India in must-win cricket situation against England

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India finds itself in a must-win situation as it prepares to face England in the crucial fourth Test at Manchester. Already 2-1 down in the five-Test series the visitors are still reeling from that nail-biting 22-run defeat at Lord’s and now has its sights squarely on making a concerted effort to draw even in the series.

One bright piece of bright news for the visitors is that star paceman Jasprit Bumrah will be handed the new ball instead of warming the bench as originally planned. Bumrah’s Test activity is being carefully monitored to save the injury-prone superstar. But with the series on the line and India backed into a corner it was left with no choice but to dress Bumrah for this vital encounter.

Bumrah will share the ball with firebrand Mohammad Siraj who was left heart-broken after being the last man out at Lord’s, falling to spinner Shoaib Bashir. The ball came off his bat and trickled agonizingly slowly toward the wickets and dislodged the bails.

This Test at Lord’s saw a change in attitudes by both teams as England were verbal and confrontational. India did not hold back and dished out as much as possible.

Earlier Siraj rocked Ben Duckett with an in-your-face sendoff and even brushed shoulders with the opener as he left. The 31-year-old Siraj was fined 15 per cent of his match fee and handed one demerit point by match referee Richie Richardson. Siraj explained: “When you’re in the moment and a batsman is playing well, sometimes you say something to get into his head,” he said. “I think players need sledging sometimes. It can disrupt a batter’s concentration. As a fast bowler, it’s fun when those mind games happen.”

It was a bad-tempered Test as India skipper Shubman Gill also exchanged words with opening batsmen Zak Crawley and Duckett for wasting time on the third evening to ensure the home side would only face one over at the close. As one would expect, Gill’s skirmish with the two did not sit well with the home team. “Everybody saw them guys get stuck into Creeps (Zac Crawley) and Ducky (Duckett),” Brook said. “We just thought: ‘We’re not having that.’ A few days before Baz (coach McCullum) said some times we are a bit too nice. So, we had a conversation and said: ‘It’s time to not be those nice guys that we have been before.’ We tried to create a bit of niggle. We weren’t being personal, we weren’t being nasty, we were just putting them under more pressure. We were doing it within the spirit of the game. We weren’t out there effing and  jeffing at them and being nasty people. We were going about it in the right manner.”

There was a time when England ran roughshod over their opponents with their bullying tactics, but there was a get-tough change after Saurav Ganguly was elevated to the captaincy. The country became assertive and refused to back down. Virat Kohli followed in Ganguly’s footsteps and India forever shed the image of being a pushover.

From Lord’s to Old Trafford, the cricket facility and not Manchester United’s home ground, where incidentally the Indian team was invited to meet with skipper Bruno Fernandes, coach Ruben Amorim and the rest of the English Premier League squad that’s coming off its worst season in recent memory.

It’s back to business and England skipper Ben Stokes admitted there were flashpoints at Lord’s but added neither team engaged in any unacceptable behaviour. “It’s never going to go over the line and if it does go over the line, then it’s the responsibility of the captain out there to pull it back,” said Stokes. “It was nice we’ve said we’re not going to let any team feel like they can intimidate us in any way. It’s not about shying away from a confrontation; it’s just making sure that is not the main goal. It’s doing it in the way, keeping your emotions in check with it all.”

England will make one change with the injured Bashir replaced by spinner Liam Dawson while India has been hit hard by injuries to Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh and Akash Deep.

Meanwhile, Rishab Pant who injured himself in the last Test and was replaced by Dhruv Jurel behind the stumps, has been given the greenlight and Jurel may still be brought in as a replacement for Reddy. India has also named first-timer Anshula Kamboj to the squad and he could well make his debut with Arshdeep injured. Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja will complete the bowling unit and it is a shame that Kuldeep Yadav has again be ignored.

India faces an uphill task as it has never won at Old Trafford on any of its previous visits while England has only lost at this venue twice this century.

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