Clash of the Titans at the Home of Cricket

             

Edgbaston, England witnessed one of the greatest test cricket in recent times. That’s how test cricket are meant to be challenging and there’s no doubt why every player anxiously waits for his maiden call up to represent his team in this long format. Even though the result at Edbaston was produced within four days, there was a fair contest between both the teams with the bat & ball. England has drawn their first blood to go 1-0 up in the series by registering a win in their historic 1000th test match. Both teams played competitive cricket & in the end the home team ended on a winning side by beating the visitors by a mere 31 runs, which will be added to the record books of “win by a slimmest margin”.

 Virat Kohli loves the strategy of playing with five bowlers as he beleives the importance of taking twenty wickets to win a test match. His mantra also worked well as Indian bowlers kept England batsmen & Barmy army quiet not leaking too many runs. Ashwin & Ishant  were the main spearheads who were assisted by Umesh and Shami. Usually India’s bowling will be a worrying factor abroad but this time the tide has changed. Their batting order collapsed completely and the skipper was left with no support. His vital knock of 149 & 51 kept India in the hunt till the end delaying England’s victory for a while. “Indian batting line up is like a chimera, with Kohli being the lion head and other batsmen like the body of a goat”- quoted by an analyst. The Indian lineup seems to look heavily reliant on him which is a big worrying concern. It’s time for the veterans Vijay, Rahane to step up alongside Virat soon or else there is no surprise awaiting for another disastrous overseas tour.

There have been some speculation regarding Virat Kohli & team management on selecting the playing eleven & bringing in Ashwin ahead of Dinesh Karthik for the first test. Had the result gone in India’s way the same people would have appreciated their moves. So that’s why they are called as critics & they’re better to be ignored. The action now shifts to the Home of Cricket, Lords for an exciting thriller on the cards.

Kohli has a penchant for changing teams & has never played with the unchanged team since his tenure as a captain in 2015. Also looking to the fact how Indian top order failed, Kohli & team management will have various permutations and combinations in their mind. With Lord’s expected to be a good pace friendly track, Cheteshwar Pujara should see himself back at number three replacing Dhawan or Rahul. The Indian vice captain and overseas specialist Ajinkya Rahane sees himself in the brink of exit from the squad owing to his failures in the last 11 innings without a score of 50. The man who is known for his flamboyant stroke making and defense techniques seems to lack confidence on playing against swinging deliveries. Considering the prevailing conditions India is likely to go with two spinners.

My Probable X1 for the second test:

Murali Vijay, K L Rahul , Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravichandra Ashwin, Hardik Pandya/Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.

Fact trivia : Last time when India played at Lords in 2014, Ishant’s fiery spell led them to victory. Can the lightning strike twice?

Indian team is wounded but not down as Virat Kohli’s men are capable of producing a comeback.

Can Indians get Independence from the British once more at the Home of Cricket or will it be England & Barmy army singing all way along to go 2-0 up in the series ? Stay tuned till tomorrow for live action until then it’s Amithrayvon signing off with high hopes of levelling the series. #Bleed blue