4 reasons why India can prevail over England in Tests this time

The phase of white ball cricket in India's tour of England has been done and dusted and it's back to the purest form of cricket once again. The cricket fanatics in India must be anxiously waiting to see their guys in action, in whites this time and in those heritage-filled grounds in the ‘home of cricket’.

The recently concluded ODI series did raise some questions on India’s batting. Also, the English batsmen seemed to have come to terms with the guile and deception of the Indian spinners, notably, Kuldeep Yadav.

But, we need to keep in mind that Test Cricket is a different ball-game altogether and it's not called a ‘Test ‘without any concrete reason! We certainly think India just have it in them to beat England in England in Tests this time.

India has a much better chance this time around, simply because of the following reasons:

---

A definite advantage to the Indian spinners

We have to keep in mind that India will be facing England in the second half of the English summer and hence, the wickets are expected to be comparatively dryer and slower, as compared to earlier tours. This time, the conditions are expected to be more ‘Indian’ than ‘English’. We have seen the glimpses of the wear and tear of the English pitches in the recently-concluded one-dayers. So, we can trust the experienced Indian spinners to take advantage of this wear and tear of the ‘tired’ English pitches.

India may even look to play three spinners to add to the miseries of the English batsmen, by slotting Ashwin at the number 7 position and playing both Kuldeep and Jadeja in the XI. As Virat puts more value on current form, Kuldeep is expected to be in the eleven for the first test and at least 4 of the top 7 English batsmen are yet to face him in red-ball cricket.

It’s also a no-brainer to gauge which side has the better spin attack to its credential. Moeen Ali had a horrible Ashes and Adil Rashid has left red-ball cricket for a better white-ball career. Dom Bess and Jack Leach are novices in the international arena and the Indian batsmen are expected to negotiate them easily enough.

Better acclimatization for the Indian players

As pointed out rightly by Virat Kohli, India will be better prepared this time than they were, when they visited England last time in 2014 and lost the Test series 3-1. By the time the Tests arrive, they would have had a fair amount of exposure to the English conditions this time. They will be as comfortable as playing in a home series.

This is a sharp contrast to India's tour to South Africa earlier this year when they arrived only five days prior to the start of the first Test. Ravi Shastri admitted after the series that an acclimatization period of 10 days would have made a big difference to the eventual result. But this time, India will be better prepared for the Tests and hence, stands a better chance of prevailing over their opponents.

India has a battle-hardened top order

Everyone in the Indian top six has prior experience of touring England and has a proven track record in Tests.

Whereas the English top order has been prone to collapses of late and was exposed badly in the recently-concluded series against Pakistan. Their middle order has not contributed too much of late and the opening combination is far from being settled either. Alistair Cook has failed to score over 20 runs, 19 times in his last 29 innings over a period of one year.

So, here lies a tremendous chance for a more than potent Indian bowling attack to make early inroads into the English batting order.

One-dimensional English pace attack

The English pack attack has a similarity and predictability to it as they do not have an out an out fast bowler to take advantage of a late English summer that will be largely hot and dry. Of course, the Duke ball will offer a few overs of early swing and if the Indian openers can negotiate the initial threat of Anderson and Broad, it will be a cakewalk for the batsmen coming in thereafter.

The third and 4th seamers are still causes of concern for England and Indian batsmen will look to target them as much as possible so that the ageing Anderson and Broad get over-bowled.