Warne's ripper to Gatting not only transformed Warne's career but also gave a new image to leg-spin bowling. There is another leg-spinner who has given his career a boost with that one delivery that pitched on the leg-stump and even before Kohli could figure out what to do with it, the ball zipped past him to hit the off-stump.
That one delivery took the England Captain, coach and selectors by surprise, and the discussion over the Rashid's ability to produce such a ball has boosted the hopes of England. Rashid who had decided to play only white-ball cricket has been included in the England squad despite of the fact that he has not been playing red-ball cricket lately. Not many England supporters are happy with the move as they think it was time for Jack Leach and Dom Bess to get a chance to represent the nation on the bigger platform.
It was this one delivery to Virat Kohli that changed the minds of selectors, Former England captain Michael Atherton and Vaughan were not really happy with his selection but on the other side, England great Ian Botham went a step further by offering him a contract with Durham County next year. Rashid has already expressed his desire of playing with Worcester next year to join his pal, Moeen Ali.
India, on the other hand, lost the ODI series against England 1-2, the question is which of the two spinners will be included in the playing XI. Reports are that Kuldeep Yadav may take the place of veteran Indian Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja may be the second spinner as he considered a fine batsman and a brilliant fielder too. The heat wave conditions may tempt the Indians to play even three spinners as the fast bowling department is weaker on cards that too in the absence of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.
Even the selection of the top five batsmen has been a difficult job for India. India will have to decide whether Cheteshwar Pujara is their best no. 3 batsman or not as he has not been in a great form and his spot can be under pressure with the likes of Dinesh Kartik who has been in top form or even the captain can move up the order to bat as one drop batsman for his team.
India will be backing their batting line-up which is a strong and an experienced one. India is a tough side to face in the longer format of the game but as they are playing away from the home they may face some problems. Virat Kohli has faced some problems against English pacers especially James Anderson, but he has improved a lot as a cricketer and he has been a good captain which means he will simply like to forget what happened in the previous tour and will like to add one more away series win to his captaincy record book. The more we see him bat the more we keep on praising his cricketing shots unless you are supporting the team on the bowling side.
The opening match of the 5 tests will be played on Wednesday at the Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham. Virat Kohli is leading India for the first time in a bilateral series against England in the away series and the Indian skipper will look to turn the tables this time.
Before we end don't forget to take a look at the ball of the century from Shane Warne with which I started.
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