Ajinkya Rahane banking on pace attack for India's success in England

What's the story?

India's Ajinkya Rahane is confident of the team's success in the upcoming five-match Test series against England and it is the experienced bowling attack at Virat Kohli's disposal that is giving the former, reason to believe so.

"Our pace bowlers are very experienced. (Mohammed)Shami and Umesh (Yadav)were here in 2014 as well. They've been doing so well for us, not only in India but outside as well," Rahane said. "In South Africa, we got 60 wickets. It is a challenge to bowl in England but I'm really confident about them."

"Not only Umesh and Shami but Ishant (Sharma), who came here and played some county games. We have Jasprit Bumrah as well. We have an attack that can disrupt opponents. But yes, it will be a challenge for them to bowl patiently and bowl in the right areas for a long period of time," the 30-year-old added.

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Rahane's confidence does not seem to be dented despite Bhuvneshwar Kumar's absence from the first three Tests of the series as well as the loss of Jasprit Bumrah for the opener at Birmingham which begins on Wednesday.

The middle-order batsman feels that India has enough back-up in their attack to cause serious damage to Joe Root's side in their own backyard.

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The heart of the matter

Despite losing the 3-match Test series in South Africa 2-1, India's performances, especially from the seamers, earned plaudits for the manner in which they gave the Proteas a run for their money in front of their home crowd.

The Indian side were able to dismiss the South Africans twice in all the three Test matches with the pacers accounting for 53 of the 60 wickets that fell during the series.

In fact, since the beginning of India's home season in 2016, the fast bowlers have taken a total of 175 wickets in 23 Tests - only three of which were played outside the Indian subcontinent - at an average of 27.01 while the spinners have taken 248 at 25.56.

The numbers make for impressive reading and it is not surprising to see why Rahane is so confident about their chances in another pace-friendly country in England.

India's Test squad for the first three Tests: Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur.

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What's next?

As stated earlier, the first Test begins on Wednesday at Birmingham and with Bhuvi and Bumrah missing, the Indian team management certainly has some thinking to do with regards to their playing eleven for the match.

It will undoubtedly be a pace-heavy attack though with Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav likely to get the nod along with Hardik Pandya who will be the bowling all-rounder in Kohli's side.