India v England, II Test, Visakhapatnam – Preview
The winds of change are sweeping through the country, at various levels and with massive ramifications. The most high-profile change came last week with the radical demonetisation masterstroke unleashed by Narendra Modi; changes haven’t been passé on the cricketing landscape as well, with the domestic season going neutral, and a host of international venues making their Test debuts.
When Virat Kohli – who termed the demonetisation exercise the ‘greatest move that I have seen in the history of Indian politics’ – and Alastair Cook head out for the toss on Thursday (November 17) morning to kick off the second Test of a five-match series, it will herald a unique hat-trick. The ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium will become the third successive first-time Test centre after Indore and Rajkot, as the Board of Control for Cricket in India continue to take the longest format to untested waters.
Visakhapatnam isn’t a port England has come a calling in the past. Greeted with wonderfully maintained roads spotlessly clean and a sea of green, the visiting team must have been as pleasantly surprised - just as it would have been in Rajkot, even if it was for entirely different reasons there.
England’s worst fears, particularly coming off a defeat in the second Test in Mirpur against Bangladesh, would have revolved around a square Indian turner, with the top coming off and the ball exploding off the pitch. Instead, the team was welcomed at the SCA Stadium by a placid surface that didn’t start playing tricks until the final afternoon, by which time England had already moved into a position of safety.
While the city of Visakhapatnam is certain to have wowed the Englishmen, they wouldn’t have missed the reversal to type when they reached the match venue. Hardly any sign of grass on the 22-yard deck, a certain dryness that even the sprinkling of water on Wednesday afternoon wouldn’t have impacted. It’s perhaps no more than what Cook’s men might have expected; how well they build on the momentum, and the rediscovered confidence from their dominance in Rajkot, remains to be seen.
India was far from outplayed in the first Test, but there were times in the game when the home spinners were outperformed by their less experienced English counterparts. Admittedly, India’s spinners had the worst of the conditions, and might have been a lot more effective had their pacers been allowed to effect the breakthroughs they so richly deserved, but that is splitting hairs. In the land of steel and water and the looming legacy of Vizzy, they will be eager to have another crack at England’s batting, formidable when Cook and Joe Root get going but otherwise a little susceptible despite the early promise shown by Haseeb Hameed and the unbounded potential for destruction Ben Stokes carries with him.
It’s almost a rarity in recent times for R Ashwin to not pick up a five-wicket haul in an innings; three wickets in a Test, therefore, is pretty much unthinkable, but while the supporters of the Indian team might allow creased lines to develop on their foreheads, neither Ashwin nor the team itself will be too fussed. Ashwin is far too crafty and far too intelligent to get carried away with one success or allow one relatively modest outing to weigh him down.
India will ponder long and hard over what Ashwin’s support bowling cast ought to be though. Amit Mishra, the leggie who didn’t have a great first innings in particular in Rajkot, returns to the scene where, less than three weeks back, he ran through New Zealand on his way to 5 for 18 in the final One-Day International. Does the think tank stick with five bowlers, three of them spinners, and give Mishra another chance to weave his magic, or, if they are convinced that there will be plenty for spinners, they leave him out to strengthen their batting, thereby handing a Test cap to Karun Nair, the Karnataka batsman.
Independent of Nair, there is bound to be one Karnataka batsman in the playing XI. Like Anil Kumble had done the previous day, Kohli too batted for the right-hand batsman, now clearly one half of the first-choice opening pair of KL Rahul and M Vijay. Rahul, who swapped from the Karnataka team hotel to the Indian team hotel on Tuesday night, had a long batting stint in his first time back in the India nets since the end of September, aware that he and Vijay will have plenty to do to allow the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and the middle order to do their bit.
England don’t have too many selection issues except to figure out whether to bring James Anderson back. The team's most prolific wicket-taker is fit and firing, but hasn’t had any competitive cricket since August. Chris Woakes, the allrounder who has been in wonderful form with bat and ball since the summer, is nursing a niggle that could tilt the scales in the favour of the man with upwards of 450 Test wickets, even though Cook insisted that Woakes was fit and available for selection.
So much to chew over, so much to look forward to. The denizens of Visakhapatnam have yet to warm to the arrival of Test cricket in a place with no spectacular cricketing legacy as such, but all that could change very quickly. Particularly if the home side has a good day one.
Teams (from):
India: M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Karun Nair, Ishant Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Gautam Gambhir.
England: Alastair Cook (capt), Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root, Ben Duckett, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Zafar Ansari, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Steven Finn, Jake Ball, Gareth Batty, Jos Buttler.
