TimesofIndia.com in Birmingham: The moment you step out of the Birmingham bus station, plenty of cab drivers yell out, "paaji, paaji where (brother where to?)". From the accent, you can make out they are not from India but for them, an Indian face with a beard, wearing shorts and mid-rise sneakers is "paaji". A quick right towards the city and there are plenty of industrial buildings with endless graffiti. The locals call it an "urban scruff" and the attention to detail in some of the artwork is commendable.
The Indian cricket team will be camped in the city for 12 nights and will certainly feel at home because of the "desi" touch, and the regular "paaji, paaji" calls will certainly be the comfort notes they would be looking for after losing the series opener at Headingley by five wickets. It was a game which India dominated for most periods, it was a game where five India batters scored a ton, it was a game where Jasprit Bumrah picked a five-wicket haul but it turned out to be a game where England chased down a record total to go 1-0 up in the series.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Questions raised, shots fired, plenty fired back and the same old script has started to play out, as early as the first Test of the five-match series. A series where Bumrah is expected to play only three Tests and very likely to miss the second game in Birmingham to manage his workload. The Plan B's have to swiftly move into action and when they do, Shubman Gill and Co. need to get their act together for what is going to be a tough road ahead.
Coach Gautam Gambhir has maintained that a winning dressing is a happy dressing room. The wins haven't come in the last few Tests - just one in the previous nine - and this is where the players need to have their arms around each other. It is understood that the camaraderie and the mood in the change room is better than what it had been in the past and senior players like KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja are taking the lead in keeping the youngsters comfortable.
Jadeja has found a new wingman in Kuldeep Yadav for his coffee runs and KL Rahul has been spotted spending a lot of time with the youngsters. He has been taking them out for meals in the evening and continues to hang around with Karnataka boys Karun Nair and Prasidh Krishna. Gill has come across as a very personable leader and while he learns and grows on the job, the acceptance is there and it's important it stays that way.
It's no secret that the changing room in Australia wasn't the best place to be and the results not going the side's way further affected the situation. India can't afford a repeat of that in England, at least from a dressing room perspective. The players need to be focussed on the job at hand, and the dressing room vibe will only help them perform to the best of their abilities in the middle.
This is a very young and inexperienced Indian squad. Most are playing Test cricket for the first time in this part of the world but they showed that they have enough ammo to keep firing at the opposition. The missed the shots they should have taken, spilled the opportunities which were there for the taking but would now look to take the learnings in their stride and keep the eyes locked on the target - at the Birmingham Test where the "paaji, paaji" chants will make them feel like home.
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