The changes England should make for 3rd Test to strike back against India

VISAKPHAPATNAM — We have a contest. Ravichandran Ashwin giving Jonny Bairstow the big send-off. Shreyas Iyer giving Ben Stokes the finger after running out the England captain, effectively returning the compliment Stokes paid him when taking the arresting catch in the second innings that claimed his wicket.

Stokes won’t mind that. The more visceral the better.

Two Tests in, the series is poised at one apiece, India responding to a narrow defeat in Hyderabad with a 106-run victory in Visakhapatnam. Both matches were done in four days. Though the margin was wider in the second Test the match did not feel decided until England lost a fifth wicket shortly before lunch on the fourth day.

Zak Crawley’s questionable lbw to Kuldeep Yadav with England on 194 for four changed the momentum.

Still no complaints from Stokes. There never is. Bazball’s state of mind does not allow it.

England retire to Abu Dhabi for seven days before next week’s third Test in Rajkot, with Stokes as buoyant as ever about England’s prospects.

The result in Visakhapatnam turned on the brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah with the ball and Yashasvi Jaiswal with the bat. Apart from his run out, which he likened to a dream sequence in which he wanted to run faster but couldn’t, and a virus that afflicted Ollie Pope, Tom Hartley and Ben Foakes on the final morning of the match, there was little about which Stokes might quibble, and even then he accepted illness did not impact the outcome.

Stokes liked the application of his bowlers and praised the way Crawley and Ben Duckett took it to the Indian attack on Sunday night and Monday morning.

“The way they played epitomises this team,” he said, an approach that he believes is capable of winning this series.

“Obviously being 2-0 up would have been great for us but the great thing about five match series its at the end where everything counts. Being a level-headed team allows us to put things behind us and concentrate on the next thing and what we need to do there.

“Last week we were pretty level even though we achieved something that was pretty special. I don’t think we showed we were too high. This week we have obviously lost the game but in the changing room we are definitely still very high about some of the great stuff we have managed to do albeit we have not got the result we wanted.

“They put up some pretty incredible individual performances, Jaiswal in the first innings with an amazing double hundred. Shubman Gill, that hundred he got especially being under a bit of pressure and Bumrah for the whole game was just exceptional. He is an absolute champion of a bowler. It was a great Test match for him.”

Though Stokes said he was happy about the way England approached the game and how they attacked the chase there are a number of areas where they might look to improve.

England’s callow spin attack has exceeded expectations. James Anderson was outstanding, yet the England bowlers were unable to contain Jaiswal in the first innings and Gill in the second.

That might have been different had Anderson been supported by an extra seamer. Anderson troubled Jaiswal in the first innings but was only available in short bursts, save for the eight he bowled on the spin at the start of the third day to get England back into the contest.

In claiming the wicket of Jaiswal in that spell he demonstrated how vulnerable the 22-year-old can be to a quick, seaming ball. Had Ollie Robinson, for example, been available at the other end in the first innings, Jaiswal might not have found it so easy to get away.

England started both Tests with three front-line spinners plus Joe Root, which is arguably one too many. Hartley has established himself in the first two Tests with 14 wickets, second only to Bumrah. The irrepressible Rehan Ahmed took six wickets in this Test to justify his inclusion.

Though 20-year-old debutant Shoaib Bashir bowled more overs than any in the first innings and held up well, he would arguably be the obvious one to lose out to accommodate a second seamer.

First innings runs tend to win matches. England were bowled out twice here under three hundred. Indeed they have crested that total only once, propelled by Pope’s 196 in Hyderabad.

That remains the only century by an English batsmen in the series. It is clear if England are going to apply any pressure on India the experienced, middle order has to stand up.

The openers have done their jobs, particularly Crawley, who was exceptional in both innings here. England clearly need their pre-eminent batsmen Root, who has contributed just 52 runs at an average of 13, to perform like his old self. His exit to Ashwin, trying to clear the ropes with only the tenth ball he had faced, looked ill-judged.

Indian totem Virat Kohli is due back for the third Test in Rajkot. Perhaps that will be the signal for Root to take root for the first time on this tour.