StaffThe Indian cricket team is set to play its first test match after the heartbreaking loss against New Zealand in the ICC World Test Championship final. The defeat shattered the dreams of more than one billion fans craving the Indian Cricket Team to win an ICC trophy after eight years of drought. The Indian side will be looking to redeem themselves by defeating England in their backyard.
The first test match will take place at Nottingham at Trent Bridge on 4th August, and the final test is set to be played from 10-14 September in Manchester. All the matches are to start at 3:30 pm IST.
4-8 August 2021: 1st Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
12-16 August 2021: 2nd Test at Lord’s, London.
25-29 August 2021: 3rd Test at Headingley, Leeds.
2-6 September 2021: 4th Test at The Oval, London.
10-14 September 2021: 5th Test at Old Trafford, Manchester.
The 5-match Test series will mark the commencement of the WTC-2. The two sides will wrestle for a maximum of 60 points – 12 points for a win, 6 for a tie, and 4 for a draw. Joe Root & co will be raring to go against India after the 3-1 defeat earlier this year.
Squads
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav
England: Joe Root (c), Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Jos Buttler, Mark Wood, Sam Curran, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Craig Overton
India’s positives ahead of the opener.
Since 2018, India have lost all of their last three first tests and the opening match against each SENA country. Perhaps there might be a psychological advantage this time around, as India have won two and drawn one of their last four tests at Trent Bridge.
India’s biggest advantage on the road to SENA countries has been the fast bowling pack, which has improved a lot in recent times. The addition of Siraj has added a new dimension to the bowling attack. He can use the new ball and even reverse swing the ball as it gets older. Fast bowlers such as him were key in the Australian series victory.
Shardul Thakur’s lower-order batting ability is a big positive for Virat Kohli on the road to this series. On their last tour to England, India struggled due to their lower order deficiency, while England could call upon Chris Woakes and Sam Curran, who made match-defining contributions with the bat.
“Shardul can bat and you saw him do it in Australia and has done it in domestic cricket too. Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Ishant, Umesh have all put in their efforts in the nets. They all want to contribute… even 20-30 runs in the end and that matters a lot.” said Indian team’s vice-captain Rahane.
The sudden unavailability of one of the best all-rounders in the world, Ben Stokes, came as positive news for India. Stokes took an indefinite break from all forms of cricket to take care of his mental health, which denies England the services of a quality match-winner with both bat and ball in hand.
India’s worries
India’s biggest trouble is the partnerships between the lower-order batsmen or the tailenders. India has the second-worst average of 11.82 in the partnerships between wickets 8-10 in away tests since 2018. This matter has come around since India’s last tour of England.
Another worry is the balance of the team. In England, teams don’t prefer to play two spinners considering the green pitches, which makes Kohli snub Ravindra Jadeja from the playing eleven for a fast bowler. With Hardik not available, he has to play an additional fast bowler, which weakens the lower middle order, and the team will fail to benefit from Jaddu’s proficient batting instincts.
Numbers 8-11 for India in the 2018 series averaged 11, whereas the English tailenders averaged a whopping 21.95, an impactful differentiator in the outcome of the series. It is also a sign of India’s weakness in knocking out the tailenders, which was again significant in the WTC final where Southee & co. scored lots of runs.
India haven’t experienced a 100+ opening partnership outside Asia since 2011, and they’ll again go into the first test with a new opening pair. The lack of good opening partnerships abroad is a problem that influences the start of the innings negatively.
The injury which ruled out Mayank Aggarwal for the first test came as a significant blow to the team. KL Rahul is now the favorite for the opening spot alongside Rohit Sharma at Trent Bridge.
England’s positives ahead of the opener
England’s biggest advantage is the ‘home advantage.’ India haven’t won a series in England since 2007, mainly because of the troubles in coping with the English pitches. England have used their home advantage to a real decent extent. James Anderson and Stuart Broad, both get wickets every now and then thanks to their exceptional ball seaming and swinging skills.
“I don’t think India can have any complaints if we do leave a bit of grass[on the pitch] because of what we came up against in our tour of India last time. India used home advantage to their benefit. A lot of teams around the world do it.” James Anderson fired the shots.
Virat Kohli vs James Anderson: The all-time best England wicket-taker has got the better of Virat Kohli in England, knocking him out 4 times in the 2014 series. During that tour, Kohli failed to get going and accumulated only 134 runs in the five matches with an average of just 13.4. The two greats of the game will reignite their cricketing rivalry in the five match series, and this contest will be one of the top picks of this series.
England’s major worry is the absence of Ben Stokes – The stalwart all-rounder Ben Stokes will be missed by the English side. The unavailability of Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes further adds to the misery of England. They lack a senior/experienced third bowler and a handy batter in them. Now they’ve got a young yet effective youth prodigy in Sam Curran to share the responsibility. He’ll play a crucial part for England in this series and can be influential with both ball and bat in hand.
Favorites to win
England appears to be the favorites to win the series because of their recent record against India at home and the home advantage, which favors the English side.
