Team India’s ‘speed test’, test before Australia tour, Rohit can change the coach’s serious style

The new season for Team India will officially begin with the first Test match against Bangladesh on September 19. The new season is full of tough challenges for the players of the Indian Test team. Generally, fans do not take the challenge of the Bangladeshi Test team on Indian soil seriously, but now the situation has changed after the Bangladesh team defeated Pakistan on its own soil. The visiting team, which traditionally relies on spin bowlers, has a young fast bowler like Nahid Rana who can make Team India realize before the Australia tour that it is not easy to withstand the speed even at home.

There was no uproar over the defeat against Sri Lanka because of the Olympics
For the new coach Gautam Gambhir, the four-day camp in Chennai will be a great opportunity to get to know the players of the Test team closely. Despite the presence of veterans on the Sri Lanka tour, Team India had to face defeat in the ODI series. That series did not get much discussion during the Olympics and there was not much uproar in India over that defeat, but the team was definitely shocked. This writer was covering the series of Team India on the Sri Lanka tour and closely observed the interaction of players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma with the new coach. The best thing was that even though Gambhir is now in the role of coach, Rohit-Virat looked comfortable with him/her as old teammates and were seen laughing and joking on many occasions. If Rohit Sharma was able to change a serious personality like Rahul Dravid in a positive way in the last one year with his/her playful and funny style, then perhaps he/she can do the same with Gambhir as well, who looks serious not only by name but also by personality. It is true that it would be meaningless to expect change within just a few months.

Not much pressure for the World Test Championship
Winning the first two Test matches against Bangladesh and then the three-Test series against New Zealand on home soil will eliminate the pressure of qualifying for the World Test Championship for Team India. This will mean that the team can focus only on winning the Test series in Australia and not have the additional pressure of qualifying for the World Test Championship. Because after winning against Bangladesh and New Zealand, Team India will need only a draw in Australia.

Captain Rohit Sharma’s spirits will be boosted by the fact that his/her team won the series 1-4 despite losing the first Test and in the absence of players like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul earlier this year. Rohit will be well aware that if the team wins the Test series for the third time in a row in Australia, then along with the T20 World Cup victory to his/her name, it can be an extraordinary success for Indian cricket. World-conquering captain MS Dhoni, who has won all three ICC trophies, had also not won a Test, let alone a series, in Australia.

Rohit’s focus is on Team India’s pace attack
Rohit’s entire focus and strategy will be on how to make Team India’s fast bowling attack extremely sharp. Jasprit Bumrah has been called back for international cricket after a break of about two and a half months, but it will not be surprising if he/she goes back to rest after just one Test. Bumrah will again come back to play one or two Tests against New Zealand. Rohit and Gambhir’s biggest challenge in the new season is to keep Bumrah energetic for the 5 Test matches against Australia. Also, Mohammad Shami should also get fit and return as soon as possible to support Bumrah. Ajit Agarkar, as the chief selector, knows how useful a fit Shami can prove to be for this team. That is why he/she has not been included against Bangladesh and has been asked to play some Ranji matches for Bengal first. Mohammad Siraj will also not be pushed into every match during the 5 Test matches to be played at home.

3 centuries expected from Virat
But, if we talk about batsmen, Virat Kohli will not only be expected to play in 5 Tests in this new season but also to score at least 3 Test centuries. If Kohli goes to Australia with this form, then it will be natural to expect 3 centuries again in the 5-match series there. Kohli has been enjoying the Kangaroo land since the beginning of his/her career. But, this time the new Test season is very important for him/her. At one time, his/her contemporary Joe Root was lagging far behind him/her in terms of the number of centuries, but since 2021, Root has scored 17 centuries, while in this period Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson together have been able to score 17 centuries. This Root-like charisma used to be Kohli’s till a few years ago. If you see Kohli in a new mood in the new season, then some credit can also be given to Root for this, who has suddenly made the debate of the best 4 Test batsmen of the current era very interesting.

Overall, after winning the World Cup, even though Captain Rohit Sharma’s team lost the ODI series in Sri Lanka, no one was very upset about it, but it will not be easy for the fans to bear the defeat in the next three Test series.

tag: Team India