Things that have changed in the Indian Team since India last played a Test in England

Bowlers

Even after getting an India call-up on quite a few occasions, Pandey never made his debut for India

Last time India went to England in 2014, the Indian Test squad consisted of fast bowlers like Varun Aaron, Ishwar Pandey, and Pankaj Singh. In a country where there is a dearth of fast bowlers, Varun Aaron burst onto the scene when he clocked a few deliveries above 150 Kilometers an hour in a domestic match. The Jharkhand lad, Varun, impressed everyone with his speed but his injury-prone body and inaccurate bowling hasn’t helped his case. The fact that he has bowled at an average of above 50 in 9 Tests hasn’t helped either. At 28, Varun may still get a chance to play for India, if he shows the same spark again in domestic cricket.

Ishwar Pandey on the other hand, though named in Indian squads on quite a few occasion,s never got an opportunity to debut for India. A tall well-built pacer Pandey would deceive the bowlers because of the extra bounce he would generate from the wicket because of his height and shoulders. However, he wasn’t tried in International Matches.

Though Pankaj Singh got a chance in the 2014 Tour, he couldn’t quite make the full use of it and never really made it back to the Indian Team. Arguably past his prime, Pankaj may not get to play for India again but featured in 2 Tests for Indian Team in the 2014 Tour and picked up a couple of wickets.

Such bowlers have been replaced by the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur in this tour. Hopefully, for Indian Cricket, all these players would deliver on the promise shown by them in domestic leagues and in limited overs cricket.