Key Battles to watch out for; India vs. England.

Key battles to watch out for; England vs. India, 1st Test.

Cricket, sometimes defies the fact that teamwork is required to be successful in any sport. So often we see one in-form player single handedly carrying the team forward. That is exactly what Alastair Cook did, back in the 2012 series. Both sides happen to have some phenomenal players within their ranks. This is exactly why I have decided to add a segment called 'Key battles'. Quite often these individual battles tend to have an impact on the entire game as a whole.

1) Joe Root vs. Ravindra Jadeja

All the talk seems to be only about Alastair Cook and his technique against the spinners being the decisive factor in this series. But, if you look at the English batting line up, there seems to be an unusually high amount of left handed batsmen. Root, firstly being the backbone to this English batting line up for the past couple of years and secondly being a right handed batsman, will definitely be targeted by Jadeja. We've seen Jadeja 'toy' around with batsmen of the class of Hashim Amla and AB in the series against the South Africans. Root would also be very well aware of this fact and will have to make technical adjustments in order to avoid getting deceived by that brilliant arm ball which Jadeja seems to have mastered in recent times. All in all, this seems to be a battle worth waiting for.

2) Ajinkya Rahane vs. Stuart Broad

Ajinkya Rahane has come a long way as a cricketer since that tour of England in 2014. Even though he had put in a strong performance at Lord's, there wasn't that required consistency in his game. If you look at Rahane now, his average of 51 is enough to show his class as a batsman.

Though, it was very surprising to see that in the recently concluded series against New Zealand, Rahane was looked very poor against the short ball. I'm not sure if it was just the brilliance of Matt Henry, but if it was a technical glitch, Rahane is going to have to be extra careful against Stuart Broad. Broad, a tall man, standing at 6 feet and 5 inches, can really get Rahane hopping around with some bouncers. If you consider his pace, it is easily up around the 140 kmph mark too. This happens to be another very interesting battle to watch out for.

3) Ben Stokes Vs. Ravichandran Ashwin

Ben Stokes is arguably the best all rounder in Test Cricket at the moment. In the past 18 months or so, he really has taken his game to another level altogether. The brilliant double century against South Africa is proof of the fact. (Fastest Double Hundred in the history of Test Cricket). Loves to take on the spinners in the middle overs of the game and that is exactly what makes this battle so interesting. Ashwin has been at the top of his game as well. There is no doubt that Ben Stokes would love to smoke Ashwin for a couple of sixes early on in his innings to put some pressure on Ashwin, something which Ashwin has not really felt for quite some time. Who knows, if Stokes puts Ashwin off his line and length early on , it could disrupt Ashwin's rhythm for the entire series. This is definitely a series changing battle.

4) Moeen Ali Vs. India

Back in 2014, one man, Moeen Ali single handedly destroyed India's batting line up with his 'decisive offies'. The Indian line up, which was supposed to consist of spin playing specialists, was made a mockery of. Whether it was poor shot selection or genuinely good bowling, seems very confusing to me. Ever since then, Moeen Ali has become a mainstream spinner for England, featuring regularly in the side. Form doesn't seem to be a problem as well, as Moeen was the saving grace for the Englishmen against Bangladesh, with the bat as well. Adding runs lower down the order may frustrate the Indians, if they do not get him out early. Will be very interesting to see the approach of the Indians against Moeen Ali. Aggressive or conservative? Either ways, it will be a very challenging task.