IND vs ENG: Gill ready to write a new chapter..the series is no less than a litmus test, clash with England at Headingley

A new captain, a determined coach, some old and some new faces will be determined to create an interesting story in the next 45 days when India take on England in the first match of the five-Test series to be played for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy from Friday. India has so far won a Test series in England only three times. It achieved this feat in 1971 under Ajit Wadekar, in 1986 under Kapil Dev and in 2007 under Rahul Dravid. Now Shubman Gill will be desperate to get his name in this list. The match will start at 3:30 pm Indian time.

The series will be no less than a litmus test

It is not going to be that easy as the Indian team is going through a phase of change due to the retirement of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin. Due to this, it looks a bit weak in terms of experience. This series will be no less than a litmus test for the 25-year-old Gill, as the England team has changed the traditions of Test match batting under the coaching of Brendon McCullum and the captaincy of Ben Stokes. It will be interesting to see how the Indian team responds to their aggressive attitude.

Gill will have to be careful

Gill’s selection as India’s 37th Test captain was based more on what could be expected from him. He has a lot to prove here. The unusually hot Leeds (the maximum temperature on Friday may be 29 degrees Celsius) and the 22-yard pitch filled with eight mm of grass at Headingley have not been very lucky for England. In such a situation, whichever team bats well will have a better chance of winning.

England’s batting order is strong on paper

With the presence of Joe Root, who has scored more than 13,000 runs in Test cricket including 36 centuries, England’s batting looks better than India on paper. The most experienced batsman in the Indian team is KL Rahul (58 Tests, 3257 runs). But the Indian bowling attack led by Jasprit Bumrah looks stronger than England, which makes the situation of both the teams equal. This is when fast bowler Bumrah is available only for three Test matches.

Lack of edge in England’s bowling

Despite the absence of Kohli and Rohit, India can put pressure on England’s bowlers. England’s attack looks weak due to the retirement of James Anderson and Stuart Broad and injuries to some other bowlers. The bowling attack of Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir and captain Stokes does not create any fear in the opposition team.

Test of Gambhir’s strategic skills

After the departure of Kohli and Rohit, the most influential person in the Indian team’s dressing room, head coach Gautam Gambhir, has not had a good record as a coach so far and he would not want to make it worse. This series will also be a real test of Gambhir’s strategic skills. Karun Nair’s return seems certain given the composition of the slip cordon during practice, where he was deployed at first slip, but there is one more batting spot that the team management will have to deliberate on.

Who will get a chance in India’s playing 11?

Will Gambhir play an extra batsman and allow the talented B Sai Sudharsan to play his first Test or will he play all-rounders like Nitish Reddy and Shardul Thakur to compensate for the lack of an extra specialist batsman? In the spin department, the team management’s decision to play either Kuldeep Yadav or Ravindra Jadeja will be very interesting. Kuldeep can succeed in the conditions here but Jadeja has a good batting record abroad. Another issue is whether T20 specialist Arshdeep Singh should be given a chance as the third fast bowler depending on the conditions or Prasidh Krishna should get a chance. Another fast bowler is Akashdeep who can be the ideal partner to Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in the conditions here.

England’s playing 11 announced

England have already announced their final XI and have focused on strengthening the batting in which Woakes will come at number eight. Woakes has scored a Test century against India and is a good batsman. But it will also depend on how Jack Crawley and Ben Duckett start against Bumrah and Siraj. But in three out of five matches, the contest between Root and Bumrah can decide the result of the series.

The teams are as follows:

England (Playing-11): Jack Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir.

India: Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (vice-captain and wicketkeeper), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana.