The combined Test XI of the India tour of England 2018
The recently concluded Test series saw England win 4-1 but this doesn’t show how India played. They were so close to England and sometimes they were even ahead of them except the one in Lords were the Indians were outplayed clearly by England.
Many Indians performed well and there were some disappointments too. The series was full of surprises, ups and downs for both the teams. The best combined eleven is as follows…
#1 Alastair Cook
The chef who hanged up his shoes after the Test series made it through to the best combined eleven purely because other openers from both sides didn’t have much success and due to his performance in the last Test match of his career. He scored 327 runs at an average 36. He scored about 218 runs in the last Test match.
Alastair is an experienced campaigner who has scored about 12000 runs in the longest format of the game. Alastair being an opener and played most of his matches in England and scoring 12000 runs in the English conditions where the red Duke swings almost every time is a massive achievement. The experience that Alastair carries and his ability to score big whenever he gets a start made him be the opener of the combined eleven.
#2 K L Rahul
K L Rahul for me was a surprise when he was selected ahead of Pujara in the first Test and when Vijay was dropped and Rahul was given another go. Virat and Shastri stuck with Rahul and he delivered the goods in the last Test match where he scored a massive 149.
He kept India in the hunt until an unplayable delivery from Rashid got him out. Even in the third Test, he scored a couple of crisp knocks both in the first and the second innings.
K L Rahul happens to be in this combined eleven purely because of his attacking nature and his technique. In the English conditions where the ball swings and seams around defending and blocking do not work, showing some sort of intent especially with the new ball puts the bowlers off their length and will eventually play into the batsman’s hands.
This will, in turn, release the pressure on his partner. They say with age comes wisdom and in cricket with experience comes runs and Rahul showed it by scoring a massive 149 in the second innings of the last Test.