England announced a 16-man squad for their upcoming five-Test series in India earlier this week. But how will Ben Stokes’ team line up for the first Test that starts in Hyderabad on 25 January?
This tour will be the toughest test yet for the Bazball project that has garnered 13 wins from 18 matches since Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum took over in the summer of 2022.
Last summer’s Ashes provided thrilling drama, with England coming back from 2-0 down against Australia to draw and only denied a famous series win by the Manchester rain that caused a fourth Test they had dominated to be washed out.
England’s Bazball renaissance has been remarkable considering they had won just one Test in 17 before Stokes and McCullum joined forces.
Yet India will be an entirely different prospect. The hosts have lost just three out of 46 Tests at home since their last series defeat in 2012, when England won 2-1.
One of those was inflicted by England on their last tour in 2021, winning the first Test by 227 runs on a true pitch in Chennai. That casued the Board of Control for Cricket in India to sack the groundsman who had prepared that surface and India went on to win the next three Tests and the series by blowing England away with spin on pitches that stretched the limits of home advantage to breaking point.
England are expecting more of the same for this upcoming series – hence why they have picked four frontline spinners, including the uncapped Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley.
Yet spicy surfaces that make matches a lottery may actually play in England’s favour given the fact Bazball relies heavily on embracing risk and positivity. England may go down, but they’ll go down fighting and should land a few decisive blows along the way.
However, how they line up remains to be seen. With Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali retiring from Tests following the Ashes, Chris Woakes not selected for this tour and Stokes unable to bowl after recent knee surgery, there is a distinct lack of all-rounders, making balancing the team tricky.
So what do they need to resolve before they take on the toughest test in world cricket?
Who keeps wicket?
This is one of the biggest questions given England have selected both Jonny Bairstow, who took the gloves back last summer, and Ben Foakes, the wicketkeeper who was dropped. If we’re going on pure keeping, an art so crucial to success on turning pitches against spin, it has to be Foakes.
But with Ollie Pope back from the shoulder injury that ruled him out of most of the Ashes and the chance England will only pick five specialist batters, can they really drop Bairstow? The Yorkshireman averaged seven with the bat in two Tests in the 2021 series in India. But he’s been the heartbeat of the Bazball revolution.
It’s unlikely Pope would be dropped, especially as he is the vice-captain, but if he was then Bairstow could be a specialist batter at No 3 and Foakes the keeper at No 7. This would be a big call but Bairstow has batted at three on the sub-continent before and it would simplify selection.
England squad for India tour
- Ben Stokes – captain (Durham)
- Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire)
- James Anderson (Lancashire)
- Gus Atkinson (Surrey)
- Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire)
- Shoaib Bashir (Somerset)
- Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
- Zak Crawley (Kent)
- Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
- Ben Foakes (Surrey)
- Tom Hartley (Lancashire)
- Jack Leach (Somerset)
- Ollie Pope (Surrey)
- Ollie Robinson (Sussex)
- Joe Root (Yorkshire)
- Mark Wood (Durham)
Who balances the team at No 7?
If England want five frontline bowlers then there is only one man who can do this role given Stokes’ inability to bowl and the absences of Woakes and Moeen. And that is teenage spinner Rehan Ahmed. He has a first-class batting average of 31.95, yet it seems a huge risk to have someone so young and inexperienced so high in the order.
To get that balance, two of Pope, Harry Brook, Bairstow and Foakes would need to drop out. Instead, England could back Joe Root, whose spin took six wickets at 23.50 in the 2021 series, to get through a significant number of overs, allowing them to pick just four frontline bowlers and freeing up room for both Bairstow and Foakes and one of Brook or Pope.
Which spinners get the nod?
The spin attack will be led by fit-again Jack Leach, who has overcome the back injury that ruled him out of the Ashes. Ahmed looks a lock as the second spinner. If England go for five specialist bowlers, a third spinner – likely to be Hartley to begin with – will be picked. But if they only go for four, then Ahmed, Hartley and Bashir could all be rotated to pair up with Leach.
India vs England 2024 Tests
- 1st Test: India v England, 25-29 January, Hyderabad
- 2nd Test: India v England, 2-6 February, Vizag
- 3rd Test: India v England, 15-19 February, Rajkot
- 4th Test: India v England, 23-27 February, Ranchi
- 5th Test: India v England, 7-11 March, Dharamsala
What will the seam attack look like?
Given the expected conditions, England should play two seamers at most per game. With only four in the squad, it looks like Ollie Robinson and James Anderson, now 41, will rotate, with the faster Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson doing the same as England aim to marry up the benefits of traditional seam bowling with the genuine quicks who can provide shock value on Indian pitches.
My England team to start the 1st India Test
- Zak Crawley
- Ben Duckett
- Jonny Bairstow
- Joe Root
- Ben Stokes (captain)
- Harry Brook
- Ben Foakes (wicketkeeper)
- Rehan Ahmed
- Mark Wood
- Jack Leach
- James Anderson
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