India’s Tour Of England 2011: A Preview - Part II

Continuing from the first part of the India's tour of England here

England’s batting has been a revelation right from the beginning of the previous year. One look at the averages of their three leading batsmen will give a deep insight into the tough work ahead for the Indian bowlers. Jonathon Trott has played 16 Test matches and scored 1517 runs at an average of 72.63. Cook has played the same number of games and has scored 1724 runs at an average of 75. Ian Bell, however, takes the cake. He has made more than 1000 runs in the 12 Tests that he has featured in and scores at a mean of 106.60. It gives the Indian star-studded line-up a run for their money.

If the trio can continue with their form against the number one side in the world, they would have ticked most of the boxes required to pronounce them as the best in the contemporary world.

Not that the Indian batting is far behind. While Virender Sehwag will not be a part of the playing eleven for the first game, the rest of the side should pose enough number of questions. Gautam Gambhir will be returning back from an injury and will be desperate to prove wrong those who thought his decision to play to play in the IPL was for mercenary reasons alone.

Similarly, Sachin Tendulkar would have been refreshed by his break as well, even as Dravid and Laxman sharpened their Test match skills with strong performances in West Indies.

Abhinav Mukund should play the first game in place of Sehwag. He has shown that once he gets over the initial period, he is a stodgy batsman at the crease, but the swinging ball could be his bane. On current form, Suresh Raina should retain his place at the number six position, which should relegate Yuvraj Singh to carrying drinks again. Captain MS Dhoni has lost some of his batting spark and while he top-scored in the first innings of the third West Indian Test match, he will need to show more consistency.

Where England may face a tricky issue is with their third pace-bowling option. Stuart Broad has usually been a shoo-in to the side, but with his current inabilities to get the wickets, his foul-mouthed antics have come under scanner even more. Safe to say that so far, he hasn’t been able to live up to his early reputation.

James Anderson will test the Indian batsmen with his favourite weapon, the away-going ball, while his partner Chris Tremlett will look to use his 6 ft 7 frame to get the Indians hopping. Graeme Swann has recently become the number one ODI bowler and is not too behind in the Tests as well and his battles with the spin-loving Indian batsmen could make for some folklore.

Interestingly, England lost a Test series was in February 2009 – more than two years ago. India’s previous loss happened even before that, when they went down to Sri Lanka in July 2008. Between the two, the last time that England beat India in a series was in 1996, after which the two have met in five series where India have thrice and two have been drawn. Not that the past records mean much and I sense that there will not be much to choose from till the very end.