XtraTime Web Desk: Virat Kohli led Indian cricket team will go to the field at Trent Bridge to face England in a do or die match in the third Test. If they lose the match it will be a end of the road for the Men in Blue as England will win the five-match Test series 3-0 with two matches left.
Here are three key battles that may define the course of the Test, as well as the series:
Alastair Cook v Ravichandran Ashwin
Ashwin had the former England captain’s number in both innings of the first Test at Edgbaston and both those dismissals came off similar deliveries. Ashwin succeeded in beating Cook’s outside edge and at the same time opening the batsman up to create a gap through which the ball could sneak in and hit the stumps. Cook’s returns in the series are 0, 13 and 21 so far and do not inspire confidence.
Should the captain turn to Ashwin with the new ball or later in the innings with Cook still at the crease, the battle between England’s most prolific run-scorer and India’s ace off-spinner could be interesting. Ashwin has already dismissed Cook nine times in Test cricket and might as well make it 11 if things go the Indian’s way.
Ashwin’s own returns have been noteworthy in a series thus far dominated by fast bowlers. He returned 4/62 and 3/59 in the first Test but was left wicket-less at Lord’s in the second.
James Anderson v Virat Kohli
The battle of all battles, the central plot around which the series was expected to revolve: England’s top wicket-taker’s pursuit of one of the most prized scalps in world cricket, Kohli’s.
Kohli survived a 15-over spell from Anderson in the first innings at Edgbaston and then some more later in the same innings, and although he came out triumphant with a masterly 149, it would not have been so had Dawid Malan not dropped the Indian captain on 21 off Anderson. Kohli has had his share of luck and Anderson was denied Kohli’s wicket in all four innings.
Anderson, though, has been in prime form in the series, having picked up 13 wickets in four innings so far, with a best of 5/20 in the first innings at Lord’s, while Kohli has scored 240 runs. The contest goes on.
Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow v Indian pacers
It has been a relatively indifferent performance by the top six England batsmen, as compared to their lower order. Cook and his opening partner Keaton Jennings have not been able to give England the best starts while Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Dawid Malan and Ollie Pope haven’t been able to convert their starts into big scores.
Two batsmen who have bucked this trend to some extent have been captain Joe Root and wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow. While Root looked fluent throughout his knock of 80 at Edgbaston before being run out by Kohli, Bairstow has registered two half-centuries – 70 in the first innings at Edgbaston and 97 at Lord’s. The latter came in a match-defining 189-run stand with Chris Woakes as it helped England build a match-winning lead in the first innings.
To curtail the English run scoring, getting Root and Bairstow early should be a top priority for India and the fast bowlers would do well to devise plans for the two middle-order batsmen.