'Absolutely fit' Jadeja keeps selection debate on but India take inspiration from recent comebacks

India were routed in the first innings of the last Test at Headingley as batsmen did not show enough discipline and lost composure in the face of immensely accurate bowling by the hosts. 

They made a comeback of sorts in the second innings but as the skipper, Virat Kohli said after the game, they were always playing a catch-up game and were dismantled once again in the second innings to lose the game by an innings margin. 

From a relatively stronger position irrespective of the deficit in the second innings, Kohli’s men lost the last eight wickets for a mere 63 runs and surrendered once again on the fourth morning.

Kohli tried to downplay those collapses by calling them “aberration” for an impressive batting order but the theme has now become more prevalent in the recent past. They were also bundled out for 36 and a very low score on a flat surface in Chennai and hence the collapses at Headingley should ring some alarm bells in the dressing room.

However, the team management has reiterated the stance of choosing to see what came after those harrowing performances. India bowling coach Bharat Arun, who attended the pre-match press conference exulted confidence in the team and issued a kind of “been there done that” message from the Indian camp ahead of the all-important fourth Test.

"We have done it in the past, we were bowled out for 36 and bounced back. Also against England at home, we came back after a big defeat (in Chennai). We can take confidence from what we have done in past. You will see a lot more spirited performance,” Arun said in the press conference.

Batting alone was not India’s failure in the Headingley Test as their bowlers failed to extract any sort of assistance from the pitch, let alone the prodigious seam movement and bounce England pacers generated. They were lacklustre in their approach and lacked intensity as well as discipline to build pressure on England top-order batsmen who were under quite a bit of pressure.

They were allowed to get away with loose and wide balls they could leave easily or hit for four at the start of the innings and as soon as the new opening pair of Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns took the hosts past the 100-run mark without loss of a wicket, the writing was on the wall for the tourists.

Arun was asked what went wrong for the Indian bowlers and how were they outbowled by their English counterparts. Arun refused to rate the bowling performance as bad and referred to the triumphant Lord’s Test saying that just a game before they had outbowled their counterparts and this sort of underperformance is not a concern.

He did underline a concern though and it was the form of Ishant Sharma, who was guilty of bowling very wide from the batsmen and wasting the new ball. He has been India’s trump card bowler in the last few years and hence his form and fitness came as a “concern” for Arun.

India on September 1 added Prasidh Krishna into the main squad and it fulled speculation that the tall bowler from Karnataka is being seen as a like for like replacement for Ishant. He is also known for his swing and the extra pacer he generates due to his height, but Arun categorically denied that he has been added to replace Ishant from the side that played at Headingley. 

He re-emphasized the workload management of bowlers—a point also highlighted by Kohli in the post-match press conference after the defeat in Leeds behind the move to include Prasidh in the main squad.

“He has been included in the side considering all the workload management issues. There is nothing more to it than that,” Arun said.

Apart from the composition of the pace department that may be constrained due to the heavy load on the trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj, the Indian team management will also have to keep on pondering over the issue of spinners in the side. So far, Ravindra Jadeja has been preferred over Ravichandran Ashwin but there is no doubt in the fact that the former has been picked more for his batting prowess and also because Kohli believed the composition of four pacers would more or less do the job clinically.

However, the clamour of Ashwin’s absence is growing louder and louder and he could have come in the place of Jadeja, who was under injury clouds. Arun though quelled those speculations and ruled Jadeja “absolutely fit” which does not absolve the team management from the responsibility of picking one spinner among those two or both in case the pitch appears to be helping spinners.

India have also been found out with Rishabh Pant batting at the number six position and a dip in form of the middle order. Expert and former players have been demanding an extra batsman to aid out of form batsmen and the team management might take the Ashwin route to bolster the batting and shorten the tail.

Arun said that The Oval has the reputation of aiding spinners in the past but at the same time shared scepticism over England opting to play on a surface that assists turn considering their “one of the best bowlers” in Ashwin. He said that the last call on the composition of the bowling attack, especially the spinners will be taken on the eve of the game after having an assessment based on the final look of the surface.

"Ashwin, no doubt, is one of the best bowlers we have and it's unfortunate that he has not played so far but if there is an opportunity and if we feel that he is going to fit into the scheme of things, they will definitely both be bowling in tandem. History at the Oval says that it aids spin but you also know how the Englishmen are wary of Ashwin's abilities of what he could do if there is any assistance from the track” the bowling coach added.

"The best thing would be to decide after looking at the track tomorrow morning as anything could happen between now and tomorrow. So we will look at it tomorrow morning and decide."

Arun presented a confident face of the Indian camp as has been the case for the Virat Kohli-led team management over the years. They have had in this situation before when the world had written them off and they came roaring back in the contest right after being pushed against the wall.

Arun would hope that the bowlers, who came short in Leeds would put their hands up while the batsmen would learn from their mistakes and replicate their methods from the first and second Test.