CHENNAI: Over the last two tours of England, the trip to Lord’s has evoked starkly contrasting emotions for the Indian team. In 2014, under MS Dhoni’s leadership, they headed to the hallowed turf in the heart of London and notched up their only win of the series before things unravelled in the last three Tests. Three years ago, the Test at Lord’s was the lowest ebb of a 1-4 series defeat for Virat Kohli’s boys; they were shot out for 107 and 130 on a green seamer as the hosts wrapped up victory by an innings and 159 runs.
When the two teams step out onto the field at 3.30 pm IST on Thursday, though, Kohli & Co are unlikely to carry any of that baggage. Despite Joe Root’s assertion that England fancied their chances on Day 5 of the first Test at Trent Bridge – which ended in a draw after the final day was washed out – India had every reason to believe that 157 runs with nine wickets in hand were within their grasp.
And the news coming from the England camp should only invigorate India’s spirits. While Stuart Broad’s calf injury has all but ruled him out of the second Test, it seems there is an injury cloud hovering over his senior new-ball partner James Anderson too. If Anderson is unable to make it, it leaves a gaping hole in an already depleted unit struggling without the likes of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes.
It is not that the Indian team is devoid of injuries. Shardul Thakur, who did a creditable job at Trent Bridge with four wickets across the two innings, has been ruled out due to a hamstring injury. India went in with four pacers last week at the cost of dropping R Ashwin. With Thakur unavailable, Ashwin provides the team some batting depth at No 8 in comparison to any of the seam bowlers in contention. With the sun expected to be shining at Lord’s for at least the first three days – not accounting for the fickle English weather – it may be prudent for India to have two spinners in Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja at their service.
But indications from the skipper’s customary pre-match interaction were that they will opt for four seamers once again. “In these conditions, none of the four pacers are underbowled. You can apply pressure in every session with four fast bowlers. The fourth option comes in and does the job of being very consistent. We feel that we are very balanced when we have four pacers. We like playing in that template,” Kohli said on Wednesday.
It robs the batting of a little bit of depth, of course, with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Ishant Sharma – who is likely to come in – inspiring little confidence in the lower-order. It doesn’t seem to be a matter of concern for Kohli though.
“The good thing is that Jadeja got runs at No 7 in the first Test. He will be carrying that confidence with him. That makes our batting a bit deeper already. The lower-order contributed as well. Shardul brings in more batting ability of course. But from a batting perspective, we are well placed. We don’t feel we will be a batsman short because Shardul is not playing. For us, it is about thinking how to pick up 20 wickets rather than plugging the gap with a guy who can give us some runs with the bat,” the 32-year-old explained.
Whatever way they go, Kohli exuded confidence that – weather permitting – India can go 1-0 up at Lord’s.