The One-day series starts tomorrow and a lot of us will be waiting to see how the series unfolds in the next five games. The Indians had a week off after the Test series, and while they did play a warm-up game against Middlesex, it gave enough time for all to regroup themselves, clean the cobwebs heads and start afresh in a format where they have been a lot more competitive in overseas conditions in the recent past.
We all are aware that there has been a major shake-up in the support staff and it will be important to see how the team reacts to this change. It is very rare in modern day sport that changes happen in the middle of a series but with the pressure mounting on the squad with the repeated overseas failures, something had to be done and the entire cricket-following public will be keen to see what happens next.
History shows that India have played well after such shake-ups and the first start in the tour game, although it was a half-strong Middlesex, was not a bad one. There have been a lot of new additions to the side in the form of Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Sanju Samson and, hopefully, they will bring an air of change and breath of freshness in the dressing room, which is very important to the Indian team at the moment. Heavy defeats are always tough in overseas tours and specially when the tour has to go on with a lot of same personnel, the biggest challenge will be to re-energise them and get going again.
India are a good one-day team, although their recent results in South Africa and New Zealand have been very ordinary. The most critical part of their game will be the top order and the seam bowling department. The likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma missed out at the Lord’s and it is an absolute must that they get going soon. It is end of August in the UK and it has been a very chilly August, a bit different from the past and there will be considerable amount of seam movement with the two white balls.
So it’s very important that they don’t expose Kohli and Raina very early in these conditions. Their gameplan will be the key and it is important that they play a restrictive game at the top. Having wickets in hand will be the key in these conditions — even if it is a slow start — as the two new balls and the field restrictions will allow the lower order to accelerate later. The approach, hence, has to be a lot different then what they do in India.
India’s another worry in one-day cricket in the last one year is the number of times the opposition has got past 300. When a team does that in these conditions, they win more number of times then they lose and it’s critical that India improve in that area.
Yes, they won the Champions Trophy last year here but all of us were surprised with the turn the pitches offered then but I presume it will be a different ballgame now the English think tank saw what results they got on green pitches and I am sure they will prepare conditions, which will help seam bowling.
Their attack also is heavily loaded with pace. I will be keen to see Steven Finn bowl in these conditions and if he gets it right he will be a handy customer. The England team bat deep with the likes of Stokes and Woakes in the squad and it is very important in one day cricket. This will also allow them to play an extra batsman as both of them are good bowlers as well with success in the test series. England will be a good side in these conditions and India will be challenged by them.
— The writer is a former Indian captain
