Former England captain Michael Vaughan has stated that seeing Team India’s recent performances, he has started thinking about his pre-series prediction, where he predicted the visitors to win 3-1. However, Vaughan also admitted that anything can happen in the rest two matches as well.
However, before the series, Michael Vaughan had said that India were favourites because England didn’t have the service of their key players. While Team India had dominated the rain-affected Trent Bridge Test before winning convincingly at Lord’s, England bounced back well and beat India by an innings and 76 runs to level the series at Headingley.
While speaking to Cricbuzz after the game, Michael Vaughan said that the first day of the fourth Test at The Oval will be important in deciding the future of the series.
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“I’ll say that from what I have seen from India this week, it concerns me that my prediction could be wrong. But I do think we have two teams like Jekyll and Hyde (From the famous novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde). You’re not really sure what’s going to arrive at The Oval… That first day is going to be hugely important for the Indian side. If they win the first day, they’ll be fine, they’ll come back into the series and I am sure will gain that confidence. But again, if they lose that first day at The Oval, Headingley’s memories might come flipping back,” Michael Vaughan said.
“I still think India have a better Test team but this England side at home, they’ll take some beatings. Only New Zealand have beaten a Joe Root side in English conditions. So, Virat has got a lot of work to do over the next few days to get his team, first and foremost mentally right but also selection. They have to get the team selected correctly for the conditions they’ll find in London,” the former captain further added.
He continued: “Rahane is an issue. And I think when see you these things happening, you have to make changes. England made changes, they got rid of (Zak) Crawley, they got rid of (Dominic) Sibley. I think India need to make changes. England need to see a different face or two at the (Kennington) Oval. I mean Rahane, is he being backed because of his vice-captaincy? Is he being backed because he played some outstanding innings in the last few years? but consistency-wise, he just doesn’t seem to find it.”
Meanwhile, Michael Vaughan has also urged to start a “#BringAshwinBack” campaign on Twitter, saying that India needs their veteran off-spinner for the rest of the Test series. The former England captain also said that instead of Ajinkya Rahane, some fresh personnel should be added.
“I think England would like to see Rahane again, [similar to how] I think India wanted to see Sibley again. When you get to the days where the opposition teams are quite happy to see players get another game, you have to make the change. India need to arrive on Thursday with a different mindset. I’m sure they’ll find that, they’re a good team and they’ll get back on track with their mindset. But they need different personnel as well,” Michael Vaughan again shared.
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He also added that Ravichandran Ashwin could give some trouble to the hosts in the upcoming matches as well. The fourth Test will take place at The Oval, starting on September 2.
“They need to offer England someone else to think about in terms of the batting department and also the bowling department. Joe Root has now strolled himself to over 500 runs and he’s facing the same bowlers, doing the same things. #BringAshwinBack will trend over the next few days, and I’ll start it. I am not an Indian fan but if you want me to start it, I’ll start the #BringAshwinBack trend,” Michael Vaughan concluded.
