Sri Lanka vs India: 5 Changes for India to Win the Second Test

Test cricket can be romanticised because in an unlikely moment, like life itself, a breeze can turn it around. In a matter of a session, a few hours, sometimes a few minutes, things take a paradigmatic shift and suddenly the hunted becomes the hunter and vice-versa.All that and much more was there for everyone to witness as India managed to lose a game they had in their back pockets from the first session of Day 1. Sri Lanka were five down for less than 100 in their second innings, still trailing by nearly a 100 runs to avoid an innings defeat.A couple of bad umpiring decisions, a couple of brave cricketers and one hero, and by the same time next day, they were celebrating a fascinating victory that India had no business giving away. A golden opportunity to win an away Test has been lost, yet again by India.More importantly, it was a series of lows – the lowest score against Sri Lanka, one of the smallest chases they have ever fumbled, one of the smallest totals Sri Lanka has ever defended and so on and so forth.Here are five changes they need to make if they have to stay alive in the series.

#1 Walk the talk

Virat Kohli walks back dismissed in the 2^nd innings

Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli are interesting people. They come out hard and aggressive when they talk. They made massive statements. But where was the aggression when India were faced with a bold counterattack by two spinners who refused to give anything away?

VVS Laxman would dance down the track and hit Shane Warne to midwicket all day. Sachin Tendulkar would paddle sweep some and then loft some more over long on. Rahul Dravid will cut anything short. That was aggression without much talk.

But, on Day 4, chasing a little over 150 runs India went into a rut. Shikhar Dhawan batted 34 balls before getting his first run and that was a bad tempo to start with. If he were not in a position to bat because of injury, it reflects poorly on Virat Kohli that he was still out there opening the day.

But more importantly, at no point did India attempt to attack the bowling. At no point did they look to score and not just survive. That lack of intent has cost them dearly and they didn’t even go close to that paltry total they were chasing.

#2 A tighter No.3

Cheteshwar Pujara takes a run during the warm up match against Sri Lanka Board President’s XI

Rohit Sharma can still bat and still play deafening innings. But, not at No.3. That position is almost sacrosanct. It belongs to the gods. We don’t have them anymore. So, at the very least a devotee can have that spot. Cheteshwar Pujara needs to be batting at No.3. If not him, it won’t be a bad idea to drop Lokesh Rahul to bat there, when Murali Vijay comes back to open.

We need someone who can bat for hours technically correctly and yet get the bad balls away, something Pujara has done well at least in the subcontinent if not around the world. Rohit Sharma, who was compared to Ishant Sharma and came short in terms of the time he occupied the crease, doesn’t have the attitude or temperament to gut it out at No.3.

The way he was dismissed, it didn’t look like he had the technique either, missing a ball that deviated from middle to knock off. There was no alarming turn like he made it look there was. He was just playing down the wrong line and was not even up to the pitch of the ball, something Dravid would always do or Sachin, even if it was painful stretching forward and backward all day.

#3 Back to four bowlers

Will Stuart Binny find a place in the XI?

Winning is bigger than ego. Winning is more important than sticking to your principle. The five bowler strategy is brilliant in principle. But the squad doesn’t let Virat stick to it.

It would be foolish to opt for Harbhajan Singh instead of an extra batsman. Harbhajan Singh didn’t look like he could pick wickets and was the worst of all five bowlers on display, hardly beating the bat or causing any trouble even when he had another spinner creating pressure for him and even when he was bowling during a strong team position.

More importantly, he was letting the pressure go. Sadly, there are no more spinners in the squad. Kohli cannot afford to go with three pacers in Sri Lanka but can Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowl any worse than Harbhajan? Considering those aspects, it makes more sense to go with four bowlers with Rohit at No.6 and Rahul/Pujara at No.3.

#4 Yadav instead of Aaron

Umesh Yadav during a training session in Sri Lanka

It was a surprising decision to start with that Kohli picked Varun Aaron over Umesh Yadav. Aaron has that extra yard of pace but Yadav is fast too. More importantly, Yadav has something that Aaron doesn’t – genuine swing, which at 140kph can be a handful for the best.

The only argument against Yadav was that he doesn’t have control. But with figures of 1-68 in 11 overs and 1-39 in 7 overs in both the innings, Aaron didn’t show much control either. India have relied heavily on Ravichandran Ashwin and if he has an off day, we are facing a gigantic score waiting to happen.

Having a fast bowler who can bowl with a good seam and swing it, helps. If spinners have to get India the wickets, even Bhuvneshwar Kumar is not a bad bet, especially with someone like Dinesh Chandimal, who hit 28 fours in both innings put together.

While it is nice to have attacking fielders, something Dhoni was accused of not doing in the past, it must be noted that players like Chandimal and Sarfraz Ahmed from Pakistan play a high-risk game anyway, with or without the attacking fielders and allowing them to score at almost run a ball is not the way.

#5 Sweep and feet

Rohit Sharma needs to be less tentative when attacking

One alarming observation from the first match was the way the famed Indian batting, no more famed, let bowlers walk all over them. It was funny to see Amit Mishra confidently coming down the track to the same spinners who had troubled the top order so much. Mathew Hayden scored tons of runs against the spin machines of India on dustbowls with the sweep.

It is embarrassing that Indian batsmen neither used the sweep shot effectively nor came down the track to take tossed up balls on the full. When you come down the track and take balls on full or smother the turn by converting them to half-volleys, bowlers tend to shorten their lengths, which allows batsmen to cut and punch them more often.

That usage of feet needs to be practiced along with the sweep shot if India are to win on sub-continental tracks like they did for a decade with the old guard. Even batsmen like Rohit Sharma, who regularly comes down and lofts spinners in T20 matches, over extra cover or long off, looked tentative. There is not as much a question on the ability as there is on their willingness to move around the crease and not get stuck into a rut.