Former India coach Ravi Shastri has urged his former side to remain positive as they try and square the five-match Test series against England tomorrow.
India fell to a five-wicket loss to England in the ICC World Test Championship series opener at Headingley despite dominating much of the contest and now need to regroup quickly ahead of
the must-win encounter at Edgbaston that could well determine who claims the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
Questions still remain whether pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will be risked by India for the second Test as his workload continues to be managed, while the team are also tossing up whether to include a second spinner in their line-up to help first-choice tweaker Ravindra Jadeja.
But Shastri is not too concerned by team selection and instead wants his former side to concentrate on playing positive cricket with good intent during the crucial Edgbaston contest.
“The most important thing for India is to throw the counter punch almost immediately,” Shastri told The ICC Review.
“When you lose a Test match like this where you have dominated most of it and then you lose it on the last day with a big chase and full marks to England for keeping their composure and doing that,
it will need a lot of character to come to the fore and to bounce back in the series,” he said.
“Now, whether Bumrah plays or doesn’t play, one doesn’t know. But let’s hope he does because this is a very important Test match and all is not lost,” Shastri said.
“It’s just you take it one game at a time. It’s a five-match series and India will be hoping to bounce back,” he said.
Shastri believes newly appointed skipper Shubman Gill will have learnt plenty from India’s loss in the series opener and expects the young leader to be more proactive for the remainder of the series.
“People say he was a little reactive and it can happen when you’re playing your first Test match (as captain) and especially in such good batting conditions with a fast outfield and things can happen in that way,” Shastri said.
“But he would have learnt a lot from that and will want to be a little more proactive when it comes now, which means the bowlers and the fielders will have to give him that support,” he said.
“They have got to know what their role is and get out there and execute it,” Shastri added.
