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After an absorbing Test match at Trent Bridge, the two teams will renew their rivalry at Lord’s. With the series honours at 0-0, England and India will be desperate to pull one in their favour and take the important lead.
The upcoming Test will be India’s 19th at Lord’s. Of their previous 18 outings at the ‘Home of Cricket’, they have lost 12, drawn 4 and won 2 times – famously in 1986 and 2014.
Overall in England, India have won just seven of their previous 63 Test matches, with 34 losses and 22 draws. The tourists have suffered defeats by margins of 4-0, 3-1 and 4-1 on their last three trips to the United Kingdom.
Virat Kohli’s men have a fantastic opportunity at their hands to rewrite the record books this time. They nearly defeated the hosts in the first Test before rain played spoilsport. India will be backing themselves to come out triumphant over the course of the next four games against what is a beatable England side.
Key Players
KL Rahul made a fantastic comeback to the Indian Test side in the last game when he produced a resolute knock of 84 runs in the first-innings and a freeflowing 26 in the second-innings. His performance in difficult batting conditions was highly impressive for a player who hadn’t played any Test match since August 2019.
Joe Root was the saviour for England with the bat. If the skipper hadn’t led his team from the front in both innings, they wouldn’t have been able to stretch the game towards Day 5 when a washout helped them escape with a draw. The skipper batted really well for his 64 off England’s 183 in the first innings and produced arguably his best hundred in the second, hitting 109 off 172 balls to help the hosts post a total past 300 after trailing by 95.
Jasprit Bumrah faced criticism for his poor outing in the WTC final against New Zealand in June. He was the only specialist seamer from either side not to take a wicket next to his name. Heading into the England series, much of the talk revolved around how Bumrah has lost his mojo. But the ace quick silenced his doubters by giving a befitting reminder of his incredible class and nous with a memorable performance in Nottingham. Bumrah delivered stand-out spells of 4/46 and 5/64 and was integral to India, putting the hosts under great pressure.
James Anderson was England’s ‘Bumrah’ in the first-innings against India. The experienced right-arm seam bowler picked up four wickets for 54 runs off his 23 overs and helped his team keep India’s lead down to 95 England’s highest-ever Test match wicket-taker, Anderson has so often been the biggest hurdle in front of a visiting side in the UK, and this series is no different. Anderson has now taken 621 wickets from his 163 Tests at an average of 26.60.
Ravindra Jadeja has been spectacular as an all-round cricketer in the last four years for India. The incisive left-arm spinner and an improving left-hand batter, Jadeja boasts of a fantastic record since the start of 2017. In this period, Jadeja averages 47.72 with the bat and 25.21 with the ball. Jadeja’s ascent as a batter has been especially commendable and a fine example of the same came in the last Test, where his vital half-century (56 off 86) helped India recover from trouble waters and get into a lead in the first-innings.
Prediction
While India’s record at Lord’s doesn’t inspire great confidence, they head into the marquee fixture this time as slight favourites given that their overall depth looks better than England’s, especially on the batting front.
But even though most of the Englishmen outside Root are struggling for runs and consistency, India also have skipper Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane due for some big runs after an elongated period of indifferent performances.
Both the bowling front have injury concerns in the form of Stuart Broad and Shardul Thakur. The two pacers could be replaced by Mark Wood and Ishant Sharma for the next Test. India will also ponder bringing in premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin into the team after questionably leaving him out at Trent Bridge despite great form.
India look the more settled of the two sides and could well go 1-0 up in the series.
