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4 reasons why India will win the Test series vs England | Who will win the Test series between England and India? | Looking at why India will win
While the Englishmen will look to maintain their glorious record against India at home, the visitors will be aiming for an improved performance on the English soil. Many experts have backed India to come victorious at the end of this series and there are certain reasons behind it.
In this article, I will throw some light on the reasons behind India being the favorites to win this series. Here we go.
Absence of some key players in the English squad
In a very unfortunate series of events, Ben Stokes has taken indefinite break from international cricket owing to mental health issues. This is definitely a big blow for the home side as Stokes could have been their biggest X-factor in this series.
Further, they don’t have their premium fast bowler Jofra Archer due to injury concerns. Moeen Ali, who has troubled India a lot with the ball in England, is not included in the squad. The experienced all rounder Chris Woakes has also been excluded as he is recovering from injury. Thus, England will miss the services of these players, particularly Ben Stokes, and India will look to capitalise on that.
England’s fragile batting lineup:
Another thing that could prove to be a boon for India is the fragility of the English lineup. Their most dependable batsman Joe Root has an ordinary average of 32.10 in the last seven Tests at home. Root has crossed 50 just once in his last 12 innings in England, which indicates his poor conversion rate in home conditions in recent times.
Further, in the absence of Stokes, their batting, which includes the under pressure Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley, looks quite inexperienced and vulnerable. Therefore, if India dismiss Root early, they certainly can trigger a collapse and can get the advantage of the same.
The talent and depth of the Indian pace attack
India’s pace attack was one of the major reasons behind their grand success in the first cycle of the WTC. The pace trio consisting of Ishant, Shami and Bumrah picked 113 wickets collectively at a magnificent average of just 20.94 and an incredible strike rate of 44.53 in the WTC.
This time they have an even better attack with the addition of Mohammed Siraj, who bowled some spectacular spells in Australia. Siraj is someone who can both swing and seam the ball. He possesses the skill of bringing the odd ball back into the batsman by using the wobbled-seam, which can prove to be a vital weapon in England.
Added to that, India have a confident player in Shardul Thakur, who was one of the key reasons behind their historic victory at the Gabba in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Also, the experienced Umesh Yadav was seen hitting the right lengths consistently in the practice game.
Thus, the depth of the Indian pace bowling attack is immense and they will surely look to make it count this time in England.
Confidence in the Indian camp after an incredible Australian tour
Once you start to believe in yourself, magic starts happening. This is exactly what happened with the Indian team in Australia. When nobody had belief in them after the infamous 36-all out incident, each Indian player backed himself and gave an inspirational performance in the middle, which led to India’s magnificent series victory down under.
That series showed the courage this team possesses and their ability to bounce back from extremely critical circumstances. Yes, this time the conditions will be different and the dukes ball certainly poses more challenge for the batsmen, but belief has no alternative. They should take the confidence from the Australian tour and make that a potent weapon to face the Englishmen. If they play anywhere close to the way they played in Australia, they definitely can cause some serious damage to England and win the series as well.
Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today.
