4 Indian Players who can ensure an Indian Test Series Triumph in England

The limited overs leg of one of the most awaited tours of the Indian cricket team has ended. England and India were squared at 3-3 as far as white ball cricket was concerned. However, everyone right from the players and management to the cricket experts and fans would believe that the T20 and One Day series was a mere dress rehearsal.India and England are soon to fight it out in 5 match gruelling but promising test series.Even though India has been leading the ICC ranking in test cricket for quite a while now based on their exceptional home performances, Virat Kohli and his men very well know that this tour to England is what will actually gauge their abilities. This English test team has been in great form at home.

Does this Indian side have the right balance of skills, temperament and determination to inflict a defeat on England and stake claim of being the best test team in the world in real terms? We should know soon..

For now, let's have a look at 4 Indian players whose performances would be vital in ensuring an Indian triumph.

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# 4. Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma has time and again shown his skills with the red ball. We first saw it a decade ago during the 2008 tour down-under, where a young lanky fast bowler had the number of arguably one of the best batsmen of that era - Ricky Ponting. We've also seen it in England where where he used the short ball ploy with great effect to dismantle the English batting lineup to leading India to a historical win at Lord's.

Ishant, with his height and experience is a great weapon in English conditions. Although he has had a tendency of bowling loose and giving away runs, his bowling in recent years has shown a lot more precision and has been a lot more penetrative. With quite a few county games under his belt in the English domestic season this year, the team would be hoping that Ishant Sharma would have had a fair idea of the conditions in England. Virat Kohli would be hoping that his state-mate from Delhi would be the bowler to keep the screws on the England batting line up and would also help in getting him vital wickets at crucial junctions.

#3. Cheteshwar Pujara

If Cheteshwar Pujara can make one end of the batting crease his own for long periods of time, which he sure has the potential to, it will give enable the rest of the Indian batting lineup to express themselves freely. Cheteshwar Pujara, often described as the new wall of Indian cricket, has the ability and skill to grind for hours and hours on the crease.

The batsman from Saurashtra is probably the truest test batsmen in the Indian batting order. Cheteshwar Pujara would surely return with big runs if he manages to solidly bat out a number of sessions of a test match. At the same time, Cheteshwar is a batsman that brings with him a lot of calmness and security which could easily be contagious on his batting partners. Batsmen like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan would benefit greatly from a steady Cheteshwar Pujara innings, as then the can play their natural games and look to put runs on the board. Thus, the temperamentally strong right hander is a vital cog in this indian lineup.

#2. Virat Kohli

There can never be a series where Virat Kohli is not one of the players to watch out for. The entire country knows that a run scoring Virat Kohli in England would up the stakes of an Indian series win by huge margins. The indian skipper has been India;s most consistent batsmen for a number of years now. He is a complete match winner who has the genius in him to win matches all by himself with the bat. And, he has been proving that time and time again.

However, even though Virat Kohli has 'been there, done that' a number of times, both him and the Team India would know that England has been a bit of a glitch on his near perfect career until now. Jimmy Anderson proved to be Virat's nemesis in 2014, and he would be running into him yet again. The last time Virat Kohli played a test series in England, he could not a buy a run for himself.

The result of the series understandably was a 3-1 defeat inflicted on India. Thus, the Indian contingent would know, for India to come anywhere close to winning the test series this time around, Virat Kohli the batsman, more than the captain needs to come out all guns blazing.

#1. Ajinkya Rahane

Arguably, the most technically sound test batsman in India at the moment is Ajinkya Rahane. The Mumbai born is one Indian batsman who has scored runs all around the world. Ajinkya Rahane has the technique and skills required to be the glue of the Indian middle order. The last time India toured England, Ajinkya scored a hundred of the highest quality at Lords, leading his team to their only win of the series. He was probably the most suited batsman on that tour for India and is probably the leader of the indian batting lineup yet again in English conditions.

However, his performances with the bat in a few recent series has not been up to the mark. Having said that, Ajinkya Rahane is too good a batsman to not rectify that blip and find his feet again in quicktime. The Indian team would be hoping for big runs off their vice-captain's willow.