England vs India 2018: India will likely go from bad to worse in the third Test
Indian cricket has hit its nadir in the two Tests against England during the current tour of 2018. All indications point to their performance going from bad to worse instead of a welcome turnaround.
Given the circumstances, Virat Kohli has very limited options to counter the English aggression and get a semblance of a foothold in the series.
There are millions of Indian cricket fans back home who are dreaming with great hopes of their team making a comeback in the third Test at Nottingham. Fans have a right to aspire for the success of their team, but reality has killed such wishes many times - and could well do so again.
I'd like to prove my hypothesis that Indian performance from now onwards can go only from bad to worse, at least in the third Test at Nottingham. Here are the reasons why I believe that:
1. Skipper Virat Kohli is not fully fit, and is nursing a back injury. Whether Kohli can recover in time and play the game is doubtful. If Kohli misses the match, it will be a severe blow for India.
In the first Test at Edgbaston, Kohli stood like a rock against Anderson and Broad and scored 149 and 51 (total of 200 runs) in the match. No Indian player can even remotely replicate Kohli's performance in the third Test as their performances in the previous two games have proven.
2. The Nottingham ground may favor swing bowling as a gentle wind blows across the river Trent nearby (that is where the name Trent Bridge originated). This will greatly favor Anderson, Broad and the other England bowlers.
If Kohli doesn't play either, then the England bowlers will wipe out the Indian resistance and bowl them out for less than 100 runs in both the innings. India may have to face the ignominy of an innings defeat again.
3. Indian batsmen lack net practice. They will practise for only one day on Friday, and that is too inadequate. They have not had enough practice matches to help themselves. Under the circumstances, the Indians are likely to wilt under pressure against the English assault.
A few of the Indian batsmen like Murali Vijay, K L Rahul and Shikar Dhavan have low morale and confidence. Some would argue that they never deserved their places in the team in the first place. They showed their fear and vulnerability against fast and swing bowling and threw their wickets away.
This is likely to continue in the third Test too. Moreover, replacements are difficult at this last-minute juncture. In any case, who can replace any one of them? Rohit Sharma will likely fail in English conditions too though he is a great player on Indian pitches.
4. Virat Kohli is not the greatest captain. He is a great batsman; he is a good fielder; he is a certified fighter. But when it comes to the selection of the team, Kohli often chooses the wrong cards.
He selects players who are a mismatch to the given situation. For example, in the Edgbaston Test, Kohli should have selected Kuldeep Yadav instead of Umesh Yadav but he did not. Had Kuldeep Yadav been selected, India could have curtailed the wagging English tail and won the match.
In the Lord's Test, Umesh could have performed well but there Kohli preferred Kuldeep over him and spoiled India's chances. There is even a joke going around that K L Rahul will be playing in all the five Tests whether he scores or not.
With such a captain and his poor ability to select the team, the performance and the confidence of the team can go only from bad to worse.
5. As I pointed out, India would have won the Edgbaston Test comfortably had Kohli selected Kuldeep Yadav in the squad. But bygones are bygones and there is no use talking about the mistakes. Let us look at the future.
Do India have no hope at all of salvaging the series at this stage? A ray of hope, a silver lining is visible on the horizon; if Jasprit Bhumrah and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar are fit and in the playing 11, then the fortunes can turn for India. But that can only happen after the third Test is over, and by then it will be too late.
Even if Bumrah and Bhuvaneshwar win the fourth and fifth matches for India, they will only make for consolation victories. Moreover, if they clinch the series by winning the first three Tests, England will most probably rest their main bowlers Anderson and Broad and bring in bowlers of lesser caliber, without minding about losing the last two Tests.
Whichever way you look at it, good times don't seem to be on the horizon for the Indian team.