England’s tour of India is now three Tests old and a familiar pattern has taken shape.
India were slow out of the blocks on their Australian tour, making a record low score in Adelaide and not looking anything like contenders for the top Test spot. They fought back wonderfully well, however, and as we all know, they played some great cricket to take that series.
The England tour of India was expected to be a straightforward affair, with many predicting a four-nil clean sweep to the hosts.
However, England scored an emphatic victory in the first Test, which left plenty thinking their recent resurgence in Test cricket – with series victories over the West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – was going to be capped off with another series win away from home.
India have come storming back though, with crushing victories in the last two Tests. More importantly, they’ve completely wrested momentum away from Joe Root’s men and are currently on course to take the series.
In itself, an Indian series win is of little importance to Australia. Yes, it would be nice for England to win or draw the series, to give Australia a chance to play in the Test championship final. But India winning here then going on to win the series in England later this year will be far more valuable to Australia in the long term.
(Photo by Peter Mundy/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The England squad have been building nicely under coach Chris Silverwood. After their series win in Sri Lanka, it appeared they had found a number of very promising players and a squad more than capable of challenging for the Ashes in Australia.
The Tests in India have uncovered some batting issues they’ll need to address. The openers have badly under-performed, so much so that Rory Burns has been dropped. This has forced Zak Crawley to open, when England would have wanted him to fill the critical number three spot.
That spot has gone to Jonny Bairstow, who hasn’t exactly set the world on fire, with a top score of 47 in his past six innings and a pair in the last Test.
Joe Root has held the batting together, but he’s had little support from Ben Stokes, at least in India. In fairness, Ben Foakes looks like a fine keeper and a useful batsman. Keeping is one area where England is very well off.
From an Australian perspective, it would be great if India could continue to sow the seeds of doubt with the English batting not only in this series, but in the return series in England.
At Test level, techniques are thoroughly examined and any weaknesses are exposed. The more time a settled line-up has to bat together, the more confidence grows, both individually and collectively.
This has been noticeable in England’s efforts in recent series, but that has all come crashing down in the past three weeks in India.
Joe Root (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
The Indian bowlers should enjoy both the conditions in England and the Dukes ball. If they bowl as they did in Australia, England’s batsmen could be in for a really tough Test series.
I’m sure the Australian side is not wishing ill of either nation, but they would certainly be hoping India continue to dominate England.
A settled English squad under a comfortable, confident Joe Root would be extremely difficult to beat in the Ashes, whereas an English side that’s struggling will be a far more equal opponent.
Given Australia’s lack of upcoming Test cricket and the team’s own batting issues, this might be the best Tim Paine and company could hope for prior to the first Test starting in November.
Peter Farrar
Roar Pro
Enjoyed the article, thanks Paul. Also of interest, and a possible indicator will be the series between England and NZ mid year. Hopefully England don't get back too much of their mojo!
JamesH
Roar Guru
I'm torn - I want England to get pounded pre-Ashes. However, if England bounce back and win the final test, Australia plays in the WTC final vs NZ.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
I’m surprised that in the Chris Silverwood era white ball players in Buttler and Bairstow have played more games than Foakes. Burns plays spin better than Bairstow and would’ve found the perfect foil of attack and defence on this pitch. Crawley needs to stick at 3 with Burns and Sibley opening.
Ian
Roar Rookie
Indeed we have Micho.A 2 Test Series against NZ (I'd have preferred 3 Tests) followed by 5 Tests against Indian...4 would have probably been enough but money talks there no doubt.Then the Ashes which I'm sure we're all looking forward to. It will just be wonderful to see some cricket in this country with some crowds involved.It looks like recreational cricket should be ok to start in a few weeks...we can only hope.
Ian
Roar Rookie
Hello Arnab...if Johnny Bairstow is considered one of England's best players of spin then we are in a worst situation than I thought! His innings in the 2nd dig was one of the worst I have ever seen...and it only lasted 2 balls! A wild slog sweep followed by a weak forward defensive with the bat no where near the ball let alone his pad. As I've said before,Johnny is a good player.An excellent one in he short form of the game but his Test record doesn't lie.It surely must be time to leave him out of Test cricket and concentrate on other more promising players.
Micko
Roar Rookie
England is hosting a lot of great Tests this year! :thumbup:
Ian
Roar Rookie
Good article Paul.I agree with most of what you have to say.One of the main issues on this tour has been the selection/rotation policy.Apart from Ed Smith,The Chairman of selectors,nobody else seems to have a clue what's going on.We've had players rested when they wanted to play.Players going home when they wanted to stay.Players staying when they wanted to go home.It's been a fiasco really.Also some of the selections themselves have been questionable.Olly Stone was the pick of the bowlers in the 2nd Test but was dropped,sorry rested,for Joffra Archer in the last one.At some stage questions will have to be asked about Archer.Has he been massively overrated? He made his reputation in T20 cricket and it shows.Apart from a couple of fiery spells in his debut series,he's mostly bowled at fast medium at best since.Also the selection to bat Bairstow at no 3 was ridiculous.If he's to play it's as a batsman/wicketkeeper or not at all.He's played 73 Test Matches,scored only 6 centuries and averages 34.45. If England are to win back the Ashes,they should concentrate on players who will win them back,not might win them back.I understand with Covid and bio security bubbles etc it's asking too much of players to play every game.But to make 3 or 4 changes every Test Match is surely not the way to go?
Kaushik Lakshman
Roar Rookie
Nicely put. Not entirely sure how effective India's batsmen will be in nullifying the moving ball when they go to England later this year. For the current Indian team collectively, its achilles heel has been the seaming and swinging ball when they go abroad, esp in SA, NZ and Eng. Confident of the bowlers putting on a great show as they have been doing in the past few tours. It's one of the reasons India has performed better in Australia off late as it doesn't swing or seam prodigiously.
Paul
Roar Guru
Yeah, some have got a lot of cricket if you throw in the white ball games, then the IPL, the the Black Caps tour, etc. No wonder they're using a rotation policy.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Some of these England players still have 9 international matches to play on this tour!
Tony
Roar Guru
:happy: I've got my fingers crossed
Paul
Roar Guru
yeah, he looks good in dayglo carrying drinks. Their selectors couldn't be that silly, could they?
Tony
Roar Guru
I hope they bring Moeen Ali
Paul
Roar Guru
The body language from the England batsmen was not great, Tony. I'm wondering if the stress of a tour to Sri Lanka and all the quarantining, then over to India and a similar regime, THEN playing on pitches most would never have seen before, is taking it's toll? The India tour to England is not for a few months which will give their batsmen time to get over this tour. I agree the pitches will be sporting, but I also think much depends on the weather. The tour will likely start late July, so the height of the English summer. If it's hot and fine, the effectiveness of Anderson & Broad would be reduced. They'll both tour Australia, barring injury, as wil Archer, Wood, Olly Stone, Woakes and Curran. Who will be their batsmen, apart from Root & Stokes - I'm not sure they know for certain.
Tony
Roar Guru
England look well and truly dead in the water at the moment, and some of the shots played by their top order to lose their wickets would have embarrassed noted tail enders in Jim Higgs and Chris Martin. It will be interesting to see if they can regroup for the home series against India, and one thing we can predict now, is that the English groundsmen won't be preparing any turning wickets. But that might not help England at home too much, as we recently saw first hand that the Indian bowling attack is adaptable, and in Bumrah, Shami, Sharma and Siraj, have the equal to England's ageing pace attack. England's batting looks poor, and only Root can claim to be world class, while Stokes is batting too high in the order. Foakes looks the goods behind the stumps, but don't be surprised if England once again make the mistake of replacing him with a "batsman" who can keep. Their best bowlers are approaching the "over the hill" category, and I'd be surprised (but hoping) to see Anderson and Broad return for the Ashes.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Absolutely agree here. Bairstow is considered one of the best players of spin in England but looked to slog sweep Patel's hat trick ball and then defend down the wrong line. They've just been rubbish with the bat since scoring 578. India's pace attack will srsly trouble England on their shores as well but i feel the poms will win the series if India's batsmen struggle against the moving ball