Crumpets & Cricket

The English summer—those capricious months with warm days dappled with bitterly cold interludes—beckons Indian cricket yet again. At a time when the country emerges, battered and bruised, from a healthcare nightmare, a 20-member Indian cricket team goes on a four-month tour of England. It will also play the inaugural ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton, from June 18 against New Zealand, followed by five Test matches against England, starting August 4.

Indian cricket turned a corner of mat­urity with its first series win in England 50 years ago in 1971. Since then, an England tour has acquired a special catchet—a sort of ‘final frontier’ for India. Though we have won many a stirring victory in recent years, we have not won an away series in England since 2007. Indeed, since 1971, there have been only two series victory in old Blighty.

Fourteen years is a long time and India would be anxious to set that record straight and validate its current standing as the No. 1 Test Team. To do that they will need to cope with the swinging—and seaming--ball, something that has proved to be their nemesis on past tours. More so in the early part of the English summer, when wickets are lively and the atmosphere heavy with moisture and intermittent spells of rain.

The WTC final is a watershed moment: the two highest ranked Test teams will lock horns for the right to call themselves the official ICC World Test champions. Prior to this, New Zealand will play two Tests against England, which will give them a potentially game changing advantage in terms of acclimatisation and match practice before the WTC final. Kiwi pacers would also be fully used to bowling with the Dukes ball by the time of the WTC final.

For India, the final would be the first serious game of the tour and getting used to the Dukes ball in cold, possibly damp and overcast conditions against a world class pace attack in prime Test match rhythm could be a tough ask. However, with a full season of successful Test cricket behind them, Virat Kohli’s men are expected to ‘hit the ground running’.

Copious swing and seam movement accompanies the Dukes Ball in the initial sessions, requiring batsmen to summon up all the technical skill and mental toughness they can manage. Knowing where one’s off stump is and the ability to leave anything outside that line has been the key to batting success in England. While batting techniques, shot selection and scoring rates have undergone transformative changes, that golden rule stands proudly. It’s how match-winning red-ball knocks are crafted there.

Undoubtedly, the openers and the top order will face probing questions by opposing pacemen around that off- stump area, with the ever-present threat of nasty in-cutters and in-swingers squeezing through gaps between bat and pad. The trial by pace will be inexorable; how well the batsmen are able to cope will influence the results.

If the weather is sunny and dry instead of overcast and damp, the ball may not do as much and the wickets can turn out to be good, flat batting surfaces. At the Rose Bowl, venue of the WTC final, this could be so on the first three days. Batsmen like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja could make hay and play India into a strong position. However, both New Zealand and England batting line-ups are heavily dependent on Kane Williamson and Joe Root respectively, although the other home-grown English batsmen would be anxious to establish their credentials. This might just work in India’s favour.

The Rose Bowl wicket tends to quicken over the last two days and helps fast bowlers. It also begins to turn. The last time India played here, in August 2018, Moeen Ali picked up a 6-wicket haul in the fourth innings and won the game for England. Thus, India’s spinners could have a starring role in the WTC final. Someone like a Ravindra Jadeja or Axar Patel, with their skiddy arm balls angling into the pads, cannily mixed with a few turning sharply away, could prove to be a handful on Day 4 and 5.

In the last five Test matches here, teams have averaged around 300 runs in the first innings, but only about 180 in the fourth, as the pitch became progressively difficult. A big first innings total of 350 plus, would be vital in terms of getting into a dominant space. This could be the general pattern against England too. Indian spinners would be a force to reckon with even in English conditions, as the past proves through Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s 6 for 38 ‘spell of the century’ at the Oval on that 1971 tour.

England would like to avenge their rec­ent defeat in India on the green, seaming wickets at home, but apart from top spinners, this Indian side boasts of one of the best pace attacks, making England wary of pressing their home advantage. New Zealand would be mindful of that as well.

The other Indian advantage is that they bat deep down the order, amply demonstrated in Australia and against England at home. In the event of an early collapse in unfavourable conditions, India can still realistically expect to pull things back through a rearguard effort--the 36 all out aberration in Adelaide notwithstanding. This team also has players—Rohit, Pant, Jadeja, to name three--with the ability to score quickly under pressure and change the complexion of a game in a single session of play.

New Zealand will be relying heavily on skipper Kane Williamson and veteran Ross Taylor to lay a strong foundation. Tom Latham, Henry Nicolas, B.J. Watling, Tom Blundell, all have healthy Test averages too. And then you have Devon Conway, the oldest man to score a double century on debut. At 29 years and 329 days, the left-handed Conway went past Ranjitsinhji’s 154 not out for England against Australia in Manchester, 1896. The Kiwis’ pace quartet, with young Kylie Jamieson and the feared pack of Tim Southee and left-armers Trent Boult and Neil Wagner has the potential to run through any side. Southee has Virat Kohli in his sights; Rohit has had similar problems against the in-swing of Boult and Pujara and Rahane are shaky against Neil Wagner, who can dish up the short-pitched stuff with disconcerting consistency. Indian batsmen need to play with the conviction and resolve they surely possess, while the bowling can put NZ under pressure any time. The WTC final looks all set to be a closely fought encounter between two evenly matched teams.

India has been the number one side for long and has as good a chance as any of doing well here. If all falls into place, they could deservedly take the world championship and pull off a series win over England, following their magnificent win in Australia. On the golden jubilee of back-to-back overseas victories over West Indies and England half a century ago, a similar feat in 2021 would achieve a glorious symmetry.

(Arijit Ghosh is a retired wing commander of the IAF and played Ranji Trophy for Services)