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Pressure growing on Joe Root’s shoulders and other talking points ahead of the fourth England v India Test

Ashish Peter

15:48 29/08/2018

Pivotal is the word for the fourth Test between England and India at Southampton which gets underway on Thursday.

The five-match series is at a crucial juncture with the hosts currently leading 2-1.

However, history is on England’s side despite India’s 203-run win at Trent Bridge.

Australia’s Ashes team of 1936-37, led by Don Bradman, are the only side in the history of Test cricket to have recovered from 2-0 down and a five-match series.

Here, we look at the key talking points ahead of the crucial showdown at Ageas Bowl.

Green tops greets both teams at Ageas Bowl

Given India’s batsmen historic struggles in England, one would have expected the hosts to prepare the juiciest track of the series so far. The hosts’ pace attack remains one which is built to thrive in swinging conditions, especially with veteran James Anderson leading the line. The 36-year-old has already picked up 17 wickets in the series so far and is just six wickets away from levelling Glenn McGrath’s tally of 563 Test scalps.

That notion though, hasn’t come to pass in the series so far with England shying away from preparing a swinging minefield in the first three Tests. India’s now formidable overseas pace attack might have played its part in England’s thinking in this regard. The Indian pacers have so far picked up 38 of the 46 England wickets to fall so far in the series, even with Ravi Ashwin’s presence in the XI.

On Tuesday, a pitch with a heavy greenish tinge greeted the two teams at Southampton. However, it won’t be a surprise to see some of the grass trimmed heavily, come Thursday, with the hosts wary of the threat being posed by India’s pacers.

India seek to banish 2014 Southampton memories

Thursday will mark only the third instance of the Ageas Bowl hosting a Test. Commissioned in 2001 as the new home of the Hampshire County Cricket Club, the venue played host to its first-ever Test in 2011 with Sri Lanka being the visitors. That match ended in a draw while the second Test at the venue saw India come calling in 2014.

They entered the match full of confidence after drawing one and winning another in the two preceding Tests against the hosts. What followed was a heavy 266-run defeat for the visitors which completely changed the momentum of the series as England eventually went on to triumph 3-1.

The Indians will be hoping that the momentum generated by their Trent Bridge win is not derailed once again at Southampton this time around.

India will not want to lose the momentum from their Trent Bride win.

Pressure growing on Root’s shoulders

While Virat Kohli has almost single-handedly dragged India’s batting order at times in the series, the same cannot be said for his England counterpart Joe Root.

England’s top-order has been misfiring for some time now with the side losing four wickets or more under 100 in half of their past 62 Test innings. With the openers in Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings struggling to buy any runs at the moment along with the finger injury to Jonny Bairstow, the expectations of shouldering the run-scoring burden for England is even greater on the skipper currently.

After starting the series on an excellent note with an 81 in the first innings at Edgbaston, Root has struggled heavily himself with his subsequent four innings all ending short of 20. The typical confidence once associated with the Englishman at the start of his innings has not been visible for some time now and he will need to rediscover his very best if he hopes to inspire England’s shaky looking batting card at the moment.

Joe Root has struggled for runs in his last four innings.

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