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India vs England: Four worry points for Virat Kohli & Co. to address ahead of second Test

India vs England: Four worry points for Virat Kohli & Co. to address ahead of second Test. India were beaten by 227 runs by England in the first Test at Chepauk.

India vs England: 4 worries for Virat Kohli

Chennai, February 10: India were comprehensively outplayed by England in the first Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, by no less than 227 runs. The defeat is heavy and in three days they will have to face Joe Root's confident men in the second Test at the same venue.

India will perforce have to forget the hammering in the first Test, and focus on winning the Test and level the series. Hard as it may seem, it is the task that beckons the Indians. The Virat Kohli-led side would like to see some changes to achieve a far more pleasant result. Here are they:

1. Lack of runs from Rohit Sharma

Since his return to international cricket, Rohit Sharma has made just one fifty at Sydney and rest of the five innings have been underwhelming. In late 2019, Rohit had owned the South Africa series, his first as opener, was laced with runs and the team will be eager for him to get to back to that road. Runs from Rohit the opener is imperative as in the last few Tests the middle-order has been compensating for him. He will certainly play in the second Test but sooner or later the team management will have to think of other available options like Mayank Agarwal or KL Rahul.

2. Runs drying for Ajinkya Rahane

Rahane has been brilliant as captain in Australia, rallying a battered India to achieve a 2-1 series win. He had a superb hundred in Melbourne too. But either side of that glory moments, Rahane the batsman offers some dim pictures. Since the beginning of 2020, Rahane has played two Tests against New Zealand, four against Australia and one against England and from those 7 Tests he has made 360 runs at 27.69 with a hundred. But he has no fifty. And if he takes out that MCG century, Rahane has 248 runs at 20.67 with a highest of 46. This is certainly not the numbers for a No 5 batsman. Rahane needs to get in the groove soon. The team management, though, has backed him to come good soon, and skipper Kohli attributed Rahane's failure in Chennai to a brilliant catch by Joe Root.

3. The support spinners issue

All of us have been drooling over Sundar the batsman since the Australia tour. At Chepauk too, Sundar made a fifty to keep India in the match for a longer period. But what about Sundar the bowler. He had his moments in Australia, remember him outfoxing Steve Smith. But the England batsmen, especially Joe Root, seemed to have gotten the measure of him in Chennai. He went for 98 runs in 26 overs without picking a wicket. In the second innings, Kohli did not seem to trust him as Sundar was given just one over on a crumbling pitch.

Shahbaz Nadeem, who was picked ahead of Kuldeep Yadav to bring another dimension to the attack with his left-arm spin, picked up four wickets in the match but conceded more runs than desired. In the first innings, he went for 3.8 runs per over, and in the second innings it went up to 4.4. It was clear that England batsmen found a way to score off them even as R Ashwin kept his end tight and picked up 8 wickets.

4. Team combination

India might bring in Kuldeep Yadav in the place of Nadeem for the second Test. They might also contemplate bringing back Hardik Pandya or Axar Patel (if he is fit) in the place of Sundar despite his gritty fifty. However, Pandya's ability to handle bowling workload is still getting measured up. They may also try to get back Mohammed Siraj in the place of Nadeem, going with three pacers and it is not a bad strategy too.

Story first published: Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 15:37 [IST]
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