3 concerns for India ahead of the Test series against New Zealand

Virat Kohli and his directorate, in terms of their man-management, recruitment and overall operations in the Indian cricketing circuit, have forged a dense squad over the last few years comprising some of the best in the business. They’ve shuffled their way through the journey but redeemed mixed reviews from their critics with spotless performances.

A result of the same has been India’s absolute form in the World Test championship. The sub-continent powerhouse have won each of their seven matches in the competition with conviction, garnering 360 points already. The current tour of New Zealand has been a mixed bag for the Men in Blue, as after it looked like they would pin the Kiwis down to the embers of demolition, a Ross Taylor-speared team inflicted a first bilateral ODI series whitewash since 1989 on the visitors.

New Zealand made light work of a team that failed to prevent wickets at crucial junctures or press the opposition down with a considerate amount of pressure on the field. On paper, there doesn’t seem to be a transfer of tensions for India between formats, especially against a side that has succumbed to defeats in four of the five they’ve played in ICC’s newest championship.

But a marginal dip in individual form and injuries have begun to cast doubt over a team that might be staring at its sternest test just as yet.

On that note, we analyse three tactical concerns clouding over the Indian team ahead of their two-match Test series:

1. Lack of experience in the opening department

Until the closure of the home Test summer, Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal were arguably the best opening combination in world cricket. While the former is present in the National Cricket Academy at Bangalore working on his rehabilitation, Agarwal’s armour has developed a few chinks of late.

The stylish opener has been in a rough patch with the bat, recording a trifling 36 in his three ODIs. In the practice match ahead of the Test series, he added just one run in the first innings, before boosting his confidence with a sweetly-struck 81 off 99. But besides this friendly, Agarwal has scores of 8, 32, 29, 37, 24, 0, 0, 32, 3 and 1 in New Zealand – a worrying sign for India as they look to maintain their supremacy in the Test Championship.

Shaw too has been getting his eye in but not making the early sweat count. He sparkled a fine-tuned 40 in the last of the three ODIs but registered scores of 0 and 39 in the recently concluded warm-up. He has been under the scanner for giving away his wicket, perhaps a sign of a player returning after a lengthy lay-off, stalled by a doping scandal.

Gill remains another option, but failure to replicate his India A form into the practice game all but means he could only serve the team as a reserve opener. There were talks of him being drafted in as a middle-order batsman, but Hanuma Vihari’s form and composure are quite irreplaceable.

2. Is Jasprit Bumrah ready to lead the charges after an injury layoff?

Jasprit Bumrah hasn’t featured in the Indian whites since September 2019. He absolutely dismantled the West Indian batting in the two-match series, picking up a couple of five-fers (5/7 and 6/27), but saw himself sidelined for as many as three months owing to a minor stress fracture.

He is now gunning for a feather in the cap amidst a questionable Indian bowling attack, but wickets have not been on his side since returning. He scalped one wicket in two ODIs in January against Australia but had nothing to celebrate for against the Kiwis, finishing with 0-53, 0-64 and 0-50.

He looked in sharp touch, nevertheless, in the practice game, clocking great speeds with the arrow-like direction that he always has. Bumrah’s high arm action is likely to get more off a juicy track, but can he deliver after an average return from injury?

3. Tackling the bounce in healthy pitches

The Black Cap pacers will throw a lot of short balls to Indian batsmen, especially with a few of them having failed to hide their vulnerability from the same. Of late, pitches in New Zealand have offered plenty for the fast bowlers even on Day 3 or 4.

There’s a minimal swing to say of least, but it does contain a reasonable amount of pace. This has led to higher third and fourth innings scores, meaning bowlers have to bend their backs a tad more in such circumstances.

Neil Wagner generated some chin music in New Zealand’s series against Trans-Tasman rivals Australia, but the emergence of Scott Kuggeleijn has been noteworthy. The youngster trapped both Shaw and Gill with well-directed bouncers, while also sending Agarwal back to the pavilion early on in the first innings of the warm-up fixture.

Battles between the fast bowlers and the Indian top order will be feisty, containing periods of short ball obsession versus optimum levels of concentration from the visitors.