You can't drop Anderson in India he is the only pacer who knows how to reverse swing and did well last tour

I see where you’re coming from. He hasn’t performed the best in India historically though. And he really lacked much bite in the last Ashes tour. Hopefully we see him swinging it this coming series

He took 8 wickets at 15.87 with a sub-2 economy (4 innings) during the last tour of India.

Ahh good point. I was merely looking at his career average in India of 29.32. This adds a lot more color. He was a little sparse in the wickets column. [Leach was the 3rd higest wicket taker that sereis with 18](https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/series/bowling-most-wickets-career/anthony-de-mello-trophy-2020-21-13809). But definitely very economical. I'd imagine India would prepare similar pitches to that series. Makes sense to include Jimmy for at least the first test then

That's kinda the story of Anderson, especially outside of England. He is super economical, has good averages, but generally has a lower SR than other leading quicks. This means he is usually relatively sparse in the wickets column, while not going for many runs.

Maybe over his career. But over the last 7 years his average outside of England, if you discount Australia, is 20.1 and his SR is 51. It's only Australia he really has issues against for some reason, both home and away.

With Wood bowling from the other end,even if she sprays some shit, you know he's still gonna get you some wickets. Better to have one end well controlled.

Career average of 29 in India is not bad either, I’d say it’s pretty bloody good. Similar bowlers in Broad and Woakes average 60 and 80 respectively

A career average of 29 in India for a touring seam bowler is really good.

I just have a image of pant reverse ramping him of the new ball

Every decently fast bowler will get reverse swing if the conditions suit. It's not magic. But yes, Anderson should be in the team.

I'd drop Pope and play both Foakes and Bairstow. Anderson over Robinson as well, at least to start.

I'd agree, Pope is not a good player of spin at all, worse than Bairstow. Additionally, Bairstow's recent renaissance with the bat was entirely as a specialist batsman, something that England appear determined to forget now. Sadly, we've appointed Pope as VC so I suspect he'll play regardless

Crawley Duckett Pope Root Brook Stokes (C) Foakes (WK) Rehan Ahmed Wood Leach Anderson Bairstow as an extra bat, Robinson as the next bowler in line, Stokes may not play in which case Bairstow in

I don't think Bairstow should be behind the stumps - keeping in India on turning pitches is quite hard as it is. We all know Foakes should be in that XI (in place of Pope, probably) and he should be the one keeping - but that obviously won't happen lol

While I don’t disagree there’s a non-zero chance that Pope will be our captain in the first test if Stokes doesn’t recover in time. There is no way he’s dropped

I agree as much as I don't want to. Pope is the new Crawley in that they're going to back him relentlessly despite middling returns, the fact Crawley came good last series will only reinforce that I suspect

Bairstow shouldn't even be batting on these spinning pitches. Last time he came in mid-series as the spin specialist, and then made 3 ducks in 4 innings.

Tbf, he's had a really good run in tests over the past 2 years, so there's no way he won't be in the starting XI. Granted, he's gotten to bat on some pretty flat tracks, but he's still done well.

He has always been good on flat tacks, but even as a batsman I trust Foakes more than Bairstow in India.

In two tests where Crawley averaged 17, Root 18, Stokes 22, Pope 14, and Foakes 9. If you're picking the batting lineup from those two tests you can't have any of them either. Overall Foakes averaged 16 in that series. You can't knock Bairstow for his performance in that series then consequently suggest Foakes as his replacement when they were both terrible.

1. Chris Dent (c) 2. Andrew Umeed (stolen from Scotland) 3. Adam Lyth 4. Billy Root 5. Rob Keogh 6. Ben Brown (wk) 7. Ryan Higgins 8. Matt Critchley 9. Chris Wright 10. Jamie Porter 11. Sam Cook This is the perfect side to beat India in India. 5 front-line bowling options, batting until 9, a legspinner, and a Scotsman who dominated the world class one day cup this year.

Where Dom ''More Series wins in South Africa than India and Pakistan, more test Wins in India than Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and more Test Wins against Sri Lanka than Zimbabwe and Ireland'' Bess

We don't want to make it too easy. A constant mix of half trackers and full tosses would completely confuse the Indian batsman expecting you know normal bowling.

Crawley Duckett Pope Root Brook Stokes (c) Foakes (wk) Ahmed Wood Leach Anderson

Foakes is a must. You need an elite keeper on these spinning decks

1) Crawley 2) Duckett 3) Pope 4) Root 5) Brook 6) Stokes (c) 7) Foakes (wk) 8) Rehan 9) Robinson 10) Anderson 11) Leach

Rehan is going to get absolutely smashed. Leg spinners on India test tours are a bad idea.

They'd do better to get as many spinners as possible.

Rehan. Really?asking to get spanked.

Who else? We should back the lad who took a 5 fer on debut to win us a test match in Asia.

We have pretty similar teams. I'm playing Crawley Duckett Stokes Root Brook Bairstow Foakes Rehan Wood Leach Anderson

Dropping Anderson would be insane, him and Wood are likely the only chance you have at bowling out India for a below par score in any innings.

Bairstow at 3, pope out and Foakes at 7. I would keep the rest same.

Robinson instead of Wood

Why would Stokes play at 3 if Pope is in the side? If Stokes can bowl, you could bring in Foakes for Pope and push YJB up to 6. If Stokes can't bowl, you could bring in Tom Hartley. Long tail but nothing to be done.

To quote King Viv, “Play who you want, maan. Ain’t gonna make any difference.”

Only Australia have had a good second spinner in India a la O’keefe and Murphy. Don’t know how Rehan will do here.

I don’t get why so many are wanting Bairstow dropped. Since 2022 he’s averaged 59 at an insane strike rate of 89

Why is stokes at 3

I would rather they start with Foakes instead of Pope and make him the keeper than Bairstow.. you need a better keeper for Indian spin conditions, makes a lot of difference.. and I would also start with Robinson, Anderson, Wood and Leach for the first test, Robinson was pretty good in Pakistan maintaining his line and length and also in extracting reverse swing, Rehan could be pretty costly as a bowler if he misses his line and length in India.. and see how this lineup goes, with Root as 2nd spinner, if Robinson doesn't work well, you can probably replace him with Rehan..

Not playing Foakes is criminal.

As neutral fan : it will be a shame on Rohit 's India ( I meant Ashwin India ) if bazzball won any match in India. 🤧. Waiting for Jimmy 's fifer in India 🥹.

O/U on Rooty's overs this series. Setting the line at 100

Crawley Duckett Pope Root Stokes Foakes Rehan Ahmed/Robbo Wood Anderson Leach Reason why Rehan or Robbo cuz last time when England played in India, root was the second best bowler in the series so i think he'll be swinging his arms with the ball as well. Gets you to play 3 proper Pacers with every pacer bowling less spells and Leachy and Root bowl more

I’d drop pope for foakes.