3 things India need to address in order to win the 2nd Test Match at Lord's
Where India stands after the 1st Test:
In the 1st Test match versus England in Edgbaston, India came close to a victory but faltered at the last hurdle. They failed to score 194 in the final innings and hence lost the match from a winning position.
However, the superb batting efforts of Virat Kohli in both the innings and the bowling performances of Ashwin, Ishant, and Shami were the positives that India can take away from this match.
With Virat Kohli in red-hot form and the Indian bowling lineup also looking very strong and threatening in the English conditions, a win in the 2nd Test Match in Lords does not seem to be out of reach.
However, in order to ensure that India does not falter again, the three most important things that need to be addressed, are as follows.
#1 Putting up a better batting performance
It was the batting lineup's inability to adapt to the English conditions that led to India's loss in the first test match. None of the top order batsmen except Virat Kohli seemed to have any proper plan to tackle the English swing bowlers.
Either they were too defensive in their approach, or they tried to be over aggressive and hit expansive cover drives of swinging deliveries. It seemed as if, they did not have the belief that they could score runs by playing normal cricket.
In order to put up a better show with the bat in Lords, the Indian batsmen need to back their natural game and try and play fearlessly. A few changes in the batting lineup, like the induction of Pujara, who is technically sound and Rishabh Pant, who is fresh and fearless, may give the required boost to the lineup.
Moreover, the option of playing with six specialist batsmen instead of five can also be considered, in order to ensure a better batting performance.
#2 Cleaning up the opposition lower order
Although the Indian bowlers bowled quite well in the first test match, their perennial problem of not being able to clean up the opposition lower order still existed.
In the 2nd innings, England were once 87 for 7. From there they scored 180. These 90 odd runs scored by Sam Curran and the other lower order batsmen cost India dearly.
Most of the English bowlers are quite capable with the bat too. So India must chalk out strategies against each of them in order to ensure that the English tail does not wag again, in the second test match.
#3 Improving the catching
Catches win matches, and dropping them at crucial junctures of the game can be very costly. The catching of the Indian team was quite poor in the first match. They dropped important catches of Sam Curran and Adil Rashid, which cost them dearly.
Before the Lord's test, India should make sure that their slip cordon, which has been dropping quite a few catches off late, rectifies their technical deficiencies.
If India is able to fix these 3 facets of their game, then they can surely make a comeback and level the Test series by winning the 2nd test match.