India vs England, Mumbai Test: Five reasons why Kohli and Co need to be wary of Cook's men

Expect England to make a strong comeback in the fourth Test at Mumbai. It was in December 1933, in Bombay — as Mumbai was known then — a couple of kilometres away from where Wankhede Stadium now stands that they had notched up their first win against India, in India. That match at Bombay Gymkhana was also the first ever Test match played in the sub-continent. Nostalgia apart, this city, the country’s cricketing capital, has been a happy hunting ground for the Englishmen over the last eight decades or so. In recent times, they have beaten India comprehensively at the Wankhede Stadium in the 2006 and the 2012-13 series. These too were comeback wins! Who can forget that Golden Jubilee Test match at the Wankhede Stadium in 1979-80? Ian Botham literally made that match his own by scoring a hundred and picking 13 wickets in the two innings. India was trounced by 10 wickets! In the ongoing series, after Alastair Cook’s men pushed India to the ropes at Rajkot, in the first Test, it seemed as if they had lost their way completely. Much against expectations, they succumbed to a 246-run defeat at Visakhapatnam and then were beaten at Mohali by eight wickets. The staunchest of Indian fans would have expected the strong England team to put up a better fight. That they will fight — at Wankhede Stadium, come 8 December 2016 — is in very little doubt. There are five good reasons why the series may, as Ravi Shastri would have put it, ‘go to the wire’: 1. The break in Dubai and the time to introspect: The Dubai sojourn will provide Cook’s boys the opportunity to regroup, introspect and re-strategise. The skipper’s past experience in the sub-continent will surely play a part in England’s plan as they launch a fresh assault on the cock-a-hoop Indians in Mumbai. [caption id=“attachment_3138334” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Adil Rashid and Joe Root. Illustration © Austin Coutinho[/caption] Teams that have done well in India over the years have been the ones who were able to fight and exorcise the ‘demons’ that blocked their minds about Indian wickets, weather conditions, the partisan crowds and of course, the ‘magic’ that its spinners possessed. Cook, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and even Moeen Ali have shown, on wickets that weren’t under-prepared, how Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja could be played with a degree of comfort. All that they had to do was to dig in and wait for the loose ball to hit. The bowler who has really made a difference for the home team is Mohammad Shami. He has been able to generate pace and bounce. What’s more, he has struck at opportune moments. The England batsmen will, therefore, have to sort him out. England’s batting failures at Visakhapatnam and Mohali have been inexplicable. Despite batting deep down the order, the lack of will to stay at the wicket on the part of their batsmen has led to the present perilous position in the series rather than the spinners. 2. Will the Mumbai wicket be a ‘turner’? What sort of wicket will Mumbai provide for the fourth Test? Home advantage in cricket usually means preparing the track to the liking of the home team. At the Wankhede Stadium, if the Englishmen are meted out a rank turner, it could probably jeopardise India’s chances of winning the series. If the tourists win the toss and India have to bat last, then Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali could prove to be a handful for the Indian batsmen. A flat track would serve India better because a draw here, if not a victory, would ensure a series win for them. However, with Virat Kohli’s known aggression, he would probably like to go three up in the series at Mumbai. This impetuosity, in the ultimate analysis, is what England may bank on to fight their way back into the series. Dwelling on the nature of wickets, it is debatable if many Indian curators really do know how a wicket will behave over the five days of a Test match. Ashwin, who is now the prima donna of India’s bowling attack, would surely have liked to have turning tracks in all five Tests. Except for the first Test at Rajkot, however, where the ball started misbehaving on the third day – and essentially put India in a spot of bother – the tracks for the subsequent Tests could be described as being ‘relatively docile’. 3. Underestimating England’s batting strength would be foolhardy: The England batting lineup is strong and can’t be underestimated despite its capitulation at Visakhapatnam and Mohali. Skipper Cook has played 138 Tests and has scored nearly 11,000 runs. Joe Root — perhaps the most talented in the squad — has 4402 runs from 51 Tests. Ben Stokes has improved as a batsman over the last few seasons and can pose a danger to any bowling attack in the world. Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler have all played more than 30 Tests and are very capable batsmen. It is sad that the 19-year-old and very talented Hameed Haseeb had to return home with a broken little finger. He has shown enough class in the three Tests that he has played and looks like a great investment for the future. His replacement, Keaton Jennings — son of Ray Jennings, the South African coach — who will probably open in Mumbai, will have to undergo a trial by fire. Though senior England cricketers vouch for Jennings’ talent, it remains to be seen how he copes with alien conditions. 4. Stuart Broad’s return: Broad, in all probability, will play the Test match in Mumbai. He had injured the tendon of his foot while fielding at Visakhapatnam and had been rested for the match at Mohali. In that match at Visakhapatnam, despite the injury and excruciating pain, Broad had shown the will and the courage to bowl a hostile spell to pick four wickets. If Broad does play at Mumbai, then the three-pronged pace attack consisting of James Anderson, Ben Stokes and Broad — with 911 Tests wickets between them — will intimidate the best of Indian batsmen. Murali Vijay has probably been sorted out and Ajinkya Rahane is struggling for runs. Virat Kohli is perhaps the only batsman who is playing fluent shots and has answers to everything the Englishmen have thrown at him. But Cheteshwar Pujara has scored heavily despite being hit quite a few times. A plan will have been worked out for him in Dubai, as also for the resistance shown by the lower order led by Ashwin. At Mohali, England managed to score a decent 283 in the first innings. They then had the Indians reeling at 156 for 5, raising hopes of a good first innings lead. Ashwin and Jadeja, however, then came together and put up a huge partnership. India finally reached a match-winning 417, with a useful contribution from Jayant Yadav too. Indian batsmen, peppered with short stuff, have shown a dislike for it during the first three Tests. The Mumbai Test and the one at Chennai may see the short ball being used often and more strategically. The Englishmen are wounded lions: The English players have been stung, and badly hurt. They will be licking their wounds in Dubai. The skipper, the coach and the support staff will probably work overtime to keep the players’ adrenalin from overflowing before the Test match in Mumbai starts. They would like their eleven to have a go at India with their guns blazing. Usually, when an itinerant team plays regular matches, it hardly gets time to re-think strategy. The Englishmen have been given the luxury of a week away from the action; enough time to take a good, objective view of the things that went awry. India is already two-up in the series. England will look to return the body blows at Mumbai and at Chennai. The best form of revenge, it is said, is success. As Christmas approaches, the Englishmen will probably ask Santa Claus for a drawn series as a gift to take home. Whether India completes a ‘whitewash’ or England stage a brilliant comeback remains to be seen. The Indian squad will, however, do well to be prepared for the English onslaught in the remaining two Tests. This series, in all probability, will not be over till the last ball is bowled at Chennai! The author is a former fast bowler who was in Mumbai’s Ranji probables’ squad in the ‘80s, a coach and mental trainer, besides being a writer and cartoonist