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A few days ago, India produced a stirring comeback at the Lord’s Cricket Ground to snatch a victory out of the fire. Courtesy of the result, the visitors surged ahead in the five-match series, meaning that another excellent showing in the 3rd Test at Headingley could hand them an unassailable lead.
For much of the encounter at Lord’s, India looked second-best, especially after Day 1 when KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma crafted exceptional knocks. India’s much-vaunted middle order failed in the first innings and that, coupled with Joe Root’s brilliance allowed England to establish a stronghold in the match.
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The trend continued on Day 4 when the hosts pegged India back regularly and forced them to head into Day 5 with only four wickets in the shed. Though Rishabh Pant was at the crease, plenty expected India to get a lead of around 200, which considering the relatively placid nature of the surface at Lord’s, was hardly deemed adequate.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, though, had other ideas as the pair conjured a partnership for the ages – a partnership that eventually put the game beyond England and acted as the ideal launchpad for India’s fast bowlers to launch their assault in the fourth innings.
Thus, when India achieved the unthinkable, plenty felt elated and understandably so. Not just had the visitors turned the contest around spectacularly, they had also done so with almost all of their players playing important roles.
As for England, a few familiar frailties reared up, meaning that with only a few nights’ sleep left before the 3rd Test, they have some severe introspection to delve into.
As a matter of fact, the 3rd Test would also provide opportunities to a lot of players to prove their worth and show that they remain capable of representing their nation. And, as funny as it may sound, there are a few India players that might also be chomping at the bit to stride out at Headingley, considering they would want to decisively silence their doubters.
Without further ado, here is a look at five such players for whom the 3rd Test at Leeds couldn’t come soon enough.
#5 Dawid Malan (England)
Since Dawid Malan last played a red-ball fixture for England, he has catapulted himself as the top-ranked batter in T20I cricket and before this summer, seemed an indispensable part of England’s T20I setup. He has also capitalized on whatever opportunities he has received in ODI cricket, meaning that his international career is certainly charting an upward trajectory.
But when talking solely about Test cricket, a lot of those conclusions don’t apply. Not just because it is a vastly different format but also because Malan, like countless other Englishmen, has barely played any red-ball cricket lately. While that can be put down to the ailing domestic structure, it also emphasizes the enormity of the challenge facing Malan.
Fortunately, in his most recent red-ball outing, Malan smashed 199 against Sussex at Hove. Though that Sussex bowling attack comprised three teenagers, the knock should hold the Punjab Kings batter in good stead, considering confidence is not a virtue this current English batting unit is blessed with.
Having said that, Malan will have to forego his natural instincts of fiddling at deliveries outside off stump and guarding himself against the incoming deliveries. Moreover, if Ravichandran Ashwin plays on what could be a relatively abrasive surface, Malan’s technique against spin would be cast under the scanner.
Malan, though, would take heart from the fact that he has traversed a lot of miles since being ousted from England’s Test side in 2018. To an extent, that may even spur him on to scale the heights people thought he was capable of in red-ball cricket.
Either way, the upcoming games are perhaps the acid Test for Malan. And, that particular journey begins at Headingley.
#4 Ravindra Jadeja (India)
In an ideal world, any chatter about Ravindra Jadeja being dispensable from any Indian team, across formats, is unimaginable and would even border on absurdity. The Chennai Super Kings cricketer is one of the few bona-fide three-dimensional cricketers on the planet and has the ability to tilt the match in his side’s favour, courtesy of any of the aforementioned suits.
Yet, these aren’t ordinary circumstances, for Jadeja, under Virat Kohli’s “new template”, is keeping Ashwin – arguably the best spinner in red-ball cricket, out of the eleven. Not a lot of pressure on Jadeja then, eh?
Anyway, Jadeja has performed wonderfully when called upon so far. While wickets haven’t been forthcoming, he hasn’t particularly been used in a wicket-taking role by Kohli. He has contributed vital runs for India’s cause and was one of the primary reasons India didn’t collapse like a pack of cards in the 1st innings of the 2nd Test.
While 88/7 still looks pretty bleak, it could’ve been a lot worse had Jadeja not accumulated 40 runs and ensured that India crossed the 350-run barrier. Apart from that, Jadeja is magnificent in the field and often allows India to build pressure.
A perfect example of that was in the 1st innings of the 1st Test when the all-rounder made a string of saves at backward point to deny Jos Buttler easy runs. The Englishman became impatient and nibbled at a delivery outside off stump, with Bumrah being the beneficiary.
Thus, there is an awful lot that Jadeja brings to the fore and should ideally be the first name on India’s team-sheet, across formats. Yet, the shadow of Ashwin means that Jadeja might have to bowl a tad better come Headingley and for the umpteenth time, prove his critics wrong.
#3 Sam Curran (England)
Back in 2018, Sam Curran was India’s kryptonite. Not only did the all-rounder pick up crucial wickets, he also chipped in with runs whenever England were in a pickle. To put it more simply, that series provided the world a glimpse of Curran’s immense potential as an international cricketer.
In 2021, though, his place in the team seems to be under slight scrutiny, especially with Ben Stokes missing. Without Stokes, the onus has fallen on Curran to provide more of a wicket-taking alternative – something that has not materialized so far.
At Lord’s, Curran picked up a solitary wicket – that of Kohli, indicating that he has what it takes to be a genuine partnership-breaker. However, with him playing as part of a four-man fast-bowling attack, which also comprises of Mark Wood, who is most effective when bowling short and sharp bursts, Curran might have to pull his weight a lot more.
Furthermore, Curran became the first cricketer in history to register a King Pair at Lord’s. For the past couple of years, Curran’s batting in the Test arena has been invaluable, meaning that he has counter-attacked lower down the order and helped England stave off prospective collapses.
However, if his batting fails regularly, the pressure will amp up on Curran, for he is not picking up as many wickets as what would be deemed ideal.
Thus, on those two fronts, it seems that the 3rd Test at Headingley could be defining. And with a certain Chris Woakes on the verge of returning and Ollie Robinson showing no signs of letting up, Curran would want to make this chance count.
#2 Ajinkya Rahane (India)
Prima facie, this might seem an odd selection because Ajinkya Rahane stitched together a fifty-plus essay when India needed it most at Lord’s. However, on closer inspection, there is enough to suggest that that innings, which ultimately proved to be match-winning, could still prove to be another false dawn – something India might be wary of.
Since that Boxing Day hundred against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Rahane fell off a cliff. While he scored a fifty against England at Chennai in February 2021, that seemed to be the deviation from the mean. So much so that India’s Test vice-captain, before the 2nd innings at Lords, averaged a grand total of 24.59 since the start of 2020 – numbers hardly befitting of a batter expected to provided solidity in the middle order.
Interestingly, even during that phase, where he notched up 541 runs across 23 innings, he put together a ton and a couple of half-centuries, hinting that he has a tendency to go off the boil immediately after an innings of authority.
Alarmingly, there seems to be no pattern to guess when and where a Rahane lull would begin, meaning that he has plenty to correct during and after the 3rd Test.
For now, Rahane has bought himself a bit of time, courtesy of his essay at Lord’s. Yet, if he continues the trend of scoring big and then producing incredibly uninspiring numbers, India might start contemplating rejigging their middle order.
#1 Virat Kohli (India)
For the past decade, Kohli has largely established himself as the best batter across formats in international cricket. Not only has the India captain conquered every territory he has surveyed, a lot of his substantial knocks have directly translated into victories for India, thereby highlighting the impact he can create.
More recently, the runs have dried up remarkably. The last time Kohli scored an international ton was against Bangladesh in India’s debut pink-ball Test at Eden Gardens. For the uninitiated, that was in November 2019, which by Kohli’s standards, is a gargantuan rut.
As far as his Test batting credentials are concerned, the India captain has perhaps slipped to only be the 5th best Test batter in the world, behind the likes of Joe Root, Kane Williamson, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith – something that should get Kohli motivated to come up with the goods.
Worryingly, a few of Kohli’s old shortcomings have resurfaced. In India’s current assignment against England, he has fiddled with deliveries outside off stump. It has also sparked uncanny resemblances to his wretched tour to the United Kingdom in 2014, where India, without Kohli’s runs, ran out of steam post a historic victory at Lord’s.
Hence, it wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest that Kohli needs runs and a truckload of them. It would also be fair to assume that he needs them pretty quickly.
So far, India have coped extremely well without Kohli’s runs. But when talking about possibly the greatest batter in the modern era, that simply isn’t enough. Maybe the 3rd Test of the India-England series can change that narrative then!
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