Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India] : Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra said that the England team has come to India for the five-match Test series with a “nothing to lose, everything to gain” mindset and this attitude is helping them.
India will take on England in the second Test starting from Friday in Visakhapatnam. The hosts are trailing 1-0 in the series, which is been billed as a contest between India and England’s “Bazball” cricket approach, which has given them a lot of success due to its attacking, positive, and result-oriented nature.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash said, “The problem is that the opposing team’s batters have come with the thinking that they have nothing to lose and the entire world to gain. People say quite often that they want to be fearless but are not able to adopt that approach.”
“This team is doing and showing what they are saying because it does not matter to them even if they lose. They have not lost even a single series since Brendon McCullum’s coaching and Ben Stokes’ captaincy has come together,” he added.
Under Stokes and McCullum, England has sealed some remarkable series wins against New Zealand and South Africa at home, against Pakistan away from home, which was a clean sweep. They also drew a series against New Zealand last year and managed to level a tightly-fought Ashes series at home against Australia after being 20 down in the series.
In 19 Tests played under this duo, England has won 14, lost just four and drawn one.
Aakash also backed the Indian opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Rohit Sharma to deliver in the second Test. Jaiswal scored 80 and 15 in the first Test while Rohit made 24 and 39 in both of his innings.
Aakash noted that both players have abilities to swing the match in India’s favour.
“Yashasvi Jaiswal looked very good in the first match. You will back him to come good once again because it is the type of pitch where the ball comes nicely onto the bat. Yashasvi is in good form and the speed at which he plays, he can move the match quickly in your favour,” said Aakash.
“You have got a player called Rohit Sharma who can play a game-changing knock. I remember the last Test series (home series against England) as well. We lost the first match and in the second match, Rohit Sharma single-handedly took India to a position from where you could not have lost,” he added.
India will be missing the services of star batter Virat Kohli for the second Test, as he is missing the first two games due to personal reasons. Rajat Patidar is his replacement. Also, middle-order batter KL Rahul and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja have been ruled out of the match due to injuries, with Sarfaraz Khan, Sourabh Kumar and Washington Sundar receiving call-ups.
India’s updated Squad for 2nd Test vs England: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Sourabh Kumar.
