This series in India is one of England’s biggest in recent times. If they pulled a victory out of the bag, it would undoubtedly be classed as one of their greatest overseas performances.
It’s not a full-strength team, in the sense that there is no Mark Wood while Jimmy Anderson definitely misses the first couple of Tests and is also a huge doubt for the rest of the series. It’s still a bit up in the air as to who will take the field on Wednesday and there are a number of options.
I liked it that England won the first Test in Bangladesh with the experience of Gareth Batty. Then, when the series couldn’t be lost, they tried Zafar Ansari and I agreed with that, too. It’s much tougher to come into a losing team than it is a winning team.
Though the first Test was won by the bowlers, with Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes producing marvellous spells to win the game, the batsmen struggled in both matches. It’s about scoring centuries, and that’s not being done enough.
It’s about partnerships, too. Adil Rashid and Chris Woakes both hit 40s, and their partnership was a well-fought 99. However, there have been too many cases of one wicket being followed by two or three more and that can’t constantly happen at the top of the order.
You need to grind down the opposition, and get a foundation somewhere. You might want to let Alastair Cook bat and have others bat around him, but it can’t just be a case of partnerships of 20-30 runs every time.
There needs to be two big partnerships in every innings and there aren’t many out-and-out batsmen in this England side.
They bat deep, but there are so many players that aren’t in the team just for their batting ability. That’s why they will have to stick with the top order.
England will win a match, though, I’m confident of that. Ben Stokes or Stuart Broad will produce a spell, bowling India out cheaply, which will win the game. First innings batting will be crucial, too, and you shouldn’t be too worried about being put in and being rolled out.
There is enough character and spirit in this side, and they will be hurting from that defeat in Bangladesh and will want to fire from the very beginning in Rajkot.
Cook and Joe Root haven’t reached the high standards that we know they can perform to so it’s a big series for everyone. Perhaps they need a bit of a break, but that won’t be on their minds just yet. Cook has done it before in India and he will want to lead from the front, while Root had a good debut in India four years ago.
The whole set-up is based around moving forward, though. That means they won’t want to look at bringing any of the old guard back. Yes, Ian Bell had a decent series in India in 2012/13, where he averaged 43, but he hadn’t done so well there before then. If the team lose the first two heavily, then it will be better to just stick with the squad they’ve got and try to battle through.
You can shuffle the order around if the likes of Ben Duckett are doing well, but Gary Ballance is struggling. You don’t always have to have like for like. Haseeb Hameed will be the future of England cricket so why not give him a go if we are struggling.
There are a lot of left-handers, too, but Ballance has to come to the party and start making runs. Jonny Bairstow can make big runs and I think he could bat higher up, so if Ballance does fail then get Jonny up and bring Jos Buttler in. That would also mix up the glut of left-handers with Cook, Duckett and Ballance all lefties.
We could also do with Steven Finn taking a few early wickets. We need to do to India what every other team does to us and have them struggling at 50-3. Bangladesh’s top three laid the foundation for them in both Tests, and that was a big difference.
For the guys that aren’t picked, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not involved.
The great thing is that you have a net every day against high-class bowlers, whether it’s your own team mates or local bowlers – they’re all very good. You have an abundance of practice sessions, and being in that elite environment is fantastic.
You play in the games in between, against the Board XI and Prime Minister XI, so you do play a couple of matches. So, although you might not be playing a lot of games, you do still play plenty of cricket.
And it’s key to make the most of that because you never know, especially in the Sub-continent, if you’re going to be needed unexpectedly.
You’re there representing your country one way or another, so there’s no questioning your desire, but if the team is struggling, you might put in that extra ten per cent in training and try to force your way in. You need to practise as if you are playing the next day.
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, November 4 2016
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