India vs England: All eyes on Virat Kohli's team selection as visitors gear up for highly-anticipated Edgbaston Test

There is a sudden chill in the English air. Walk the streets of Birmingham during the day, and despite the sun shining bright, you will need a jacket. If you had tried venturing out over the last three nights, you would have needed a raincoat as well. Heat wave, you might want to ask. What heat wave? Ever since the ODI series ended on 17 July, the past fortnight has seen tremendous build-up to this five-Test series. There have been quite a few talking points, none of which have been mentioned more times than hot conditions and drier pitches. Scratch out whatever you might have read on cricket portals and throw away any newspapers that said the same. The unpredictable English weather is in full swing, and it is not dry, at all. [caption id=“attachment_4572711” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of India captain Virat Kohli. AFP[/caption] Walking on the Edgbaston turf, you can simply feel the moisture creeping up with every step. During the heat wave, the ground staff watered this outfield amply so as to not dry up the square. On Monday then, when the covers finally came off, the wicket bore a tinge of green. While that move worked, the persistent weekend rain has meant that the water table here is currently high. Forget spin, pace is going to be a crucial strategy first up and it will take a brave captain to bat first on this pitch. If reading a pitch is akin to a game of chess, then England have revealed their moves by naming their playing eleven almost 24 hours before the game. Three pacers, with Sam Curran included, and just the one spinner in Adil Rashid – they have laid out the marker for India. It is up to Virat Kohli to pick up the gauntlet or throw down a challenge of his own. The question is if he will hazard playing two spinners on this track. England’s batting line-up is loaded with left-handers, so R Ashwin fits in perfectly. Barring Joe Root, none among that top order have faced or played Kuldeep Yadav comfortably. So, how do you fit both of them in the same playing eleven? Remember, England’s troika of pacers means India are forced to go in with the same combination. On a helpful track like this, there is always the chance that one of the pacers might under bowl, like Mohammed Shami did throughout South Africa, and then you are struggling to play catch up. It can be done if India find the gall to drop Hardik Pandya, and play Ashwin as the all-rounder. He is a better batsman, and a better bowler too, plus do India really need Pandya’s medium pace seam-up bowling if they field all three of Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami? The composition of this Indian attack is dependent on this singular question of how many spinners Kohli wants to play, and just how he fits them in a five-bowler plan. Then again, this isn’t the only conundrum facing the Indian skipper. Look up top, and he needs to make a decision about KL Rahul. He is the in-form batsman, and that is a vital factor. Remember an in-form Rohit Sharma coming in for Ajinkya Rahane in South Africa, never mind that it completely upset the batting-order balance? This case is easier in the sense that Kohli has two options available to him – leave out Shikhar Dhawan or Cheteshwar Pujara. The tougher bit is in making that choice and believing (read hoping) that you have made the right call. Dhawan scored 107 off 96 balls in the last Test he played (albeit against Afghanistan). How do you drop him? He has also never completed an overseas series with three or more matches in South Africa, England and Australia, averaging a mere 22.09 in 9 Tests therein. How do you not drop him? Pujara has a poor record in England – 222 runs in five Tests in 2014, shielded only by Kohli’s poorer form. But while the skipper has gone on to become the best batsman in the world in the last four years, Pujara is still searching for an identity. He has tried his hand at County cricket – 174 runs in six matches this season at Yorkshire showcase a failed attempt. How do you not drop him? At the same time, he is the only batsman in this Indian line-up who can both drop an anchor and attack the opposition bowling at the same time. How do you drop him, then? Kohli – and coach Ravi Shastri – must decide on two of these three batsmen. It could be a safety-first, pragmatic approach of Rahul opening with Murali Vijay followed by Pujara. They could also throw caution to the wind, opting for Dhawan-Vijay followed by Rahul in a new number three role. Yes, you read it here first – this team management is very capable of this move, given how Kohli spoke about ‘gut feel’ in the pre-match press conference when asked about this problem. But for a moment, all these scenarios have perhaps overshadowed the real narrative of this series. Kohli has to make these game-changing decisions and at the same time come up with a method to fend off James Anderson. It makes for some wonderment if they weigh heavier on his mind as captain or the side’s premier batsman. After all, a solid top-order would mean a healthy start and allow him to bat – and exert himself – once the new ball (read Anderson) has been seen off. Guess, it allows us to reach the crux of this matter. Will Kohli trust Dhawan to do this job, or Rahul? Will he provide additional cover in the form of Pujara? Whatever captain Kohli decides will have a strong bearing on whatever batsman Kohli does, and in turn, it will have a higher bearing on the fortunes of both England and India. Nothing else really matters.