Five things that have changed since the last Test match between England and India

Team India is gearing up for their upcoming rescheduled Test match against the home side England to be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham from July 1. Team India’s skipper Rohit Sharma is in isolation after he tested positive for Covid-19 which has also put the Indian camp in a tough situation. Despite the captaincy problem, the visitors would look to replicate their performance of 2021.

When India toured England in 2021, the last match of the series had to be put on hold with Covid-19 cases being detected in both the camps. Earlier in that series, the visitors had put up a highly commendable show owing to which they are now 2-1 up in the series and would look to finish on a high.

As India has returned for the final test match of the 2021 series, here are five things that have changed since the last Test match between England and India:

1. Joe Root and Virat Kohli are no longer captains

During the 2021 series, Joe Root and Virat Kohli were the captains of their respective teams. Currently, England batter Root is the leading run-scorer after the four Tests. He has scored a total of 564 runs at an outstanding average of 94 with three hundreds and one fifty to his name. The then Indian skipper comparatively had an average series, as he could only manage 218 runs at an average of 31.14 with two fifties.

Virat Kohli had stepped down from the Test captaincy after losing the Test series against the Proteas in South Africa earlier this year. India managed to win the first match of that series, but the next two matches were grabbed by the Proteas. Similarly, Root had also stepped down from the captaincy post after series losses against Australia and West Indies.

With the burden of captaincy removed from his shoulder, Root has been in excellent touch recently and has played a major role in his side’s victory against New Zealand in the three-match test series. Meanwhile, Kohli has also stroked a half-century in the practice game against Leicestershire and would hope to end his century drought against England.

2. Both teams have new coaches

Not just the skippers, but both India and England have new coaches in place, too. While India were coached by Ravi Shastri, Chris Silverwood was holding the coaching responsibilities of the Three Lions. After India’s exit from the 2021 T20 World Cup, Shastri’s term as head coach ended. Meanwhile, Silverwood stepped down from his position after England’s humiliating Ashes series loss.

India’s new head coach Rahul Dravid has had a mixed tenure so far. Under his management, India went on to lose the Test series against South Africa, despite winning the first match of that three-match Test series. However, the Men in Blue had a good home season as they defeated West Indies and Sri Lanka before settling with a series draw against the Proteas.

Meanwhile, Brendon McCullum has had an excellent start with the English cricket team. The Three Lions have managed to thrash New Zealand, thereby completing a 3-0 whitewash against them. Under the management of McCullum, England would look to settle the score against the Indian team as well.

3. Mithali Raj took retirement from international cricket

Mithali Raj announced her retirement from all forms of international cricket on June 8, 2022, putting curtains on her magnificent 23-year-long career. In her debut ODI, the 16-year-old had scored an unbeaten hundred, making her one of only six women players to do so.

Talking about her numbers, the right-handed batter represented India in 232 ODI matches scoring a total of 7805 runs with an excellent average of 50.7. Mithali has also smashed 64 half-centuries and seven centuries in the 50-over format. She also scalped a total of eight wickets in the 50-over format.

Mithali has also represented her country in 89 T20Is and 12 Test matches scoring 2364 and 699 runs respectively. The veteran cricketer also holds the record for being the oldest Indian cricketer to make a half-century in the World Cup.

4. Virat Kohli is no more India’s captain across all formats

Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli was leading India in all formats of the game when he last toured England. Kohli will now be playing in England as India’s premier batter. As mentioned previously, Kohli stepped down as Test captain after losing a Test series against South Africa earlier this year.

The right-handed batter stepped down as T20I skipper post the T20 World Cup 2021 but held the post of ODI captain. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed India’s current skipper Rohit Sharma as the ODI captain in December, 2021. As a result, Kohli never led Team India in the white-ball format after their exit from the 2021 T20 World Cup.

With no burden of captaincy, the 33-year-old would look to score lots of runs for his team in the upcoming series against England and end his long-running century drought in the international arena to bring some joy to the Indian fans.

5.  India were yet to lose a WC match vs PAK

When India last toured England, the Men in Blue were yet to lose a match against their arch-rivals Pakistan in World Cup history. However, all of that changed in the 2021 T20 World Cup.

During their group stage match of the T20 World Cup, India were struck by some excellent bowling from Shaheen Afridi as he single-handedly demolished the Indian top order. Virat Kohli stroked an excellent fifty as India barely managed to cross the 150-run mark.

In reply, Pakistan openers skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan thrashed the Indian bowlers and won the match by ten wickets, securing Pakistan’s first victory over India in a World Cup match. Both the nations will be up against each other again in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia on October 23.