With WTC finals place at stake, Joe Root’s men look to break India’s Chennai fortress

India has not lost a single game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai in the 21st Century. England, coming on the back of a series whitewash of Sri Lanka which has similar pitches as Chennai, would be banking on to breach the fortress at least once when they face the Indian team in the first-ever home game for the country post the covid-19 hiatus. The major motivation pushing England for a victory in this game would be a seat at the World Test Championship final at the Mecca of Cricket Lords’. 

Kohli back, India up for another slaughtering of the hosts

With rank turners in the offing, the Indian team would be backing itself to start the series on a great note by winning the game at the Chidambaram, which they have been doing since 2008, with England being the opposition twice. The Indian skipper Virat Kohli is back and most of the players, who would ideally be in the first XI are fit to play. 

Along with all the players being fit and the pitch favouring the Indian style of play, what stands out is India oozing with confidence after their miraculous series win in Australia. The skipper, Ajinkya Rahane, that won it in Australia has already submitted to the fact the Kohli is the leader and thus a united India with a place in the final at the World Test Championship stake, would be hard for any side to beat, let alone England. 

“So my job is really easy [when Virat is around], I’ll take a backseat [in the England series] and whenever required I’ll go and tell him or whenever he asks me about certain things, I’ll just go and tell him. So, I think that helps us a lot. For me, personally, I can take a backseat whenever I’m the vice-captain,” Rahne said. 

'Nothing to lose', England would go all out

The England team has the last chance to get into the World Test Championship final that is going to take place at their home and to get that chance they have to go all out and win the series with a margin of more than two. England certainly doesn’t have anything to lose as even if they lose the series 0-4, trying to win it, they would have no regrets and thus they are going to be a really dangerous prospect for India. 

Even the skipper Joe Root scored on the point that it’s not the England team, rather India who will be under pressure. "We're quietly confident. We're playing some good cricket, we're improving all the time, implementing the game plan we constantly talk about more consistently," said Root. 

With their sinners in Dom Bess and Jack Leach working in tandem, Moeen Ali fit and raring to go, Ben Stokes back in the squad and Jofra Archer back, along with Anderson in good touch, England are really going to be a really fearful team. 

India vs England: Match Details

Match No.-01

Date and Time: 05th February, 09:30 am IST, 04:00 am GMT

Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports, Hotstar

Team News

India

The Indian team would be without the services of Mohammed Shami and thus Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma become the top two picks for the fast bowler’s slot while there would be three spinners and the third spinner’s slot would be a toss between Washington Sundar and Axar Patel. Axar comes in the scheme of things only because Lasith Embulduniya, the Sri Lankan left-arm spinner troubled the English batsmen a lot. But even after that, since Chepauk is Sundar’s home ground, it is most like;y that he would be preferred over Axar. 

Probable XI

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar/Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah

England

Zak Crawley has injured his wrist and has been ruled out for the first two games, thus it poses a great challenge for England to find a new opener even as Rory Burns is back. With Dom Sibley opening alongside Burns, Dan Lawrence is likely to move to number three and Ollie Pope getting a place in the side as the fifth batsman. 

Probable XI

Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Daniel Lawrence, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad/ James Anderson

Pitch Report

“A Chepauk pitch with an English look is being made. I always believe there should be an equal contest between bat and ball,” said the pitch curator Ramesh ahead of the first Test, indicating that the team bowling first will have some chances in the first session to get quick wickets by swinging that red cherry. 

But the fact that it is still a ‘Chepauk’ pitch means that spinners would be licking their fingers (not during the game though, it be a covid-19 violation) to get a go over here. The curator also made it clear that the grass is there only to hold the pitch for five days. “There will be grass cover because it needs to last five days. There will be runs for taking too,” he said. 

Weather and Toss

The weather is going to be ‘sunny and less humid than Chennai humid’ and thus no chances of rain there. The team winning the toss would therefore go for a bat first after winning the toss. 

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