Daily Times

LONDON: Is this looming as a summer of torment by spin for England? The signs are heading that way. The weather continues to be hot, the pitches are dry and there are some masterful tweakers in the opposition. Eoin Morgan was putting on a brave face after his side succumbed to Kuldeep Yadav for the second time in a couple of weeks – and there is an element of truth in his comments that England won’t see many of his style – but they need a swift response at Lord’s. They showed it was possible during the T20 series, winning Cardiff after Kuldeep’s matchwinning haul at Old Trafford, with such effectiveness that Kuldeep didn’t play the deciding match in Bristol. How India manage their new wunderkind will be fascinating; he has the potential to cause all manner of problems.

But it wasn’t only the impact of Kuldeep that was a concern for England. Their formidable record over the last few years has been built on the immense batting that can either set a huge target or chase one down. Now they are facing an opposition who can do the same. Chasing 268 there posed no scoreboard pressure on India, but the way they cantered to victory suggested that another 100 runs would have been well within grasp as well. There has been a challenge laid down to England’s bowlers as well as their batsmen. England will hope that the venues for the next two matches – Lord’s and Headingley – will provide conditions more conducive to them, but they are facing a side who appear to have most bases covered.

In the spotlight: Ben Stokes has rarely had to work harder for his runs than in Nottingham. His 102-ball fifty was the second slowest by an England player in ODIs since 2001 and by 39 balls Stokes’ slowest in ODIs. Until his reverse sweep against Kuldeep – just as England wanted a late push – he was at least able to survive, even if not always convincingly but could not put the pressure back on India’s bowlers. Some rustiness is to be expected after a lengthy lay-off but England need him to move through the gears quickly. Virat Kohli is a man on a mission this tour — and he’s starting to tick with the bat. His 75 at Trent Bridge included some supreme shots, it was a surprise when he was beaten by a neat legbreak from Adil Rashid and stumped for just the third time in his career. Kohli has only played two previous matches at Lord’s – an ODI in 2011 and a Test 2014 – making 41 runs in three innings. His chance of a defining moment will come in August during the Test series, but do not be surprised if he graces the famous ground with something special this weekend.

Teams news: England tend not to overreact to a defeat so they could easily go with the same XI. Dawid Malan is now a permanent member of the squad after Alex Hales’ injury while Sam Curran and Jake Ball are there if they want to freshen up the pace attack. The only change India are likely to consider is bringing back Bhuvneshwar Kumar if he has recovered from his back niggle. He would replace Siddarth Kaul.

Squads:

England (probable) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 David Willey, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Liam Plunkett, 11 Mark Wood

India (probable) 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 KL Rahul, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Siddarth Kaul, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Umesh
Yadav.

Published in Daily Times, July 14^th 2018.