The visiting England team surely surprised most of the cricket experts and fanatics with a remarkable performance in the first India vs England Test match in Chennai. On the back of captain Joe Root’s masterclass knock of 218 runs and some great bowling by the trio of Dominic Bess, Jack Leach and James Anderson, England registered a sensational 227-run win over India to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match Test series. With this brilliant win, England also kept their hopes very much alive of sealing a spot in the final of the ICC World Test Championship,
However, in order to face New Zealand in the finals, England will have to win atleast two of the remaining three Tests against India. Before the start of the Test series, England faced a lot of criticism for their rotational policy opted by them in order to manage the workload of the players in the busy calendar year. England’s premier wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler was only drafted into the squad for the first Test and thus, he will be returning home with Ben Foakes ready set to return into England Test playing XI for the first time since January 2019.
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Senior paceman James Anderson played a huge role in England’s massive win against India in Chennai. The legendary fast bowler bowled an amazing spell of reverse swing bowling on Day 5 to pick the crucial wickets of Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane in a single over and then also got the best of Rishabh Pant to put the hosts completely on the backfoot. However, in order to manage the 38-year old cricketer’s workload and to keep him fit for the pink-ball Test match in Ahmedabad, England are very much likely to replace him with Stuart Broad for the second Test in Chennai starting from 13th February.
“When a batsman gets in rhythm and form, they want to keep batting and keep that rhythm going, and it’s the same for a bowler,” said James Anderson.
“You want to keep that going if possible, but I’m very aware that we’ve got four Test matches in quick succession here and there will probably be a need to rest and rotate. So I’m not assuming anything,” he added.
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England head coach Chris Silverwood also accepted the fact that it is surely very hard to leave an in-form bowler like James Anderson. However, Silverwood also hinted that they will be looking at the combination very closely for the second Test match. Anderson has now picked up a magnificent tally of 611 wickets from 158 Tests at an impressive average of 26.49.
“It is hard (to leave Anderson out), he is a class act. But you’ll have to wait and see. I’m not reluctant to change a winning team now if it’s the best thing to do for the players, the team and the longevity of it,” said Chris Silverwood.
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