Following a historic tour of Australia a shambolic performance in the Chennai Test from the mighty Indians has sent shockwaves around this country’s cricket fraternity. In contemporary scenario beating India in India is probably the toughest challenge for any touring Test side and Joe Root’s England have managed to achieve that feat in a remarkable fashion. In hindsight, the visitors’ dominance in that first Test has now got rid of any sort of complacency in Indian camp and now Virat Kohli’s boys are aiming to play some ruthless cricket to stage a bounce back in this series and keep their hopes for a spot in the World Test Championship final alive.
In the first Test the Chepauk pitch offered slow turn in the first two days, which allowed the English batsmen to adjust to the turning ball and dominate the Indian spinners. However, it has been widely reported that the wicket prepared for the second game, which will be played at the same venue, is likely to be much more diabolical in nature for the visitors as it is expected to offer sharp turn right from Day 1.
Meanwhile, the Indian think-tank needs to remember that rank turners can backfire as well, especially if you lose the toss. Hence, first innings runs will matter yet again and on that front the hosts need at least one of their top four batters to score big.
On the other hand England would look to follow the same template which has given them the desired results in their last three Tests in the sub-continent. We have seen that this team is not dependent on a few individuals as skipper Root starred with the bat in both innings, while Dominic Bess, Jack Leach, and James Anderson all delivered with the ball at different stages of the game.
Team news:
India
Axar Patel has been declared fit for this Test and the management will pick him straightway in the XI in place of Shahbaz Nadeem, who had a horror outing in the last game. By picking him the team management is looking to counter the slog-sweep ploy of some of the English batsmen, especially Root. Much like Ravindra Jadeja, Axar bowls a flatter trajectory and quicker through the air, which makes difficult for the batsmen to play cross batted sweep shots against him. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see whether the think-tank continues to back Washington Sundar, who scored some vital runs in the first Test but was ineffective as a spinner. If he doesn’t play then Kuldeep Yadav will finally get a game after a gap of three years.
Predicted XI: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (WK), Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma
England
England will bring back experienced Stuart Broad in place of Jofra Archer, who is going to miss this game. Furthermore, veteran James Anderson, who used the reverse wing brilliantly during India’s second innings, is unlikely to sit out, which actually is against England’s rotation policy while playing away Tests. Also, wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler has gone back home and his place will be taken by Ben Foakes, who has an excellent record in the sub-continent, both with bat and keeping gloves.
Predicted XI: Dominic Sibley, Rory Burns, Joe Root (C), Ben Stokes, Daniel Lawrence, Ben Foakes (WK), Ollie Pope, Dom Bess, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.
Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Match starts: 09:30 AM (IST), 04:00 AM (GMT)