England’s decision to bench James Anderson and Dom Bess for the second Test with Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler already out has triggered the question: is it over-confidence or plain good strategy?

Captain Joe Root has put it across as the need to bring in fresh legs that give the team management confidence of keeping India under the pump. “You look at that squad and there might not be a lot of game time. But what there is freshness — freshness of mind, freshness of body and a huge amount of excitement about playing,” Root said during a virtual media conference on Friday.

“I think that can count for a lot. Especially in these conditions, that freshness can be really important to come into the game and help you attack in your spell of three or four overs, have a real impact on things and come out of the attack again. That can really work in our favour going into this match and you look at the way we’ve picked the 12, we’ve got two ways we can go.

“We can have a similar balanced team like the last Test with that extra bit of pace of someone like Olly Stone or we can have someone like Woakesy (Chris Wokes) come into the fray and capitalise on that reverse swing, and try and build pressure that way. “I think we’ve got a very strong squad for this wicket,” Root added.

In place of Anderson, England will be able to attack with Stuart Broad. But whether they opt for Stone’s pace or the all-round abilities of Woakes, who’s also accustomed to Indian conditions, in Jofra Archer’s place will be a tricky call.

Is leaving Bess out justified? The young off-spinner did exceedingly well in the first innings of the previous game, while his replacement Moeen Ali last played a first-class game back in September 2019.

“It wasn’t any easy decision to make. But the message for Bessy moving forward is to keep working at that consistency of his game, delivering that skill time and time again.

“We talk about building pressure over long periods of time and I think, as well as he has done, that is one area that he can improve on,” Root said.

It also gives Moeen a chance to come back into things and with all his experience, he’s someone who’s bowling very well in practice.”

On resting Anderson, who broke the back of India’s batting on the final day of the first Test, Root said: “As for Jimmy, it gives him the best opportunity to be fit and available for those last two Tests.

“Everyone’s heart was in favour of him being available for this game, but you also need to look at the bigger picture.”

That the third Test in Ahmedabad is a Day-Night game, which could aid Anderson, may also have influenced the decision on resting the ace pacer.