England v India, 2018: Top 5 things to look ahead of the Test Series

#2 India’s problem of plenty

Although injury to pace spearheads Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah automatically selects pace trio of Ishant, Umesh and Shami, India definitely has to deal with the plethora of options available.

Pujara’s odd form, amassing 411 runs in 8 games of the Royal London One-Day Cup with a healthy strike-rate of 90 but an abysmal performance in the longer format, his prime area of expertise, scoring a meager 172 in 12 innings in comparison with K L Rahul who had a prolific Indian Premier League, backing it up with a 54 in the solitary test against Afghanistan, 70 against Ireland and 100 against England leaves the number 3-spot up for debate.

A combination of hot weather, dry pitches and consistent match-winning performances by Kuldeep Yadav with the white-ball puts Jadeja’s place in a spot of bother.

Amidst all this, team India needs to strike a balance in its combination, whether to go with 4-bowlers, Hardik Pandya and 6-batsmen or 5-bowlers, Pandya and 5-batsmen or even explore the bold option of going in with specialists in each field, though most of which will depend on the playing surface.