England aim to fight mental scars to level the series

"The last two games have been the hardest pitches I've kept on. They almost feel like day-five pitches from ball one”, concluded Ben Foakes after the third Test. 

You know things are not right when instead of the players and performances, it is the pitch which attracts all the attention. It has taken precedence in every cricket conversation surrounding this series and England’s win in the first Test seems to be an event of distant past. R Ashwin was so annoyed, he counter questioned an England journalist asking, “Who defines what a good surface is?” 

Not surprisingly, the focus remains on what kind of pitch will be dished for the fourth Test. Rohit Sharma, who has been unperturbed with the spin-friendly tracks over the last two Tests posted a picture of him lying on the outfield of the stadium captioned: “Wondering what the pitch would be like for the 4th Test”.

Going by Foakes, who was training at the venue on Sunday - February 28 - it will be pretty similar. However, the England wicketkeeper also reckons that the visitors will now be better equipped to tackle the challenges of a turning wicket. 

England were viewed as one of the better non-Asian sides of batting against spin. The claim was strengthened after they breezed past Sri Lanka 2-0 in the Test series before coming to India and further established winning the first test in Chennai. Those wins were centred around Joe Root’s masterful batting.

The same has not translated in the last two Test matches and the difference has been the pace of the spinners. 

The extra pace of Ashwin and Axar, where the batsman has less time to adjust for the turn or the lack of it, has curbed England’s best scoring option against spin - the sweep shot. It is a full-fledged technique which is taught to England batsmen to tackle spin at a grassroot level but has been rendered unsuccessful by the Indian spin duo. Not used to employ their feet, they have failed to tackle Axar and Ashwin. The biggest example would be Jonny Bairstow who opted for a pre-meditated sweep shot on Axar’s good length delivery to start his innings on the second day of the third Test. Next ball, he missed a straight one as the gap between his bat and pad spoke for his state of mind suffused with panic. 

These are the demons - more in the head than in the pitch - England need to fight. Good thing for them that they won’t have to tackle the pink ball which skids more and created a lot of dismissals due to lack of turn.

England can consider promoting Foakes in the batting order. One of the few batsmen who has looked confident with his defence. He can swap positions with Ben Stokes at number five. Stokes’ last innings showed his preference to hit his way out of the trouble rather than battle it out - an approach more suited at seven. The move will also delay the arrival of a left-hander for Ashwin, the only bowler to dismiss 200 left-handers in Test cricket. 

In India’s case, the bowling is sorted despite Jasprit Bumrah released from the squad. India may want to dictate terms with the bat as well. Every Indian batsman, except Rohit Sharma, has some sort of a point to prove in this Test. 

Skipper Kohli will be in search of his elusive 71st hundred in international cricket but the major centre of attraction should be Ajinkya Rahane who has averaged only 31 against spin in home conditions since 2018. In the pre-match press conference, Rahane sounded evasive saying, “I am a team man, everyone knows that. Whenever team needs me to perform in a particular situation I have always done that. I am not too concerned about it.” On a track which is supposed to turn, it will be interesting to see how he proceeds. 

Probable XIs

India:

The only decision India need to make is who replaces Bumrah. They have two options: Mohammed Siraj, who appeared in the second Test and Umesh Yadav, deemed fit by Rahane in the press conference held on Tuesday evening. 

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Siraj/Umesh Yadav

England:

Some big decisions await England when they will sit down to frame their XI for the final Test. The first of these big calls would be to decide if they want an extra batsman. That, however, might not happen given they don’t have anyone on the bench who really presses for a spot in the side. 

One amongst Stuart Broad and James Anderson will make way for a spinner. The question is, will England trust Dom Bess, especially with Joe Root showing more control than him. England also have the left-arm spinner Amar Virdi and the leg break bowler, Matt Parkinson with them and one of them might be added to the squad. Parkinson has better chances given they already have a left-arm orthodox in Jack Leach. None of these two have played Test cricket yet and England will wonder if they could have given them some match time in the five Tests they have played on the current trip to Asia as yet. 

Zak Crawley, Dom Sibley, Jonny Bairstow/Dan Lawrence, Joe Root (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad/James Anderson, Jack Leach, Amar Virdi/Matt Parkinson