Former BCCI Chief Selector Chetan Sharma has expected India to recover strongly against England after losing the first Test by 28 runs in Hyderabad.
The former cricketer feels the hosts would win the remaining games, despite losing KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja to injury.
An instance from the past has been noted by the 58-year-old. News from England’s last trip to India in 2020/21 sounds familiar. At the start, England celebrated a win in Chennai, though later India emerged victorious with a 3-1 series score.
For the uninitiated, Ollie Pope scored 196 against India on a spin-friendly wicket despite England behind by 190 runs in the second innings. Defending 231, rookie left-arm spinner Tom Hartley wove a web for the Indians, taking seven wickets to secure the victory for the visitors.
Chetan Sharma informed India Today:
“Koi tension nahi hai, 4-1 karenge (No tension, we’ll make it 4-1). Athithiyo ka Swagat kiya hai hamne, koi problem nahi (We’ve welcomed our guests, there’s no problem). Ek mistake ho jata hay (Sometimes you make a mistake). I won’t call it a mistake, they played well.”
Chetan Sharma
Sharma continued:
“Kahin na kahin ham pehla match hare hain (Somewhere we lost the opening match), toh kehte hain ki jo jeeta woh Sikander (there’s a phrase that the one who wins becomes a champion) but it’s not the case here. India have a lot of potential.”
Chetan Sharma
He added:
“We had also lost the opening Test in Chennai three years ago and then we thrashed them [England] 3-1. Similarly, history will repeat itself and in the next game, Indian team will look completely different. There’ll be aggression and according to me, we are winning the series 4-1.”
Chetan Sharma
Vikram Rathour confident of Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill’s comeback in 2nd Test vs England
Vikram Rathour, the batting guide of India, unwaveringly supports Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill. He trusts them, despite they haven’t hit 50 runs in the last 10 turns. Additionally, with KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja unavailable, it’s essential for this pair to step up and compensate.
Rathour informed reporters at the pre-match news conference (via The Indian Express):
“There are young batters in our team who have not played much Test cricket. So, we need to be a bit patient with them. Batters like Gill and Iyer will eventually start getting big runs, I’m sure of it.”
Vikram Rathour
Meanwhile, India has added Sarfaraz Khan, Sourabh Kumar, and Washington Sundar. The second Test will take place at Visakhapatnam on February 2.