Trying to play catch-up always tough in India: Jonathan Trott

Priority for teams starting a Test series in India is to ensure the batting plans are in place and England are no different. Getting a good start, raising a big first-innings total and batsmen being clear about the technique they want to adopt against spin or India’s strong pace attack has dominated discussions in the visitors’ camp.

Carrying such a template into the high-profile contest — the first game of the four-Test series starts in Chennai on Friday — though can suggest a defensive mindset. For England, that can mean putting huge pressure on skipper and their batting leader, Joe Root.

In Sri Lanka, Root’s 228 and 186 effectively decided the two Tests as the hosts failed to mount a batting challenge. He stepped up at No.4 with modest support from Jonny Bairstow at No. 3 as England crossed 20 runs for the first two wickets only once in four tries.

It is unlikely that India, in full force and with Virat Kohli back to lead, will let the visitors’ get away with a shaky top-order like Sri Lanka did. But Root averages a solid 53.09 (584 runs) across six Tests in India, and has scored at least a fifty in each of them. Also, a team that has Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali following Root though can make amends if openers Zak Crawley, Dom Sibley or Rory Burns don’t get going. England come into the series having won five overseas Tests in a row, and four consecutive series under coach Chris Silverwood.

“Trying to play catch up is always difficult in India,” said Jonathan Trott, England’s batting coach. “You must make sure you start well, whether it is with the bat or ball.”

Trott said it is important to get ahead of the opposition early in the Test as pitch conditions can drastically change in India. In a virtual media interaction on Wednesday, Trott also acknowledged that the threat to England batsmen was from India’s fast bowlers as well as spinners.

“The fundamentals of playing in India are pretty much the same. Putting on runs early on like anywhere else, but in India it is really, really important. And playing spin and having a method and being able to execute that. And the pressure is probably the most important thing,” the former top-order batsman said.

Can England focus on India’s spin threat alone? “We saw their pace attack in Australia do really well. They are very talented. (We have to) prepare for both, confronted with the new ball and then a little bit of reverse, and spin in the middle… Your skill level has to be very, very high. And playing in the heat and humidity, you have to be very fit, very switched on.”

Trott was part of the side in 2012-13 when Root made his debut in Nagpur. By referring to how Root applied himself in that series, Trott said he wasn’t surprised that the England captain has reached his 100th Test. “The way he leads by example, the way he still has the passion for the game and desire to improve, which rubs off on everyone; England are lucky to have a player like him leading and being able to bat in the middle-order like he does.”

Does Root’s batting then become more important than his captaincy in this series?

“He has a lot of responsibility, in captaining in India, which is a skill in itself, in assessing the conditions and rotating the bowlers and spinners. He has done that very well; we saw how well he did that in Sri Lanka.

“First innings runs are the key, but in Sri Lanka as well we saw you need to play cricket for all four, five days. It is not just in the first innings but being able to back it up with the ball and then in the second innings as well. That is when the game is won or lost.

“It is sort of reinventing the wheel, so to say (learning from the past). Whatever the conditions dictate you are ready to play, that is crucial out here. Being able to adapt is the key,” he said.