‘Pressure is on England’: Ajit Agarkar backs India despite hosts’ 3-0 sweep of New Zealand – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

The ‘Bazball’ Era is off to a rollicking start with England completing a comprehensive 3-0 sweep of New Zealand in the recently-concluded Test series.

The manner in which England chased down challenging targets in all three Tests certainly does send a warning to other teams, and one would think that the Ben Stokes-led and Brendon McCullum-coached side enter their next assignment — the postponed final game from last year’s five-Test series against India — as the team more likely to come out on top.

Former India all-rounder Ajit Agarkar, though, isn’t among those picking England as the outright favourites going into the marquee summer fixture at Birmingham’s Edgbaston Cricket Ground.

“At the end of the day, you want to try and play better than the other team and get the result that you want, and India at the moment are 2-1 in that series. So the pressure is on England to try and level the series,” Agarkar told reporters in a virtual interaction ahead of the England-India Test.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for England in the Test series against New Zealand despite the eventual series 3-0 scoreline. In the third Test in Headingley for instance, the hosts were reduced to 55/6 at one point before Jonny Bairstow and Jamie Overton rescued them with a marathon partnership.

England’s captain Ben Stokes, center, holds the winners trophy as he poses with his teammates. AP

Agarkar, while admitting the current English side are a terrific outfit, doesn’t think India will allow them to slip away as easily should they create those chances.

“They are terrific players obviously. Stokes a world-class all-rounder, Bairstow’s found some serious form in the last couple of Tests. But Root is still their main batsman.

“But if you compare New Zealand with the Indian attack, I just feel India’s got a little bit more to their attack and it won’t be that easy to take India down, there’s no doubt. Specially with the situation England were in in most Tests earlier on. If India can put them in that situation, getting early wickets, it will be a lot harder to take India down the way they’ve taken New Zealand down,” Agarkar said.

One of the most widely discussed topics ahead of the fixture is that of India skipper Rohit Sharma’s availability. Rohit, who found himself elevated to captaincy across formats not too long after the suspended Test series last year, tested positive for COVID-19 during the practice game against Leicestershire and there’s a giant question mark over his availability for the upcoming game.

While the team management will no doubt be hoping Rohit recovers in time to lead his team, they will also be making backup plans both for captaincy as well as the for the opener’s slot, a position that Rohit made his own through his remarkable performances with the bat in last year’s series.

Mayank Agarwal was named as a backup option should Rohit fail to recover in time for the Test, but names such as Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari and even rookie wicketkeeper-batter KS Bharat, who struck an impressive 70 not out in the practice game against Leicestershire, are doing the rounds at the moment. Shubman Gill, though, looks assured of his spot at the top of the order at the moment and the entire focus will be on picking his partner.

“I know KS Bharat got some runs in the warmup game. The team management will probably have a look at how prepared Mayank Agarwal is once he joins the team. I don’t know whether he has enough time to prepare for a Test, specially a one-off Test.

“So Rahul (Dravid) or Rohit — obviously he’s in isolation — might make that decision if he’s looking okay. If not, I believe experience might help, whether it’s Pujara or Vihari. Pujara has been around for a long time but if not, then Vihari’s already opened for India couple of times. It’s better to go with a little bit more experience because it’s a one-off Test, in my opinion,” said Agarkar, whose name features on the Lord’s Honours Board, albeit for his exploits with the bat rather than ball.

Whether Pujara bats at the top of the order or comes at his usual No 3, his place in the XI looks assured at the moment despite the fact that the elegant Saurashtra batter was dramatically axed from the Test side along with Ajinkya Rahane ahead of the Sri Lanka series earlier this year.

Pujara managed to force his way back into contention following his terrific run in the County Championship for Sussex, scoring 720 runs in five outings at an average of 120, collecting four hundreds including two double-tons along the way.

Cheteshwar Pujara celebrates after scoring his fourth century of the season for Sussex. Image credit: Twitter/@SussexCCC

And according to Agarkar, Pujara rediscovering his touch with the bat couldn’t have come at a better time for the Indians. That and the fact that he’s spent nearly the entire summer in Britain and certainly is more acclimatised to the conditions than his teammates at the moment.

“I think it’s a good thing for the Indian team that he was there and playing in those conditions. We don’t quite know what conditions he’d encountered, but I’m sure there’s been enough swing and seam around in that month or so that he’s been there. Also has the experience, for 90-odd Tests, that is a terrific career.

“There’s no doubt it has come at the right time. Also because it’s a one-off Test, not many of the other batters have been playing in these conditions, so it is certainly an advantage. It will be a tougher challenge obviously, playing against the English bowlers, but he’s been there before, so it is certainly good for the Indian team,” Agarkar said.

Similar questions are also being asked of India’s bowling combination for the one-off fixture.

While pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are absolute certainties and Mohammed Siraj, who enjoyed a productive run in last year’s series, is likely to be picked as the third seamer, the team leadership will have the tough task of choosing between bowling all-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, or playing them both at the cost of a seam-bowling all-round option in Shardul Thakur.

Agarkar maintained that the two-spinner combination could only work if the conditions at Edgbaston favoured spin like it did recently at Headingley, and for the typical English conditions, India were better off sticking to their four-pacer-one-spinner combination from last year.

As for his pick for the fourth seamer, he singled out Thakur as the man who could prove handy at the No 8 position and also get the crucial breakthroughs for his side.

“India played with four seamers; I think Shardul can offer enough with the bat at number eight and as a fourth seamer, did that in South Africa as well.

“Shardul offers a bit more with the bat at No 8, and if there’s likely to be help for the seamers, then he becomes even more effective, if there’s some swing and seam on offer.

“So I think that’s the way they’d go. Otherwise the tail becomes too long if at 8, you look at someone like an Umesh or even Prasidh Krishna. I think Shardul would probably make it if they go with four seamers,” Agarkar said.

India’s Shardul Thakur celebrates taking the wicket of England’s Joe Root, right, on Day 5 of the fourth Test match at The Oval. AP

India ended up getting outplayed every time they visited England in the previous decade (2011, 2014 and 2018). However, the Virat Kohli-led side that toured the nation last year was a different beast, and it showed in their performances at the two London Tests — winning at Lord’s and Oval by 151 runs and 157 runs respectively.

India were 2-1 up in the series heading to the fifth Test in Manchester before a COVID scare in the Indian camp, followed by an intense round of talks between the ECB and the BCCI, forced the series finale to get postponed to next year.

Watch the LIVE coverage of the much anticipated fifth Test between England and India on SONY SIX (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi), and SONY TEN 4 (Tamil & Telugu) channels starting from 1st July at 3:30 pm IST.

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