Gooch expects Strauss to lead from the front against India

“There are always bowlers that give players a bit more trouble than others. But Andrew has worked hard on this aspect in practice and I don’t see any major issue there. It’s just confidence and getting some runs. He has got runs against Zaheer Khan in the past. Don’t forget,he scored 150 against him at the recent World Cup in India,” the Daily Express quoted Gooch,as saying.

For the record,in the run-up to the first England –India Test to be played at Lords,Strauss scored 78 and 109 not out for Somerset against India in a side fixture.

Gooch believes Strauss’s bad run of form – he got just 27 runs in four innings against Sri Lanka – was blown out of all proportion.

“Every player goes through a lean patch from time to time. His confidence is good,” he said.

He added: “He has worked hard at his game during the past few weeks while the one-day games were going on. I expect him to lead from the front against India.”

“I’m sure he’ll be relishing the challenge coming up,” he said.