Former England captain Michael Atherton believes that England would be the favourite team over India in the five-match Test series following their thrilling comeback win over Rohit Sharma-led Indian team in the first Test. The Ben Stokes-led side has been dominating the opponents in the red-ball cricket, irrespective of the conditions.
England has a wonderful opportunity to become the first side to defeat India on their home turf in a Test series in 12 years, after their 28-run victory in the Hyderabad Test. Given their impressive comeback victory, Ben Stokes and his side would like to position themselves as strong favourites to win the series, rather than just another team touring India.
In his column for The Times, Michael Atherton believes that winning the first test against England after being down for the first two days would have a psychological impact on the Ben Stokes-led side. He thinks that England would have an excellent opportunity to extend their lead in the five-match series. Atherton also believes that the absences of Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and KL Rahul will have a significant impact on the balance of the Indian team.
“Such an outcome, so unexpected and so unbelievable given where both teams were after the first innings, must have a huge psychological impact, especially given the quick turnaround and the injuries to two of India’s key players, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul. England have an excellent chance of building on their lead.”
“India are not only 1-0 down, but are faced with rare uncertainty over the shape and balance of their team. Suddenly, it looks full of potential weaknesses. Jadeja is India’s second-most valuable cricketer after Virat Kohli. He [Jadeja] has a fine record as an all-rounder – the differential in batting and bowling averages places him in the highest rank – and that balances the team beautifully,” Michael Atherton said.
England has previously led 1-0 in 2021 before losing the next three games on heavily spinning courses, particularly in Chennai and Ahmedabad, when pandemonium ensued. However, the turning course may not provide India as much of an edge as recent tours, with Bazball’s daring approach and excellent improvement in dealing with spin since 2021 raising concerns.
All The Problems Lie With India – Michael Atherton
Michael Atherton believes that Ravindra Jadeja’s absence will create a significant gap in the Indian cricket team’s batting and bowling departments. This is evident from the team selections which included Washington Sundar and Saurabh Kumar as his replacements. However, both of them offer just one-dimensional abilities to the team.
“Washington Sundar, the off-spinning all-rounder who was called into the squad this week, weakens the bowling; Saurabh Kumar, the left-arm all-rounder, weakens the batting, as would Kuldeep Yadav’s wrist spin. All the problems lie with India,” Michael Atherton added.
In the second game, Yashasvi Jaiswal was the star of the day. He scored his second Test century and remained unbeaten on 179, leading India to 336/6 at stumps on the opening day. Jaiswal formed vital partnerships with Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Patidar, and Axar Patel, holding one end as wickets fell at the other. Unfortunately, every Indian batter squandered their starts.