Oval pitch India’s best hope of redemption

ENGLAND will walk on to The Oval this morning as the best Test side in the world. The accolade was in sight before the start of the series, but the way Andrew Strauss’s side have completely overwhelmed the Indian tourists has shown the clear gulf between the top two.

Three huge wins, each more comprehensive than the last, have been achieved by a team at the top of their form against an opposition unrecognisable from their dominant performances of recent years.

The Indians have bowled badly, batted without purpose and conviction and their fielding has at times been comparable to teams in the lower reaches of the East League.

The Indian governing body, the BCCI, has been taking the brunt of the blame in the media, primarily for the playing schedule of their team.

They undoubtedly play more cricket than other countries, with the players also earning massive salaries for the intense period of the IPL, not something they would happily miss to stay focused on Tests.

India’s only excuse is one of injuries during the series to Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj and Harbhajan Singh, but good teams overcome such difficulties with a strong bench. With Indian relying so heavily on their backbone of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, who are all nearer 40 than 34, many observers are wondering if this is the start of a changing of the guard in Indian cricket.

But there seems to have been little planning for the succession and it is hard to argue that 50 and 20-over cricket is not taking precedence over Tests in the eyes of the Indian Board.

The Oval is historically the best wicket in England and the tourists can at least look forward to favourable batting conditions.

The Indian batsmen have failed to score over 300 in any of their six innings. Each pitch has had something in it for the England pace attack, but none has been difficult to score runs on, as England have shown.

Graeme Swann, who has taken only four wickets in the series, will surely be a factor. He has been England’s most potent threat in their rise to No 1 status and his paltry tally in this series is just a reflection on the excellence of his seam bowling team-mates.

If James Anderson is unfit, the final place will be between Steven Finn and Graham Onions.

On the batting front, all eyes will be on Ravi Bopara ,who will continue in the No 6 spot while Jonathan Trott recuperates from his shoulder injury. In scoring only seven in a total of 71 for seven in Birmingham Bopara failed to answer his critics or cement his place as the reserve batsman.

James Taylor, the diminutive Leicestershire player, has meanwhile scored a 90 and two hundreds for the England Lions, statistics that point to a chance in the first team soon.

India somehow need to salvage some pride, but their selection will not differ much as they do not have too many options. Their batsmen will be given another chance to redeem themselves while their attack may include R P Singh’s left-arm seam to give it some variety.

Munaf Patel may also get a chance, on the basis he cannot perform any worse than Sreesanth. Playing a second spinner in Pragyan Ojha may be India’s best chance of controlling England’s ease of scoring.

The catalyst of a last Test appearance in England for Sachin Tendulkar, and his pursuit of a hundredth international 100, may spur them on to greater things, although, if he succeeds, it will be a mere crumb of comfort.