Well begun is half won

Though a five-match series can help any team bounce back from initial struggle, both India and England will want to start things on a right note in the first Test at Hyderabad today

The start of every Test series is accompanied by a frisson of excitement, but if it is more pronounced in the run-in to India’s five-match showdown against England, it’s not without good reason.

Over the last 21 months, England have shaped up into an entertaining, exhilarating Test side, their unique style of attacking batsmanship wowing the masses and stacking up results. The management team of Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum has revitalised England’s sagging Test fortunes with its investment in ‘Bazball’, which will face its sternest examination yet on Indian soil.

More than a decade of dominance 

India have been invincible at home since 2012-13, when they surrendered a four-Test series to England. For over a decade, they have ridden on the strength of their batting and the quality and depth of their spin to pummel all-comers, including England themselves (4-0) in India’s last five-Test series in 2016-17. ‘Bazball’ needs flat, true pitches to succeed; India will throw up anything but flat decks. That England expect spin to play a massive part is evidenced by the presence of three specialist spinners, including debutant left-armer Tom Hartley, in their 11 for the first Test starting at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium today. Consequently, there is no place for the seasoned James Anderson, who with left-arm spinner Jack Leach is the only bowler in this party to have played a Test in India.

Also Read: Will ‘Bazball’ unleash its artistry in India?

England’s batting is formidable, awe-inspiring when it gets going which it often has in the last two years. But it will be seriously tested by R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel or Kuldeep Yadav once Rohit Sharma is able to prise the ball away from the gun new-ball combine of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Ashwin, who will play his 96th Test, is ten wickets shy of the magical 500 mark, while Jadeja has held his own at home and stolen a march over the offie overseas when India have fielded only one specialist spinner. India’s preparations received a jolt with Virat Kohli’s recent withdrawal. 

India’s Gen Next

The former skipper’s class and experience will be sorely missed, but his absence should encourage Gen Next —Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, still young in Test cricket—to step up and show its mettle. The sudden non-availability of a huge chunk of experience will enhance the responsibility on the strong shoulders of Rohit and KL Rahul, back in the familiar role of a specialist batsman, if only in the still relatively unfamiliar capacity of a middle-order bat.

A five-match series facilitates the opportunity to bounce back from a poor start, but there is nothing like beginning well. If England entertain visions of a famous win on Indian patch, it is imperative that they make the early running. But will India allow them to?

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