3 areas of concern for Rohit Sharma ahead of 2nd Test vs England
India went down to England by 28 runs in the first Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The result was meaningful as there were questions being asked about the effectiveness of Bazball in Indian conditions, especially against the turning ball.
Things seemed to be going as per plan for India after they bowled out England for under 250 in their first innings, with spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja claiming three wickets each. In response, the visitors put 436 on the board courtesy of half-centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja.
Having gained a significant first-innings lead of 190, India held all the aces in the Hyderabad Test. They even reduced England to 163/5 in their second innings before Ollie Pope’s 196 ensured a healthy lead for the visitors. Chasing 231, India were then bowled out for 202 as England drew first blood in the contest.
As India prepare for the second Test in Visakhapatnam, which starts on February 2, below are three areas of concern for Rohit Sharma and co.
#1 Form of India’s batters
The form of the batting unit is a major cause of concern for the hosts. The captain himself has been short of runs in the red ball format. In his last six Test innings, he has a highest score of 39. Rohit did score runs in the West Indies, but too much cannot be read into it.
Before that, he scored a hundred in Nagpur against Australia, but failed to score a half-century in the other three Tests. Rohit also disappointed in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against the same opponents at The Oval.
The lean patch of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer will also worry the Indian think tank. Since his 128 against Australia in Ahmedabad in March 2023, he has failed to reach even 40 in his last 11 Test innings. His technique in the format is also being questioned by experts, with some reckoning that his game is not suited to Test cricket as of now.
Shreyas made a brilliant Test debut with a hundred and a fifty against New Zealand in November 2021. His tale, though, is also similar to that of Gill’s. In his last 10 Test innings, the 29-year-old has a highest score of 35. Shreyas struggled in South Africa and looked out of sorts in the opening Test against England in Hyderabad as well.
#2 Absence of key players
The Indian squad will be weakened by the absence of senior batter Rahul and versatile all-rounder Jadeja for the second Test. The former complained of right quadriceps pain, while the latter sustained a hamstring injury during play on Day 4 in Hyderabad.
Significantly, Jadeja and Rahul were the top two run-getters for India in the first innings in Hyderabad. While the former scored a hard-fought 87 off 180 balls, the latter contributed 86 off 123 deliveries. They were the two form batters for India, apart from opener Jaiswal, who scored 80, but he is still highly inexperienced at international level.
The hosts are already missing the services of Virat Kohli, who had earlier pulled out of the first two Tests citing personal reasons. India have added Sarfaraz Khan to the squad for the second Test, but they would be worried about their overall batting, particularly the manner in which they crumbled against Tom Hartley in the second innings.
#3 Ineffectiveness of spinners in Hyderabad
If India were thinking that their spinners would run through England’s batting in the second innings, that did not prove to be the case. Instead, Pope frustrated them with sweeps and reverse sweeps in particular.
The trio of Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar Patel were made to work very hard for their wickets. Ashwin got three in 29 overs, Jadeja two in 34 and Axar one in 16. Their economy rates too were slightly on the higher side, which meant they were unable to build pressure on the English batters.
What would worry the Indian camp even more is the fact that England’s debutant left-arm spinner Hartley got seven in the second innings on the same surface where India’s premier slow bowlers struggled. This basically means that they would think twice before preparing a rank turner in Visakhapatnam as it could very well backfire given their fragile batting line-up.