India leading a test series outside India with one test to go is a rare matter. But when it happens once in a blue moon, the situations should be taken seriously and dealt with duly. On Thursday, India play England at the Oval hoping to wrap up the series in style. England on the other hand have no intentions of losing this war. England have not lost any of their home series since the Ashes loss in 2001. A draw in this test or a loss at worse would be an embarrassing one.
India should go positively into this match with no changes to their XI from the last test. The current side looks balanced and have tasted victory before. The batting trio of Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly should hold fort against the English bowling. Openers have been impressive and Laxman has been erratic more than once. Recharged Zaheer backed by RP Singh should provide optimum seaming options. Sreesanth who has great potential should get another chance to prove his critics right. Kumble, the lone spinning ranger is quite adept at taking on the opposition single handedly although England has not been a happy hunting ground for him.
England is boosted by the return of Pietersen. His presence adds greatly to the team’s morale. The spinner friendly wicket at the Oval should excite Panesar and maybe Vaughn could chip in a bit. But, the England batting looks shaky and unstable. Bell, Collingwood, Cook and Prior haven’t delivered in the first two test matches and look out of sorts. Bowling looks healthy with swinging options of Sidebottom and bouncy Tremlett. Anderson has looked weak with his out swingers and this test could be his chance for redemption.
On the Indian standpoint, India should be aggressive and look to win the test match rather than a stalemate. Bowlers shouldn’t lose their concentration and should continue where they left off at Trentbridge. Sreesanth will have to put the last test behind and concentrate on hitting the target consistently. India is not an aggressive team in the test matches as they fail to score runs in a hurry. They are always content on accumulating runs than going after the bowlers. Strategy should change in this test match and the matches to come in the future. The batsmen starting with the openers should look to score runs from ball one.
On the English standpoint, they need to bat well; really well. It is their batting that has let them down on all occasions. Bowlers have looked positive and effective. If the English batsmen can come good, there is a good chance of them leveling the series and saving their pride.
The Oval test has all the ingredients to become a historical test match. It is left to the people who matter the most on the field to act out according to the script. This blockbuster should be won with heart and grit to be deemed a great success.
Indians love to live up to their expectations especially when it comes to starting poorly on overseas assignments. Today at Lords, India displayed the grit to start in a fashion that is expected of them. What surprises the most is the inability of the Indian bowlers to bowl at a decent line and length. The ball stayed either too short or too straight. More often than not, they drifted it down the leg side. Every bowler including the deadly Kumble faltered and faltered badly. The presence of a specialist bowling coach has done more bad than good.
