Lord's Test: Points to ponder for England and India

The spilled catches in the slips, for one, have hurt both teams. But there's more; ahead of the second Test at Lord’s starting Thursday, Joe Root and Virat Kohli would want their teams to quickly address their main weaknesses.

Here are three concerns for the hosts

Who’ll replace Ben Stokes?
Stokes’ value in a side isn’t just because he can bowl, bat and field, but because in doing all of that, he can make things happen and change the course of the game for his side. His spell to the Indian middle-order in the first innings, and his match-winning effort on the fourth morning, were cases in point.

So England won’t have an easy decision to make on his replacement as he appears in a court case.

Root has named Sam Curran as Stokes’ likely heir, but despite the youngster’s Player of the Match performance at Edgbaston, it is still a lot to expect from him.

Chris Woakes has returned from injury to be included in the squad, but if England feel it’s their batting that needs boosting, Moeen Ali could be ahead in the pecking order.

How does Alastair Cook tackle Ravichandran Ashwin?
England’s highest run-getter of all time was foxed twice by the Indian off-spinner – making it nine times in total he’s fallen victim to Ashwin.

To be fair to Cook, Ashwin was excellent at Edgbaston, and the two deliveries, beautifully flighted ones with dip and sharp turn to disturb the off-stump, would have beaten many of the best batsmen.

England’s left-handers have particularly struggled against Ashwin, but Cook, as the leader of the lot, will need to quickly come up with answers.

Spin or seam?
Despite the heat wave in England, the Edgbaston pitch and outfield was not as dry as expected, since it had been well watered. Lord’s, though, could be dustier. If that is the case, England might consider playing two spinners in Adil Rashid and Ali.

Rashid, a left-field selection for the first Test, didn’t bowl much. With a small target, Root did not have the luxury of runs that a leg-spinner tends to concede and turned to him mostly to get rid of the Indian lower order. Besides, in the first Test, the England seamers were doing well so the question didn’t arise about whom Root would turn to if his seam attack failed.

But with Stokes missing, England might turn to their spinner – or spinners – to do more of the heavy lifting.

The visitors, meanwhile have their own issues to deal with.

Can they overcome their reliance on Kohli?
Kohli, who top-scored in both innings, put up a bit of a one-man show. Where he made more than 200 runs across innings, the other specialist batsmen struggled to get to 100 together.

“Application,” said Kohli when asked what he’d want from his other batsmen. “There's a lot to learn from the lower order as well. We just have to be positive, fearless, enjoy our cricket, take the negatives out of our cricket and look at the positives and build on those."

An option for India would be to go with six batsmen, at least until the form returns. Cheteshwar Pujara has not lit up the county scene during his stay there, but he's still the No.6 batsman on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Rankings for Batsmen.

Too many changes?
India under Kohli have never stuck with the same XI for two consecutive Tests. As experts have pointed out, this might have led to doubts among the players as to their role, and a hesitation in playing freely, for fear of losing their spot. This is true especially for the batsmen.

The greats of the game have noted how batting in England, especially to counter the swing, is as much about mindset as technique, requiring immense patience and a reluctance to chase the ball. Kohli, in displaying a keenness to leave the ball well, showed this mindset. His challenge now is to inculcate it, along with some confidence, in his batsmen.

More spin?
Jasprit Bumrah, following his debut success in South Africa, has quickly slotted in as a key figure in India's pace attack across formats. But he hasn't recovered from injury and will not be available for selection for the second Test. The question is: Will there be any changes to the bowling attack?

Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav did well in the first Test, with Sharma picking up five wickets in England's second innings. An added consideration will be the Lord's pitch, which could mean a second spinner in Ravindra Jadeja or Kuldeep Yadav coming in, and one less slot in the pace attack.