India V England 1st Test At Lord’s Preview: The Champion Versus The Challengers

The Indian tour of England will finally begin today with the first Test match between the two teams at Lord’s. And if the weather keeps away, one can hope for five days of some excellent cricket at the home of cricket, between a champion side which hasn’t lost a series since 2008 and another which is on a high of being in a position to challenge the champions.

India’s result against Somerset was unexpected but given that it was expected to be the only warm-up game, the Indians were busy doing exactly that – warming up for this big showdown – than being bothered about the result.

Given India’s record in the opening games of series, it makes you wonder why the Indian board do not opt for more than one warm-up game before the start of any important series.

It is India’s batting that has often been spoken about in a nice light and it isn’t without reason. With a middle-order consisting of three modern-day stalwarts – Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman – India has barely had any batting woes in recent times. The good news for the Indian fans in recent times is that their bowling has also begun to perform to the levels required under the shrewd bowling leadership of Zaheer Khan.

England were able to turn things around for themselves in 2005 when they beat Australia in the Ashes. Despite the 5-0 reversal in the 2006-07 series and the subsequent World Cup failure, the English side has gone from strength to strength since then.

The batting has played a key role for England with the form of Alastair Cook and Jonathon Trott being superlative. Eoin Morgan gets a golden chance to cement his place, while captain Andrew Strauss will be happy to get some runs under his belt in the Somerset game. Strauss has endured some poor form of late and will look to turn that around at the Test match level.

It is the English bowling which could stand tall. Figuratively and literally. James Anderson’s swing and Chris Tremlett’s bounce will test the best of the Indian batsmen and staving them off will be a challenge in the absence of the injured Virender Sehwag.

Not unsurprisingly, the Indian bowling has also come of age, as one would expect from a number one side in the world. However, the lack of pace for some of these bowlers could be a shortcoming in the face of the Englishmen.

With rains being a factor in this time of the year in London, the bookmakers have put a drawn game as favourite, followed by an English win. Either way, it will be a game to watch out for!

The first India-England Test will begin from 11.00 am local time in London and 1530 hours India time.