Watson on England-India: Kohli v Anderson and why Ashwin is key

The favourite

India may be leading the Test series 2-1, but Watson believes the balance has shifted since the last time the sides clashed.

Both teams have undergone significant leadership changes, in both captaincy and management. Rahul Dravid is now the India coach and Rohit Sharma the captain, while Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes respectively hold those positions for England.

Over the past month, England have brushed aside reigning ICC World Test Championship winners New Zealand 3-0. England’s series victory and the way it came about has convinced Watson they have the edge.

“Before that last Test match got put off by nearly a year, India were dominating and England were starting to taper off,” Watson told Sanjana Ganesan in the latest The ICC Review.

“But now, with the ways things have shifted with what we have seen with England, the new captain-coach dynamic has moved their cricket forward so quickly. For me, England are just in front, because they’ve been playing plenty of Test cricket and have played incredibly well.”

Watson said India’s lack of match practice – they’ve only played one warm-up match in England against Leicestershire – may hurt them. “There's no question that India have got an incredible Test team. But they are going in a little bit underdone, playing a lot of T20I and one-day cricket over the last three or four months.

“Test cricket-wise, the bowlers and their workloads, it's going to take a little bit of time for their bodies to get used to Test cricket workload again.”

The key battles

The Test will pit some of the top players in the game against each other, not least the battle between Joe Root, the No.1-ranked ICC Test batter, against Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah, the No.2 and 3 ranked bowlers in the Test bowler’s rankings.

However, Watson picked out two key battles that could dictate the course of the game:

Virat Kohli v Jimmy Anderson

The battle between Kohli and Anderson has come to define England-India Tests over the last decade, with the veteran bowler helping restrict Kohli to an average of 13.50 in 10 innings in 2014.

A peak Kohli returned in 2018 and scored 593 runs at an average of 59.30 to end as the top run-scorer in that series.

Kohli has struggled for form of late, but this clash remains one to watch out for. “It’s always the highlight in the battle between England and India, that battle between James Anderson and Virat Kohli. Two of the titans in world cricket,” said Watson.

“Anderson certainly had one over him right at the start of Virat's Test career, but in recent times, Anderson hasn't been as effective against Virat. But that's always one of the great battles between England and India.”

Ben Stokes v Ravichandran Ashwin

Watson believes the other decisive battle will be between Ashwin and Stokes, with the fact that the all-rounder is now the England captain adding more value to his wicket.

“The other one that I am really looking forward to is Ravichandran Ashwin and Ben Stokes,” said Watson. “Ashwin has had Stokes’ measure over his career, but now there's more importance on Ben Stokes' wicket, more so than ever because he's the captain.

“I know in the Australian cricket team, there's always this approach that if we can really try and work over the captain and make it a not-so-good series for them, then the ship can start to sink a little bit.

“Ashwin's going to be the main man to be able to try and make the most of that battle because he does match up incredibly well.”