can take on the pressure of facing the best bowlers international cricket has to offer. Even if he fails to get going in this one-off Test, at age 18, Shaw still has time to climb the ladder again. Meanwhile, any success on his part will provide an easy answer to the opening conundrum ahead of the Australian tour.
Elsewhere though, India will be looking to play with their lower-middle order and bowling combinations. With Hardik Pandya failing to impress with the bat, the management could trial Hanuma Vihari in the middle, as he is also a handy spinner.
Jasprit Bumrah could also be rested keeping in view the Asia Cup beginning next week in the UAE. The pacer, along with Shardul Thakur, is part of India’s limited-overs’ squad and as such Umesh Yadav could make a comeback into the side.
Alastair Cook bids goodbye
Alastair Cook retires as the sixth highest scorer in Test cricket. He had a prolific batting career, making 12,254 runs including 32 centuries. Cook, who has had an illustrious 12-year career, is England’s record run-scorer to stand down at 33 after 159 Tests in a row and his stats speak for itself. Cook made his Test debut in Nagpur in March 2006 where he became only the fifth Englishman to score both a ton and half-century. Records have tumbled since his debut Test match as he went on to become England’s all-time leading run scorer on May 2015, surpassing Graham Gooch’s 20-year-old record of 8,900 runs.
Teams:
India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Hanuma Vihari, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
England: Joe Root (c), Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Oliver Pope, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Sam Curran, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes.
Match starts at: 3.30pm IST.
(With PTI inputs)