By Three Lions
February 16 2021

India 329 & 286 England 134 & 164 India won by 317 runs

India recorded an emphatic 317 run victory to level the series at one test each with two to play. Ashwin was the star of the show with both bat and ball scoring a century and taking eight wickets in the match.

Much has been said about the poor pitch in this one but it is the same for both teams and India have outperformed England in this one as England did to India in the first one.

Joe Root has been truly sensational so far this year so can be forgiven for a low scoring match but worryingly it seems that if Root doesn’t score big runs then the rest of the batting line up is found wanting and have been dismissed for below 200 in their last three innings.

What this match also told me is that England should do away with their rotation policy and select the best team available for the next two matches. Without doubt if England were playing at home then Anderson, Broad and Archer would all be in the team. Over in India there is only room for one of them in my opinion and it should be a toss-up between Anderson and Archer depending on how they think the pitch will play.

With how little the fast bowlers have been used I think there is a case for playing all three spinners in the next one. There have been spells where one of the spinners have been targeted and been very expensive but England have had to persevere. If they played all three then if one of them was getting some tap they could bowl the other two and rotate them all more. There is also an argument that Root should bowl himself a bit more then they could stick with just picking the two spinners.

Bairstow returns for the next test and has to go straight in to the team. There is also a case for Crawley to come in if fit but he didn’t really do himself justice in Sri Lanka.

Lawrence and Pope may both be sweating on their places in the next test but not as much as Rory Burns who is on a dreadful run of form and could find himself moved on in the style of Jennings, Lyth, Stoneman, Hameed, Duckett et al.

I do like the look of Lawrence and Pope but they are struggling for big scores at the moment. Should they be competing with each other for the number six slot or should England continue with Lawrence at three?

For Lawrence to continue at three it could possibly mean Bairstow coming in to open with Sibley. This is what I would go for in the next game as Burns needs dropping and Crawley hasn’t really proved his worth against spin yet.

My team for the next test:

1.      Sibley
2.      Bairstow
3.      Lawrence
4.      Root
5.      Stokes
6.      Pope
7.      Foakes
8.      Moeen
9.      Bess
10.   Leach
11.   Anderson

India 1 – 1 England

Discussion started by England Cricket (IP Logged), 16/02/2021 09:19

England Cricket
16/02/2021 09:19

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