Sourav Ganguly urges Indian batsmen to fight it out to bounce back at Trent Bridge

After India lost the Lord’s Test by a huge margin of an innings and 159 runs because of the batting failure against the English pacers, the Trent Bridge Test is going to be equally challenging for them. Veteran James Anderson averages under 19 at the venue and so far he has picked up 60 wickets here which shows how effective he has been in those favourable conditions. Ganguly, however, has the faith that there is a lot of cricket to be played in the series and Indian batsmen need to apply themselves.

“The third Test will test India's resilience. Virat and his boys have had a tough time, especially at Lord's, countering the swing bowling but they need to remember that in South Africa they came back strongly to win the third Test. They are 2-0 down, but there are still three matches to go, which is a lot of cricket. If rain does not take three days away, all games will have results,” Ganguly wrote in his column for the Times of India.

"Much has been spoken about the capability of the Indian batters to battle it out in difficult conditions, but at Lord's, it was the supreme ability of Anderson and company which got the better of them. What hurt the Indian fans, however, was the lack of fight rather than the loss. This team is much better than the way they have played so far,” added Ganguly.

“Can the Indians fight back? The worry is they have succumbed to the fact that it will be tough. Yes, it will be tough but not impossible. The mind has to believe that,” Ganguly wrote in the column.

While Shikhar Dhawan was excluded for the second Test, Murali Vijay's yet-another failure meant he may get a chance to play the Test today. The left-hander spoke about chances of Dhawan being included in the playing XI, but asked the opener to not play more booming cover drives.

“There is a chance that Dhawan might play and if he does, the big booming cover drives have to be put away. He needs mental discipline to play other shots which he is capable of and play much more on the back foot,” wrote Ganguly.