Never mind England, India’s batting lineup needs re-jigging

The second Test between England and India is in the record books and on paper, it looks like a clear win for India.

It also looks like a game where batsmen did their jobs (KL Rahul 129, Rohit Sharma 83, Ajinkya Rahane 61) and the bowlers did theirs (Siraj with eight wickets for the match and the others all contributing).

In reality, India was saved from possible defeat by the batting of two guys who, before this Test, were averaging 11 and 3 respectively – Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.

More to the point, the fact that Indian won so handsomely is likely to mean team changes are not going to be made, which is only papering over flaws in the Indian batting line-up.

The Indian openers have done a terrific job for their team in the first two Tests. Both Rahul and Rohit have looked very assured and both seem in good touch. That’s about where the good news for India ends.

Cheteshwar Pujara is out of touch, but has such great determination to keep his wicket intact, he manages to hide his lack of form by occupying the crease but barely troubling the scorer. This lack of run production can cost the team, as it nearly did at Lord’s.

Cheteshwar Pujara (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP via Getty Images)

I was having an exchange of ideas with Roar regular, Jeff on Sunday and have plagiarised one of his very good comments: “I feel like Pujara has batted England well and truly into the match, rather than out of it.”

He’s absolutely right, when considering Pujara batted for 20 minutes short of five hours, faced over 200 deliveries and only scored 45. It placed India in a very precarious position at the end of day 4.

In his last 20 innings, he’s striking at 29 runs per hundred deliveries and in the innings previously mentioned, he was going at a strike rate of just 21.

If Virat Kohli was in form, a Tavare-type innings can be a good thing because we all know how fast Virat can score – as can the openers, as can an in-form Rahane and Rishabh Pant.

The problem is, Pujara’s struggling and so are Kohli and Rahane. At least, they’re yet to really stamp any authority on this series, which makes Pujara a liability.

Maybe I’m imagining it, but Virat Kohli doesn’t seem right at the crease and hasn’t looked at ease since he left the Australian tour for the birth of his daughter.

His Test form has been indifferent, mixing three scores over 50 with three ducks, from 11 innings. In the main, he’s made starts but has not made it past 72, which, for a batsman of his quality, is very odd.

What’s harming him at present is his need to put bat on ball and this means he’s playing deliveries well outside the off stump. This has been the cause of his dismissal on all three occasions in this series.

An in-form Virat Kohli would have disdainfully let these wicket taking deliveries pass harmlessly to the keeper – unless he was well set, in which case, they’d have likely gone to the fence.

It seems everything is not right with Virat Kohli (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

Perhaps he’s trying too hard, maybe age is catching up with him, but he needs to settle and stop playing on a sixth stump line.

Ajinkya Rahane is an enigma. I can’t work out why he keeps getting chosen for India.

Most will remember that terrific hundred he scored in the Boxing Day Test last year and there’s no doubt he did a remarkable job as captain to help secure an unlikely series win, but Rahane the batsman just doesn’t cut it.

Since making that 112 not out, he’s batted 16 times and past 40 on only three occasions. To put that into some perspective, Travis Head, in his last 16 Test innings, passed 40 on four occasions, including a century, but was dropped from the Australian side, ostensibly because he was failing to capitalise on his starts.

Even though he made runs in the second innings at Lord’s, I’d leave him out of the side. He’s had enough chances to make runs and it’s time to try other options.

There’s no doubt Rishabh Pant is an exciting and unorthodox Test batsman. English commentators were falling over each other, trying to predict when Pant would run down the wicket to a fast bowler and have a swipe at them.

He lasted eight deliveries in the first innings, which is not what’s needed when you’re in with the last recognised batsman and only some bunnies to follow.

Likewise in the second innings on the last day, with India precariously placed, Pant played his natural game and was out for 22.

There’s no doubt Pant can be a match winner, but there’s also little doubt he does not have the technique to be a No.6 batsman. This position requires a player to be able to both score quickly, but equally to bat through tough periods, and I’m not sure Pant can do that consistently.

He’s now batted five times in difficult situations in England this summer and is averaging a tick over 25. That’s not good enough for a player of his ability and is certainly not good enough from a No.6 batsman.

So, what choices do India have?

India brought Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav to England. I don’t know a lot about Abhimanyu Easwaran or Suryakumar Yadav so haven’t considered them for the critical position at first drop.

I’d be inclined to give the job to either Agarwal or Shaw. Both have opened for India and although neither have nailed down a top-two spot, both have shown enough to suggest they could be good long term options either as openers or at first drop.

It’s a given that Kohli would bat at 4 and I’d promote Ravi Jadeja to bat at 5.

I think Jadeja has been the pick of the middle and lower order players so far. He looked very composed in the first innings of both Tests and he’s outbatted Pant in the series.

He can also dictate the direction of the innings far better than Rishabh Pant because he has a better all round technique and temperament.

Ravindra Jadeja (Photo by Ryan Pierse – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

I also don’t think India wants to lose a world-class fielder and Jadeja’s bowling, while not as penetrating as it’s been, is still very useful.

Numbers 6 and 7 are something of a coin toss and much depends on the mindset of Kohli. He might decide he wants to strengthen the attack, which makes sense given this is a five-Test series. If so, Pant would bat 6 and Ravi Ashwin would bat at 7.

Ashwin coming in not only strengthens the batting but obviously gives the attack another dimension. He’ll also take some of the load off the quicks, which they’ll appreciate over the next three Tests.

If Kohli is happy with the current attack, he might decide to debut Suryakumar Yadav and ask Pant to bat at 7. Yadav’s first class numbers are impressive and I assume India would not have brought him if they did not feel he was capable of playing Test cricket.

Kohli’s ‘go-to’ option is Hanuma Vihari, but he’s almost a like-for-like with Rahane and he doesn’t seem to be in favour with selectors, given he hasn’t played Test cricket since the series in Australia.

As previosuly mentioned, India would be strongly tempted to do nothing to the batting order, given the margin of victory at Lord’s and keep the same XI for the next Test at Headingley.

If they went down that path, they’d be ignoring the reliance on their openers and lower order to make runs and the increasing confidence England bowlers have, in dismissing the Indian middle order.

A settled XI is a good thing but a settled XI with two or three batsmen out of form is not. Australia can attest to that and India needs to read the signs and adjust, otherwise they could well find themselves struggling to make runs in the next three Tests.

The final question that needs to be answered is, how many times can Bumrah, Shami and Ishant win a Test for India with the bat?