Edgbastion beckons: India face England in the first set of five test matches

Curtain lift: Fans watch India's test session at Edgbaston on Tuesday in Birmgham. India faces England in the first set of five tries that starts here on Wednesday. (Source: Reuters)

"It's a little better, actually, I sleep a bit these days before a test," says Joe Root with a smile, and he usually has trouble sleeping before big game, turning around and turning around the bed, but a little sarcastically, it's improved after he became captain.He is outside the media room, waiting for his Media officer. "The wait seems to be on his menu today.

In the afternoon, he arrived early for the unveiling of the trophy and had to wait a bit to reach Virat. Kohli: It was an uncomplicated meeting when the captains came together. "Handshake later, Kohli lifted the trophy off the ground, gave it to Root and walked away to the field. the field, and he was gone.In a series of five tries, these two men would have a lot of waiting – for the sun, for the cloudy skies , for drummers struggling to get races, uncertain bowlers to hit the beat, aging bowlers to hold on, to hear the sound of the ball in the middle of their bat. Both men lead teams that are not sure of themselves in some ways.

Kohli hurts, he (emotionally) bruises, he urges his team, he cares. Winning is something that matters to him, clearly. There is, however, one thing still a little blurry in the time that he has led.

He is the heart, the voice, the soul of this team as a leader, but what about his captain role as captain? If you do not have any prejudice against or for Kohli (the neutrals at Kohli are a rapidly diminishing tribe, of course, since it's a big polarizer), the answer to the question is still blowing in the winds. This long tour of five tries is vital in this sense. Can the natural leader of young men also evolve into a clever captain?

In his Sunday Times columnary, Mike Atherton set out to contrast Kohli's style with a "sleepy" Dhoni, calling Kohli "emotional, shrewd, quick". -type of leader. "He was also generous in his compliment on how such a pbadionate approach might be better suited to testing cricket with his requirements for a captain who is more proactive, rather than rational, formula, less emotional approach that is more adapted in the frenzy of limited In other words, Kohli for Tests, and Dhoni for ODIs. The story of course has already validated the Dhoni part of the equation. The stoic-ness and the & # 39; s. 39's desire to control has proven to be a better fit for the games of fluctuating limits-overs, and he has often left things strolling through in tries.That's Kohli's turn.

There is another facet of Kohli that is not generally considered by people.For an emotional man, he was almost impbadive in some aspects as a captain.As to abandon R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the ODI, give up Ajinkya Rahane for a few tries in South Africa, a slight pressure on the likes of Pujara and Dhawan, and now push Kuldeep Yadav for contention in the tests.

These movements did not work obviously; but they revealed a rational coldness, not usually badociated with it. Tour England will test his mental strength, throwing him more challenges. For starters, would he be immersed in testing with Kuldeep Yadav as the only spinner?

England has been microwave by the sun this summer, the most severe heat wave since the 1970s apparently and the sun is expected to burn the earth in a week. time. There has been rain in the air of Birmingham during the last two days, and with two or three more cloudy mornings, it seems that India could also follow England: three seamers, plus a versatile crimper and a spinner. It's risky to trust his own observations about how the training sessions unfold, but it seems that Kuldeep might be lacking.

"In test cricket, what matters is the balance of the team. Again because of the fact that the game is so long – we have two runs and there are different situations that go up and down – you have to have the best balance in the future, "said Kohli about Yadav / Ashwin. and Pujara / Dhawan selections.

It seems that India might well decide to release Kuldeep on a sun-beaten track later in the series. Fortunately, we do not need to wait long to find out what they decide, but this could be one of the most discussed decisions depending on how it goes.

Gut feel
"It all boils down to your instinct," said Kohli. "If five people on the table agree that it is the right thing to do for the team, then we go ahead with that, it does not. There is no if and no, there is no turning back, if we make a decision today, we will not sit down tomorrow and say, "Oh, we could have done that. "We do not act like that, that's why we worked as a team, we did not stick to the decisions we made, and once we made them, we do not look back, even if they stand out or not.They are taken in the best interest of the team at that time; there is total honesty and total ownership in all the Team. "

Kohli would have been much more installed in the mind, one guesses, if the batting unit had fewer cracks.The Indian higher order n & # 39; Is not sure, forced by the f recent poor elm from Cheteshwar Pujara. With Shikhar Dhawan struggling a little, it seems that the Indian camp will go ahead with Pujara, KL Rahul opening with M Vijay. If it is not for the fall of Dhawan stocks, could Pujara take a look? In some ways, he plays, it is because of the struggles of the other. That's how things evolve in the sport of course, but the time has come for him to prove that he can be the leading man from overseas trials. If he does, he would solve half of the batting problems of the team.

Root is not the only one to be more relaxed and find a way to sleep. The Indian team is trying to relax before the big game. Like having an optional training session with a day to go. Many, like Kohli, Shami, Ashwin, Vijay, and Hardik Pandya chose not to train. A day in Birmingham with its beautiful cbads, far from caged nets, can not be such a bad thing. But can anyone really relax before the first test of a big series, especially the captains?

For all the latest sports news, download Indian Express App