England vs India, 2nd Test: 5 Indian players who need to step up and deliver for the side
Players come and go in Indian cricket, but one thing seems constant: playing catch up game in Test series. For the nth time, India find themselves trailing in a bilateral rubber and have all to play for heading into the second Test match at the Home of Cricket, starting on Thursday.
Those who saw the first game will tell you that with the bat in hand, India had one performer fighting his way through trouble and keeping the hopes alive for his side. Virat Kohli was everywhere when India batted and 'Kohli vs England' became the talk of the town as the game progressed.
The Indian bowlers, especially the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma were splendid during the course of the game and heading to London, the management will have more headaches about the batsmen than the bowlers.
Here are five players who will need to step up and deliver in the second Test at Lord's:
KL Rahul
Prior to the first Test, most people wanted KL Rahul in their playing XI. The right-hander has caught everybody's attention thanks to his recent run of form and seemed like a sure shot choice in the XI.
He did play at Edgbaston, not as an opener but as the Number 3 and did not get going in either innings, falling for 4 and 13 respectively.
There is a sense which the common folk gets that Rahul seems to have the confidence of the team management and purely based on that, one could assume that the right-hander would get another chance at Lord's.
If he harbors hope of playing beyond Lord's, he will need to grab the opportunity which comes his way in that game.