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If ever there’s a group which is creating more noise than the one dissecting Virat Kohli missing the first two Tests versus England due to personal reasons, it is the huddle discussing the pitch dished out for the opening match in Hyderabad starting Thursday.
Since losing 1-2 to Sir Alastair Cook’s side in 2012/13, Team India have won 16 consecutive Test series at home. But the dominance shining through has also thrown light on the pitches used. While home advantage is justified, visiting teams falling flat long before Day 5 doesn’t make for either good viewing or advertisement for the longest format.
A day before the opening game of the five-Test series, England named a playing XI featuring three specialist spinners and a sole pacer in Mark Wood. Sign of things to come, maybe? In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, former England left-arm orthodox Monty Panesar opined that turning pitches are stunting the development of batters in Indian cricket.
“India want to be dominant at home, so they want to just keep producing turning pitches. But I think this Indian team is better than that. They can win on flat pitches in India, which in turn will make their batters better players overseas. But because they are always playing on turning pitches at home, when they go overseas, they haven’t got the technique to survive. And that’s why in South Africa, there was a massive gap between Virat Kohli and the rest of the batters, in terms of technique and application,” he said.
After the shortest ever Test match in Cape Town earlier this year, Rohit Sharma called for tracks across the world be rated on the same scale. Monty Panesar, one of the stars of the 2012/13 win, wants the Indian captain to challenge himself to dominate teams even on true surfaces.
“If you are going to keep playing on turning pitches, you are going to have your number on it and you are eventually going to get out. So you have to always attack and, when you do that, you aren’t really working hard on your footwork or the other batting skills. And I think it’s having an impact on Indian batting now. So they’ve got to be a little more confident. Rohit Sharma needs to think, ‘I want to challenge myself. Can I as captain win in India on flat pitches?’ But I’m afraid, the dominance of winning is more important than development of Indian batters,” the 41-year-old added.
Across the last four home Test series for India against England, fast bowlers have accounted for only 136 out of a total 474 wickets to fall. On the other hand, a whopping 324 scalps have gone to spinners.
Monty Panesar, who picked up 17 wickets from five innings on the 2012/13 tour, wants Wood to expose the young Indian batters’ frailties against raw pace.
“They need pace in their attack. Because we’ve seen the younger batters in the Indian team struggle against pace. So early on, Mark Wood can make some inroads. The likes of Jaiswal, Gill, Shreyas Iyer struggle against pace,” he remarked.
Skipper Rohit Sharma was India’s highest run-getter in the last two Test assignments – 2021 at home and 2022 away – against the English. Panesar feels dismissing the 36-year-old opener cheaply would go a long way in the visitors securing a series win.
“Mark Wood will bowl quick, he will pitch it up and see if he can swing it at pace. What Rohit wants is the spinners to bowl at him. And he knows if he can get the team off to a good start, then the rest of the guys can kind of relax. But if he gets out really quickly, then it puts the younger batters under pressure. So England will be hoping to get his wicket early. And if they do it throughout this whole series, I think they are halfway there of winning the Test series,” the Indian-origin Sikh exclaimed.
While the 127 at The Oval will be one of Rohit’s most treasured hundreds, he came of age as a Test opener with the 161 on a raging turner in Chennai in the second match of the 2021 series.
“If India are brave, they should go with Kuldeep” – Monty Panesar
Like always, India have held their team sheet close to their chest. All-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja pick themselves. So does pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
Monty Panesar touted Kuldeep ahead in the race with Axar. It remains to be seen if they go with another seamer in Mohammed Siraj or field all four tweakers.
“I’ll probably go with Kuldeep Yadav, considering the World Cup that he had. And he’s kind of the X factor because you don’t get a left-arm leg spinner to practice against. So if India are brave, they should go with Kuldeep. But I think they are going to go with Axar Patel because they like the batting and he’s got a fantastic record in India. But I feel that could play in the favour of England because they know which way he turns the ball and it’s easier to attack against finger spin than left-arm leg spin,” he told Sportskeeda.
Axar Patel shone with the bat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last year, amassing 264 runs at a striking average of 88 on pitches that aided turn from the first session. The 30-year-old all-rounder wasn’t bowled as much as Ashwin and Jadeja, though.
With uncapped batter Rajat Paidar roped in as Virat Kohli’s replacement, mutterings of the words ‘Cheteshwar Pujara’ and ‘Ajinkya Rahane’ started coming through. Monty Panesar backed India’s selections, saying the outcasts aren’t suited for raging turners.
“I think they believe that they [Pujara and Rahane] do not have a good record on turning pitches. Therefore, it brings in the carefree batters who attack on turning pitches. So unfortunately, they weren’t considered for selection because you can’t just defend like we’ve seen some of the overseas knocks they’ve played. They want batters who can score quickly rather than who can just stay at the crease,” Panesar, who has 167 wickets from 50 Tests, stated.
India’s squad for first two Tests: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, KS Bharat (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel
“If Ben Stokes wins the series, he becomes the greatest Test captain ever” – Monty Panesar
The series will be a clash between two juggernauts. While India have won 36 of the 46 Tests at home since 2013, England have gotten past the finish line 14 times out of 23 under coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
Success in Pakistan and Sri Lanka is a thing of the past. Bazball will now face its toughest challenge, a question Stokes was posed with as early as last July when he orchestrated a come-from-behind 2-2 draw in the Ashes.
Monty Panesar wants Stokes to stick to his guns come what may, adding a series win in India will catapult him as the greatest ever leader in Test history.
“Ben Stokes has to remain attacking in his mindset and strategy. If he commits to that throughout the series, I think England will win. If say they’re bowled out once for 150 in 30 overs, and if he gets a little bit disheartened and goes back to traditional way of playing cricket in India, then I think that’s in the favour of India and they’re going to win the series.
“Ben Stokes should think if he wins the series, he becomes the greatest Test captain ever to play the game. And he does it with the Bazball. We’ve seen the likes of Steve Waugh, Graeme Smith, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan – these are great captains. They will sit there and be like, ‘I wish I captained my team like that in India.’ And that’s the carrot that is dangling for Ben Stokes. Can Ben Stokes become the greatest captain in five weeks’ time and commit to Bazball? And I really hope he does,” he concluded.
1st Test: January 25 to 29, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
2nd Test: February 2 to 6, Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam
3rd Test: February 15 to 19, Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot
4th Test: February 23 to 27, JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi
5th Test: March 7 to 11, Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala
