Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja at a training session.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Sporting transitions are often intimidating and discomforting. Personnel change, demands shift, goals are reset and targets revised. In cricket, where captains often mould teams in their own image, a change at the helm brings about an entire identity switch.

Tricky phase

Navigating this in-between phase is tricky, for the feeling of unease and apprehension can mess with the strongest of minds. Fail, and the critics will yearn for the stars from the bygone period. Succeed, and there will be over-the-top praise in the superlative. As far as acid tests go, this ranks among the toughest.

It is this nervous and unforgiving space that India finds itself in.

The first of five Test matches against England starting here at Headingley on Friday marks the beginning of a fresh World Test Championship cycle for both sides and the wise men of Indian cricket have placed their complete trust in 25-year-old Shubman Gill — set to be India’s 37th Test captain — to dispel the anxiety and kick-start a brand new red-ball era.

This is no ordinary transition. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R. Ashwin — three of India’s greatest match-winners — are no longer there.

Shuffling roster

Mohammed Shami isn’t fit and even the genius of Jasprit Bumrah is at the mercy of his body. Gill’s own numbers — 1893 runs from 32 Tests at 35.05 — are far from great.

The Champions Trophy victory in March might be the most recent memory of the National team, but the fact remains that India is coming in after back-to-back series defeats in whites – against New Zealand at home (0-3) and Australia away (1-3).

The last time it lost two on the trot was when it lost four on the trot to South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia from December 2013 to January 2015.

India is also looking for its first series triumph in England since 2007. Since that 1-0 success under Rahul Dravid, India has gone 0-4, 1-3 and 1-4 on three subsequent tours to the Old Blighty.

Brush with Bazball

The most recent sojourn in 2021-22, where it came within touching distance of a victory (2-2), was India’s first brush with Bazball, the aggressive style introduced by coach Brendon McCullum.

The fifth Test of that series was postponed by nearly a year to July 2022 because of a Covid outbreak, and under McCullum’s stewardship and Ben Stokes’ leadership, England chased down 378 in Birmingham to record a famous win.

To replicate this approach, England needs pitches to be relatively flat. But that may disincentivise its largely inexperienced bowling line-up — but for Chris Woakes and Stokes — which may be looking at the turf for some help.

However, the fickle English weather and the Dukes ball’s pronounced seam, which makes the cherry wobbly all day, keep all bowlers in play.

Huge test

A five-match series is also a searing examination of endurance and concentration levels. Modern-day Tests may be shorter and teams may be needing fewer overs to bundle out the opposition, but a lot of the cricket is explosive and strenuous.

Maintaining fitness and mental sharpness across 50 days is no joke.

Of course, the beauty of longest format is that players and teams can occasionally afford to drift in and out of a contest like in a best-of-five-sets tennis match.

But as the recent Roland-Garros final proved, victory will always belong to the most tenacious.