Image Credit- ECB
You know, it’s happened before. In fact, the last time
England was here, it occurred against them.
It has previously occurred. India fell behind 1-0 at
home, but they fought back. India would be reminding itself, ‘We’ve been here
before. We have faith in our ability to overcome this. We have faith in our
processes.
They ought to tell themselves that as well. India has
long been successful in its own conditions because their methods work, and work
exceptionally well most of the time. Change is a fact of life and a constant
that they are aware of (see their efforts to embrace the sweep and all its
variants in the lead-up to Visakhapatnam).
Hyderabad was one of those unusual and unusual
exceptions. India had gone through something quite similar with Dinesh
Chandimal, who was practically an exact match for Ollie Pope in terms of
stroke-for-stroke similarity, and they recovered to win that series as well.
India has both been there and done it. They’ll have
faith that they can succeed once more. And England will know going into
Visakhapatam that, despite the shockwaves they caused in Hyderabad, they’ll
probably need to keep pulling off strange feats in order to recreate that
outcome. They entered the second Test with a combined experience of three
Tests, having won the first with a frontline spin attack based on 36 Tests
played together. Three. More than likely, Joe Root will once again bowl more
overs than at least one of their theoretically main spinners.
Despite everything, has England’s opportunity in India
been greater than this one since their successful 2012–13 tour? If India isn’t
already in a full-blown transition right now due to the amount of absences
they’re dealing with, they’re in a situation not too unlike from when they were
a squad in transition during the late Tendulkar era.
India will be without their two most experienced
hitters from the first Test, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, in Visakhapatnam in
addition to Kohli.
Needless to say, they will lose half of one of the
best spin-bowling teams in history with the loss of Jadeja. It’s a huge loss,
especially considering India is already without Mohammed Shami, whose absence
in Hyderabad left them without the best wicket-taker in Indian conditions and
also added extra overs to their spinners’ workload due to their apparent lack
of faith in Mohammed Siraj.
The fact that Kuldeep Yadav, a bowler who would
certainly be a member of England’s first-choice attack in every Test match,
home or away, if they could somehow alter his nationality, is Jadeja’s likely
replacement speaks volumes about how good India is. India is still not as
excellent as they could be, despite their current level of excellence, and this
presents England’s biggest opportunity.