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IND vs ENG Test Series Preview: Too Hard for England? | Challenges for England Test team against India in the upcoming Tests

The Indian team is all set to lock horns with the touring England team. The first Test of the four-match series will start on February 5. India recently won the Border Gavaskar Trophy in brilliant fashion, with a 2-1 series win in Australia. Meanwhile, England also coming off a win, after whitewashing Sri Lanka. The victory against the Lankans away from home is a major plus for the English side.

While India will be confident about their chances in the forthcoming home series, England will be a bit nervous even after winning their last series in subcontinent conditions. The visitors have few puzzles to solve before their last series of the World Test Championship cycle. Let’s Look at five major challenges for Joe Root-led England side:

Also read: Can England pull off an amazing series win in India?

1. Buttler’s unavailability for the last three Tests

England Cricket Board has confirmed that wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler will only play the first Test and won’t take any further part in the series. He’ll fly back home and is all set to miss the remaining three games.

Buttler’s absence can be a huge factor as England doesn’t have much experience of playing red-ball cricket in Asian conditions. Also, he’s one of England’s better players of spin. The Lancashire batsman would’ve loved to have played a longer role in the Test series against India, given that he is in a rich vein of batting form in red-ball cricket. He conjured up a career-resurrecting 152 against Pakistan in Southampton in the final Test of the English summer, followed by significant knocks of 55 and 46 not out in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Galle. He was equally proficient behind the stumps, accounting for 9 catches and a stumping in the 2-Test series against Sri Lanka. England surely going to miss Buttler and this could be a big factor in the outcome of the series. 

2. Inexperienced Spinners

England has a spin selection debate for the right reasons. The Englishmen are traveling with a big contingent of spinners with the likes of Amar Virdi, Matt Parkinson, Mason Crane in reserves for Jack Leach, Dominic Bess, and spinning all-rounder Moeen Ali.

Among these five spinning options, only Moeen has the experience of playing in Indian conditions. But Moeen is coming off a break and lack of recent first-class cricket has ceased to mean much given that no one has delivered a ball of any color in earnest since March, and his record in India can’t be overlooked. Leach and Bess have presented a strong case after their terrific performances with the ball against Sri Lanka. Leach will be playing 3rd series in Asia while his spin twin is fairly new to the subcontinent conditions, having played only two Tests in Asia. The spin duo will have a big challenge as Indian batsmen are very difficult to bowl in their backyard. The lack of experience of bowling in India might just be a worrying factor for the English spinners.

3. Unsettled middle-order

With Jonny Bairstow rested for the first two Tests, England might have to try and test a few things with their middle order. Bairstow batted at three in the recent series against Sri Lanka, but with no Bairstow for the Chennai Tests, it’ll be interesting to see who’ll be England’s number 3.

Kent batsman Zak Crawley had scored a maiden double hundred while batting at three. But a string of low scores in Sri Lanka might not help his cause. Another option for England is the Essex batsman Dan Lawrence who’s fresh from his debut game in the first Test in Galle. Joe Root and Ben Stokes in all likeliness will bat at 4 and 5 respectively. If England plays Moeen Ali then he’ll be placed at 6 with the wicket-keeper batsman coming at 7. After Buttler’s departure, Ben Foakes is most likely to take the wicketkeeping duties. There’s plenty to ponder upon for the team management with their middle order.

4. Opening Slot Conundrum

Rory Burns’ return means he’ll be back at the top for the tourists. Now the big debate is who’ll be his partner to open the innings. Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley, who opened for England in their last series, struggled throughout the tour. However, Sibley showed great character and heart in the final innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka and score an unbeaten 56 to guide his team to an emphatic win. His efforts should guarantee him a spot at the top with his old partner Burns.

Burns and Sibley have been opening for England since the South Africa tour in 2020. Their ability to see off the shine and wear down the bowlers might not be attractive to eyes but it’s vital to lay the foundations for the batsmen to follow.

Crawley’s current form doesn’t push his case in front. And if he did open then it’ll be a surprising call by the management against a sterner opposition in India. One thing Crawley showed in his 10 test match short Test career is he can occupy the crease for longer durations and once he does that he can score ‘Daddy hundreds’. Right now Sibley is in a pole position to take advantage in the short term. If the opening dilemma is resolved, it leaves England with only one obvious position left to fill in the top six. The opening pair’s performances will see how the series will pan out for England.

5. Curious case of selection of the pacers

Head coach Chris Silverwood already hinted that England will be rotating their players. The think tank is likely to rotate their most experienced pacers in Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. Both of them played one Test each in the recently concluded series against Sri Lanka.

England has a strong core of pacers alongside Anderson, Broad with Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes, Olly Stone in the original squad, plus Saqib Mahmood and Ollie Robinson in the reserves. Mark Wood will return to the side will add selection headaches for Root and Silverwood. Archer, Wood, and Stone can hit 90-plus mph consistently, and with the express pace, they can reverse the ball as Wood did in the Sri Lanka series.

Their old Foxes Anderson and Broad showed in the recent series that they still can be effective in any conditions with their experience and skill. However, it’ll be interesting to see what combination England will go with against a top side like India.

Also read: An Aussie’s passionate take on why Australia lost the series and where they go to from here

Written by Vaibhav Tripathi. Follow Vaibhav on Twitter today.