IND vs ENG: Ajit Agarkar Explains Why India Do Not Need To Match England's Style Of Play

Beginning on Friday, July 1, the fifth Test between India and England will take place at Edgbaston in Birmingham. England enters the tournament having destroyed New Zealand 3-0 in a three-match Test series, and the team has displayed an excellent aggressive style of cricket.

Ajit Agarkar, a former Indian pacer, says that visitors should not attempt to play England’s style since they are capable of defeating England. He said that our bowlers will be more difficult for England to stop since they have more weapons at their disposal than New Zealand’s. 

Indian Team Will Play The Way They Know How To Play: Ajit Agarkar

“I do not know, why would India try and match with the way England are playing, England were 55/6 in the first innings against New Zealand and then they had a couple of good innings.

“India will play the way they know how to play, you don’t have to necessarily match someone, at the end of the day you want to play better than the other team. India, at the moment, are 2-1 up in the series so the pressure is on England to try and level the series.

I do not necessarily think that India will try and match England, they will play their own way. If they play well enough, they are good enough to beat England,” said Agarkar in a select media call organised by Sony Sports Network. 

Indian Bowling Attack Better Than New Zealand’s: Ajit Agarkar

In response to a query from NDTV about how difficult it would be for England to pursue Indian bowlers, Agarkar said: “Look, they are terrific players (Bairstow and Stokes). Stokes is a world-class all-rounder, and Bairstow has found some form in the last couple of Tests.

But Root is still their main batter. If India can dismiss Root early, but there is no doubt, if you compare New Zealand with India’s attack, India has probably more to their attack and it would not be that easy to take them down.” 

“Especially with the situations England were in most Tests, earlier on if India can put themselves in that situation, getting early wickets, it will be a little harder to take down India like they did with New Zealand.

England has had three Tests so they are a bit more battle-hardened but India has some serious quality in their attack so it would not be easy for England,” he added. 

Prefer Cheteshwar Pujara Or Hanuma Vihari In Indian XI If Rohit Sharma Is Not Fit: Ajit Agarkar

Finally, Agarkar said that if Rohit Sharma is unable to recover from COVID-19 in a timely manner, he would prefer Cheteshwar Pujara or Hanuma Vihari to start in the Indian side. 

“I know KS Bharat got some runs in the warm-up game. The team management will have a look at how prepared Mayank Agarwal is once he joins the team. I do not know if he has enough time to prepare for the Test, especially the one-off Test, I believe experience might help, if it is Pujara or Vihari.

“Vihari has already opened for India a couple of times. One of those two would be my picks, it is better to go with a little more experience because it is a one-off Test,” said Agarkar. 

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