3 players who will need to step up if India are to win one-off Test against England
Virat Kohli's Team India made a statement that they were here to win and not just participate when they took a 2-1 lead in the Test series last year going into the fifth Test against England in Manchester.
However, the rising COVID-19 cases in the Indian camp meant that the Test was suspended and will now be played on July 1 at Edgbaston. A lot has changed in this time as Kohli is no longer the Indian captain and Rohit Sharma has taken over the reins.
Even for the hosts, there has been a paradigm shift in the way they play Test cricket ever since Brendon McCullum was appointed the coach of the Test side.
New skipper Ben Stokes has brought vibrant energy back into the England team and they showed that in the first two Tests against New Zealand.
Chasing scores in excess of 250 in the fourth innings in England is no mean feat and the hosts did it twice in back-to-back Tests, that too in a canter. India will surely have a huge challenge ahead of them if they want to avoid defeat.
But if they want to win the game, they will probably need to play out of their skins as England look to be at their best. On that note, let's take a look at three players who will need to play well if the visitors are to beat England at Edgbaston:
#3 Jasprit Bumrah
Bumrah's 100th wicket in test 🎥 https://t.co/G60LrBDe4Z
Jasprit Bumrah's ability wasn't under any doubt when he hit the English shores in 2021 for the Test series. However, the way he performed with India's backs to the wall proved he is arguably one of the best pacers the country has ever produced.
The England pacers treated him with a barrage of bouncers in the Lord's Test. But a fired-up Bumrah then destroyed England's batting at Lord's as well as at the Oval in the second innings that led to his team winning both Tests.
In the absence of Ishant Sharma, Bumrah is arguably the spearhead of the pace attack and will be the key to their chances of winning.
#2 Rohit Sharma
Frustrated Anderson in front of Rohit Sharma, what a sight !💉🔥 https://t.co/bchKXfXFU1
Rohit Sharma's success in England probably had a lot to do with him being appointed as India's Test captain. It is an incredible achievement for someone who wasn't even a part of the Test squad for the same tour four years ago.
His second innings hundred at The Oval remains arguably his best in this format.
Rohit and his opening partner KL Rahul had some magnificent partnerships at the top of the order, not just with the runs they scored, but also the amount of balls they faced so it got softer as the middle-order came in to bat.
But this time around, Rohit doesn't have Rahul as the latter is injured. With either Shubman Gill or possibly Cheteshwar Pujara being his opening partners, the Indian captain will need to do the bulk of the work when it comes to blunting the new ball and also scoring big.
#1 Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant is only the second wicket-keeper batsman (first Indian WK) in the world to have won the Man of the Series award in Test cricket. https://t.co/0zLlhtY72C
Arguably India's most important batter will be Rishabh Pant as he has the X-factor needed to score quick runs and deflate the opposition.
At the age of just 24, Pant already has Test hundreds in England, Australia and South Africa and many have tipped him to become the greatest wicketkeeper his country has ever produced.
However, the southpaw has been under pressure of late. He scored just 58 runs in five innings against South Africa in the recent T20Is at home and there are a lot of question marks over his form.
Nevertheless, he has shown that he can be a menace in Test cricket irrespective of the conditions and with left-arm spinner Jack Leach in England's ranks, Pant could well be a crucial player for the visitors at Edgbaston.