India vs England, 4th Test: India Looks To Fight Back, erase Leeds memories with strong turnaround at the Oval

Do genuinely great Test teams ride disorienting thrill ride waves, from shattering lows to stratospheric highs, similar to what this Indian team has done over the past year and a half? Can legacy be based on dodgy batting form? Is obstinacy an ethicalness in times of crisis?

These are the questions an inconsistent India must answer as they find themselves at the crossroads ahead of the fourth Test against England at the Oval. Lose again now and the Melbourne heroics which followed the Leeds-like debacle in Adelaide last year will appear an aberration. A lot of India's new "cornered tigers" reputation stems from that Melbourne win, a Test where Virat Kohli didn't lead. Lose now and the Lord's win which went before the forgettable Leeds outing will be a distant memory. 

Chase a win and risk punting again on a sorely inconsistent however experienced center request. Maybe even repeat the four pacer stunt, aside from some lead pacers may be tiring. Chase safety and risk damaging this zealously assembled image of India playing "aggressive cricket" always and never taking a backward step. 

At the Oval, Kohli has to find a center path, or if nothing else wrestle with the idea of one. Has the opportunity arrived to introduce some flexibility of thought? India needs to indulge in a delicate dance of balance. They must attitude attacking instinct with reasonability in all areas from team selection to individual batting approach. Aggressive cricket shouldn't always mean charging at the opposition headlong.

The starting focus, of course, will be the batting. It is one of those rare occurrences in India's cricketing history that their ascending Test fortunes have coincided with a typical and delayed plunge in form of their three main battling stalwarts: Pujara, Kohli, and Rahane. A significant part of the team's issues with inconsistency stems from their blades, yet they have also played a major part in its success. Since January 2020, India's No. 3, 4, and 5 have an underwhelming aggregate average of 28.29 in 14 Tests, with the triplet contributing just a single hundred: a convenient one from Rahane at the MCG. Just to place things in perspective, the same batsmen averaged 44.86 between Jan 2018 and 2019, with 13 hundred between them, eight of those in wins. This is a staggering collapse in commitment which India has found hard to adapt to yet hasn't addressed at this point.

To complicate matters, Kohli has precluded adding an extra batsman, yet would he mind replacing an unseemly one? The other alternative could be an extra batting reinforcement in the form of Hanuma Vihari, yet that would mean Kohli going back on his promise. 

India will also be enticed to play the two spinners in Jadeja and Ashwin, and that could also mean back-tracking on the four-pacer theory. "We have done it in the past," bowling coach Bharat Arun said about how India planned to engineer a comeback. "We were bowled out for 36 (in Adelaide) and bounced back. We can take confidence from what we have done in the past. You will see a more spirited performance." While Team India mulls the thought of past performance as an ally, England's changes are more straightforward, and on paper, they could be stronger than they were at Headingley.

With Jos Buttler on paternity leave, Moeen Ali is the new bad habit captain and Jonny Bairstow is back behind the stumps. Joe Root and the management have to choose between Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence as the batting alternative in place of Buttler.

Chris Woakes' nightmare year may also end with a Test call-up in place of Sam Curran. Root's main dilemma, an issue India is also grappling with, is bowler rotation. Should he rest aging stalwart Jimmy Anderson and bring in Mark Wood? "It's such a tricky balancing act," Root said. India, meanwhile, will trust they can get Root out cheaply for once and set the tone for some positive vibes. When at a crossroads, there's nothing similar to an early course rectification.