Will India Bounce Back in The Series? - India Tour of England 2021

     After a near miraculous win at the home of Cricket Lord's in the second test, India have failed to maintain the momentum they were carrying. England surprisingly came back in the series from nowhere, as they had more questions about their players than answers. Apart from Joe Root no one really made an impact from a batting perspective. England's bowlers did a pretty good job in both tests. On the other hand their batting looked lacklustre. But as they say Cricket is a game of uncertainties, the least expected things happened in the second test at Leeds. England literally thrashed India and levelled the series. 

    Who would have thought that after an inspiring win Indian batting could crumble like the way it crumbled. Having said that Indian top order barring the openers looked iffy from the get-go. Especially Pujara, Kohli and Rahane. Even though Pujara & Rahane had an important partnership at Lord's, where the former scored 40 odd and later a half century. Despite that the Indian top order wasn't looking in great shape. England bowlers were relentless and as a result of that India got all out before the lunch break. Once India put up that tiny total in the first innings, it was difficult for the Indian bowlers to outdo the English bowlers. The reshuffled English batting order found some form, the top three scored 50s each, including the newly added Dawid Malan who was making his come back and was under a bit of pressure. Joe Root in a form of his life scored yet another Century, third of the series. Eventually England got a massive lead of 350+. It was always going to be a near impossible task for Indian batters to take a lead in the second innings, still they performed much better in the second innings with some good scores by Rohit Sharma, Pujara and Kohli. But with a long tail it was always going to be a uphill task for India.

    With all that the third test is done and dusted now, with series levelled at 1-1. So the big question is will India bounce back in the series? To me they certainly can. With this new spirited Indian team anything is possible. They may have to make some changes in the line-up. Ashwin is most likely to play the remainder of the series. Kohli, Pujara and Rahane have to come good along with Pant who is also due for a big score. Hopefully from an Indian perspective all things will fall in place and this could be big chance for India to win the Pataudi Trophy. Fingers crossed