In the fourth cricket test being played at The Oval, I was thinking that Team India would definitely include Ravichandran Ashwin in this match but I was very much surprised by the team management’s decision not to play Ashwin. It is possible that the team management must have felt that the spinner does not get that much help on this wicket. By the way, there is an all-rounder in the team in the form of Ravindra Jadeja.
It’s actually quite difficult to score runs in England. Especially the batsmen of the Indian subcontinent find it difficult there. The swing and seaming conditions there pose a challenge for the Indian batsmen. These are situations where you can never be in a comfortable position. After scoring 25-30 runs in India, the batsmen focus on scoring the first half-century, and in most cases they are successful in thatbut the situation is different in England.
It is clear that whenever in any series we have lost in England over the years, our batting proved to be a big reason for our defeat. Conditions make a big difference in England. If the clouds come then the ball starts swinging and when the clouds break then the situation is completely different whereas in Australia there is a bounce challenge when the ball hits the bat.
The solution to this problem is that Indian players should play more and more county cricket so that they can get used to the conditions there. In India we cannot create conditions like England. It is also true that our players do not have much time to play county cricket due to a lot of cricket including IPL.
Still, I would say that if we want to do well in England, then especially our batsmen should find time to play county cricket there. The shot should be played late in England. Also there is a better option to play closer to the body. The more you play away from the body, the more difficulties will increase. Swings and seams can create trouble there. To counter this swing, the batsmen have experimented with playing forward and sometimes on the backfoot. Here I will especially praise James Anderson because he makes great use of the English conditions.
As far as Virat Kohli is concerned, he knows where he is going wrong and tries not to repeat that mistake. I am sure Virat will be able to get rid of this problem very soon.
The author is a coach of Virat Kohli and a Dronacharya awardee.
