Rob Key column: Ben Stokes has a big role ensuring England aren’t left behind in third India Test

Key role: England all-rounder Ben Stokes
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Rob Key22 February 2021

Maybe it’s because I’m a bitter old right-hander or because I’m envious that lefties are an elegant bunch, but I’ve always felt that cricket is a left-handed batsman’s game.

Think about it. Most bowlers are right-arm, and – with a few exceptions like Freddie Flintoff and Stuart Broad – they prefer bowling at right-handers. Because they are grooved to bowl at right-handers, they often lose their line to lefties. And left-handers shouldn’t be out lbw because the ball pitches outside leg stump or is straight enough to put away.

There is one major exception, as Ben Stokes was reminded in the last Test in Chennai. When there’s massive rough outside the left-hander’s off-stump and a top quality off-spinner like Ravichandran Ashwin, I’ll take being a right-hander all day long.

The expectation is that Wednesday’s Third Test will be different, because it’s a day-nighter. The ball may swing a bit more, but it is hard to imagine this pitch won’t turn big too. Just put yourself in Virat Kohli’s shoes: the series is 1-1, India played spin better than England in Chennai, there is no need to let Jimmy Anderson feel at home, and he has local groundsmen capable of producing what he wants. It will surely be trial by spin again.

As a viewer, I think raging turners make for a brilliant spectacle. But if I was an England batsman I would have been privately cursing, wondering how India got away with basically leaving the pitch underprepared. That is the difference between players and spectators and, in fairness to them, I don’t believe a No8 riding his luck to swipe a hundred justifies it as an acceptable surface.

I much prefer spinning pitches to green seamers, but a pitch like that one in Chennai does set the bar. Bar dangerous bounce, pretty much anything goes now. India shouldn’t be surprised if they turn up in England this year to find they are playing on an uncut meadow so lush that there are sheep grazing on a length. More fool those buying tickets for day five.

The balance of a day-nighter on a dry surface leaves England in a tricky position, for a couple of reasons.

First, I think that this is their toughest selection of the series. For all the talk of rotation, they have more players coming back than heading home. They need to get the balance of the side right; they will be tempted to play an extra seamer in place of Moeen Ali, but what if it’s really dry? Flexibility is required over the next couple of days.

There will be changes to the batting, too. It should be that both Dan Lawrence and Rory Burns are dropped for Jonny Bairstow and Zak Crawley, which would leave Stokes as the only left-hander in the top order. I hope Crawley bats No3, as the last time he batted there he made 267, but expect he will open.

Then there is the question of how England approach batting if the conditions are extreme once more. They will need to bat in pairs. Stokes will find it easier against Axar Patel than some of the right-handers might. At one end you might be trying to survive, the other attacking.

Their focus of late has been on steady first innings accumulation, but in these conditions it can be about grabbing as many as you can before a ball has your name on it. It is back to the positive cricket Trevor Bayliss promoted, not allowing the bowler to settle, and taking risks to score boundaries.

Rohit Sharma spoke about being “proactive and getting on top of the bowler” in these conditions. He is right, but even following that blueprint might not be enough for England, because Ashwin offers so little margin for that bravery to pay off.

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