The 5-match Test series against England was expected to be a true test of how good the current Indian team is. After all, they were the top-ranked team in the ICC Test rankings. Heading into the final Test match of the series, which will be played at The Oval from Friday, the hosts have the series in the kitty with an unassailable 3-1 lead. So, when Virat Kohli and company take the field, how do they approach the Test match?
In the next 24 hours, through the duration of this Test match and in the days immediately after the Test match, one will hear and read a lot of the oft-used rhetoric ‘playing for pride’. What is ‘playing for pride’? Ask any honest sportsman who is worth his or her salt, and chances are almost every individual will say they step onto the field and give their 100% hoping to win. Every single time.
Creating Context For Team India
Like every one of us who wants to succeed, one can be assured Team India too will be eyeing nothing less than a win in the final Test. Virat Kohli and company can lend context to this final Test by considering it as a one-off Test match – rather than see it as part of a series already lost. It will definitely be satisfying if Team India can win the Oval Test and finish the tour on a high. Who doesn’t cherish a Test win, particularly overseas?
If Team India needs any more motivation, they should cast a glance at the ICC Test rankings predictor and be aware of the impact the outcome of the Oval Test will have on the ICC Test rankings.
Courtesy their stupendous run at home in recent years, Team India are sitting pretty at the top of the rankings, 19 points clear of the second-placed South Africa. However, when the rankings are updated at the end of the series, Team India will definitely cede some ground having lost the series.
The Indian team will remain number one even after the series; but it is about maintaining the distance from the rest of the pack. If India lose the Oval Test, they will drop to 115 points. But if Team India were to emerge triumphant, they will drop to 118 points – still maintaining a 12-point lead over the second-ranked team. In simple words, the Oval Test alone is worth three rating points!
Indian Spinners Missing the Mark
Though the record books will have recorded that England have a 3-1 lead in the series, it isn’t like they have dominated the visiting Indian team. Except at Lord’s, the Indian team has generally fared as well as – if not better than – their opponents.
One of the two areas the Indian team has been found lacking is wickets from the spinner. Ravichandran Ashwin began the tour with a bang – taking 7 wickets in the first Test at Edgbaston, but the wickets have dried up thereafter; the off-spinner – hampered by injury and challenged by conditions - has managed only 4 wickets in the following three Test matches. In contrast, England have realised 16 wickets from their spinners – 9 of them from Moeen Ali in the most-recent Test at Southampton
It has been frustrating to see an English spinner outdo his Indian counterpart. It has also been disappointing that the Indian bowlers – particularly an Indian spinner – has not been able to polish off the lower-order – the other area the Indian team has been found wanting at.
Kohli, Pujara & Rahane Save India Blushes
Courtesy captain Virat Kohli, who has extended his sensational run with the bat, and useful contributions from the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, Team India has realised sufficient runs from the specialist batsmen to compete; Team India (3 hundreds and 6 half-centuries) has clearly outperformed the hosts (1 hundred & 4 50s) in the context of the top six batsmen.
Annoyingly, it has been exactly the opposite in the case of the lower order. England’s numbers 7 to 11 have averaged 27.89 this series, decisively superior to Team India’s average of 11.70.
Will Ravindra Jadeja Make the Difference?
One expects the Indian team management will try to address both these problems by including Ravindra Jadeja - the top-ranked spinner in the ICC Test Bowling Rankings – in the side for the Oval Test. With the bat, one hopes Jadeja can play the role that Sam Curran has so successfully played for England, and one hopes Jadeja’s left-arm spin can help prise out the England lower-order quicker than the Indian team has done in the last couple of Tests.
In Test matches since 2017, Ravindra Jadeja has the second-best bowling strike-rate among all Indian bowlers when bowling to the lower-order.
India’s last win at The Oval was when Ajit Wadekar’s team won the decider in 1971. Since then, touring Indian teams have salvaged draws on five occasions and have suffered defeats on the last two visits. Can Virat Kohli and his boys end the winless-streak in the Test match that begins on Friday?
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