“The way we played in the second innings after being put under pressure – Jasprit and Shami were outstanding. We had the belief we can get them out in 60 overs. The tension in the field in our second innings, what happened there, helped us. Putting their hand up was something we were really proud of, and we wanted to let them know,” said Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation.
In hindsight India’s victory at Lord’s yesterday may flatter you that it was a facile victory at the Home of Cricket but It was a hard fought victory. It was an Independence Day bonanza for India.
It was India’s tailender batsmen who got the victory for India with their bat and ball.
On the fourth day India was tottering at 181/6 with only Rishab Pant , the recognised batsman at the crease.
And soon England saw the back of Pant walking to the pavilion after he edged a delivery from Olie Robinson..
And the Indian tailenders were exposed with just 157 runs lead. And here Indian tailenders showed the grit and guts to stand up and challenge the England bowlers. First Ishant Sharma who showed some resistance and batted for a while adding some useful runs.
Then came the unbroken 89 runs partnership for the 9th wicket between Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah who hit their career best of 56 & 34 runs respectively and took the game away from England. This wicket partnership was priceless.
England lost the plot and the Indian tailender pair was piling on the agony of England players. They were at their wits end. The field placing was awful as both Shami and Bumrah were nudging singles and braces .
At 298/8 with a lead of 271 runs, the Indian captain declared the innings setting a tantalising total of 272 runs for England to chase in 60 overs.
England started the chase on a jarring note as both their openers were out for a duck and back in the pavilion. And they lost another two wickets before tea was taken.
After tea, India’s champion bowler, who bowled horribly in the first innings bowled a beautiful outswinger and Joe Root’s defence only saw the ball lobbed into the waiting hands of his counterpart Kohli who grabbed it with both hands. England’s main hope for the draw was gone.
And the situation would have been worse had the ever vigil Kohli taken a catch from Buttler. But the ball ballooned of his outstretched hands. Jos Buttler was just on 2 runs. The lady luck smiled on England’s team.
Buttler and Moeen Ali batted with abundant caution for more than an hour. But when Siraj came back for his second spell, he was highly motivated and straightaway stuck when his outswinger delivery saw Moeen edging it to Kohli at first slip. And Sam Curran, who was on King pair, edged an outgoing delivery to keeper, Siraj was on cloud nine. His double strike in the same over opened the gates for India to exploit the weaklink of England’s batting.
Then the obdurate pair of Buttler and Ollie Robinson saw their resistance and batted for almost an hour. Time was running out for India. Fortunately the light was not an issue.
Again the man of the hour stuck gold when his innocuous incoming delivery rapped on the left pad of Ollie Robinson. The vociferous appeal by Indian players were not conceded by Umpire. Then Kohli immediately referred it to TV Umpire. The TV Umpire stuck down the decision of the Umpire Richard Illingworth and asked him to reverse his original decision of Not Out.
So, England’s No.11 batsman James Anderson strolling to the wicket hanged around 2 balls of Siraj but his third ball saw it breached Anderson’s defence and he was bowled through the gates. There was rambunctious celebration by Indians as they picked up the stumps as souvenirs for their victory.
India won by 151 runs and lead the 5 match series by 1-0 with 3 matches yet to be played.
Earlier put into bat under overcast conditions, India had a rousing start with Rohit Sharma going great guns hitting all over the park and K.L. Rahul played the second fiddle. And after his exit at 126/1, it was K.L. Rahul who took control of the game played magnificently and hit a scintillating century ( 129 runs). And India finished with 364 runs. And Jimmy Anderson finished with fifer and Ollie Robinson & Mark wood also chipped in with couple of wickets each.
England with their captain Joe Root at his best piled up 391 runs with a masterful unbeaten by him ( 180*) and Mohammed Siraj was the pick of the bowler with 4 wickets.
The Century by K.L. Rahul gave India strong foundation in the batting and also won him the Player of the Match award.
It was India’s 3rd win out of the 19 tests played here at the Home of Cricket.
After nature played its game at Trent Bridge in the first test, the stage is set for yet another show at LORD’s , London tomorrow ( 12.8.2021).
The tame draw at Nottingham was cruel to India as they were sitting comfortably at 52/1 at the close of fourth day. But the persistent rains prevented any play on the 5th day. India brimming with that confidence in their ranks will try to keep that momentum in the second Test at Lord’s.
India started its Test cricket History at Lord’s way back in 1932 under the leadership of Col. C.K. Nayudu, suffered humiliating defeats at Lord’s , including India’s lowest score of 42 ( of course now 36 is their lowest score made in Adelaide in 2020-21 ) in 1974 in the second innings. Until 1986 India couldn’t muster a win at Lord’s.
In 1986 a spirited Indian team under the captaincy of India’s mercurial all rounder Kapil Dev won the Test series by 2-0 including a win at Lord’s, thanks to all round performance of Kapil Dev. Another win came in 2014 under Dhoni when Ishant Sharma & Bhuvnesh kumar made merry in bowling and A. Rahane scored a century.
Though Lord’s is not a favourite hunting ground for India as they won only 2 times out of the 18 outings, but this time around India is capable of upsetting the applecart of England team as their bowling unit is raring to go at the opposition in full throttle as we have seen at Nottingham when England were skittled out just for 183 runs on the first day.
The injury scare is there for both teams with India missing Shardul Thakur who is nursing a calf muscle injury and both the senior pros of England bowling attack, Stuart Broad and James Anderson are doubtful starters for Lord’s Test.
For England their captain, Joe Root, one of the world’s best batsmen stood tall among the ruins at Trent Bridge. Sans Root, their batting unit is in shambles. Openers wobble and middle order is not firing and the tail didn’t wag as Bumrah cut them to size in both innings. Now, with Moeen Ali , recalled from his THE HUNDRED tournament duties, may replace the out of form Dan Lawrence. And in the bowling department, two bowling spots up for grabs as the two senior pros are doubtful starters. Mark Wood and Saqib Mahmood( who had a good outing in the shorter formats for England) may fill the void.
For India it will be a selection headache as to whether to include a fourth seamer or the spinner R. Ashwin in the playing XI. As Kohli prefers the template of 4 seamers and one spinner in England conditions, and in all likelihood Ishant Sharma will make the cut into the XI. The batting performance of Indian team was good despite the failure of the bigwigs, viz., Pujara, Kohli and Rahane. K.L. Rahul, fighting for his place in Tests, found his mojo and the indian tail wagged and put indian team in a commanding position at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. So, there may not be any changes in batting line up. So, it’s advantage India at Lord’s. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
To put it bluntly, the rain and Joe Root stood between India and victory in the first Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham yesterday. India was in a comfortable position after securing a formidable lead of 95 runs in the first innings and bowling out England in the second essay for 303 runs. India were sitting comfortably at 52/1 at the close of the 4th day requiring another 157 runs in 90 0vers on the final day. The rain god didn’t relent and with persistent rain, the ground was in a puddle of water.
Early Lunch was taken, early tea was taken and finally early bed time was taken on the final day on 8.8.2021. The Umpires were hapless and had to call it off and the play was abandoned on the 5th day..
Trent Bridge ground was helpful to Indian team whenever it played there. Out of the 8 outings here from 1959, India had lost just two times and won 2 tests including a series win 2007 with a win here.
The takeaway from this Test was K.L. Rahul on a comeback trail didn’t disappoint as his timely 84 runs in the first innings enabled India take a substantial lead in the first innings and India’s No.1 pace bowler ,Jasprit Bumrah found his rhythm and was among the wickets. His 9 scalps in the match will boost his confidence after a low lying performance in WTC Final. The mercurial all rounder and athletic fielder, the familiar scene of Ravindra Jadeja swirling his bat in celebration after scoring a half century ( 56 runs) in the first innings was visible and the Indian tail wagged contributing a valuable 46 runs after the exit of Jadeja. The young diminutive wicket keeper Rishab Pant was in his element behind the wickets and his useful call for a caught behind review was worth mentioning. Indian’s choice of 4 seamers and one spinner paid off as all the pacers hit the deck and got wickets. The continuous failure of the trio, viz., Pujara, Kohli and Rahane in the top order is a point of concern.
For England their mainstay was the Captain Joe Root who anchored both the innings and was the top scorer in the match including a Century. In the second innings though not full of conviction, Root survived a close call in the leg side glance as well as early reprieve with the ball falling short of the slip cordon and run out chance. The absence of neutral umpires was a point of bother for the Indians as the umpiring standard of English Umpires was below par level as Root’s leg side faint edge was well taken by wicket keeper and the Indian players vociferous appeal for the catch was turned down by the Umpire as India already exhausted 3 DRS reviews. It left a bitter taste for Indians as Root went on to score a century amidst the ruins in England’s second innings also. The legendary English pacer hit a purple patch with the ball as he scalped 4 wickets including the prize wicket of Indian Captain, who edged an outswinger the very fast ball he faced. And Olie Robinson, swinging the ball both ways got a fifer.
Now the team caravan moves to Lord’s to play the next Test on 11th Aug with stakes high for both teams.
Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), “ the city of Joy”, is the capital of India’s Bengal state. Founded as an East India Company trading port, it was India’s capital under the British Raj from 1773–1911. Today it’s known for its grand colonial architecture, art galleries and cultural festivals. The famous Ramakrishna Math is situated in the outskirts at Belur, Kolkata.
EDEN GARDENS
Although the original ownership of the land on which the cricket grounds now stand is disputed, it is likely that it was once owned by wealthy zamindars of the village of Gobindapur, which was combined with the villages of Kalikata and Sutanuti by Job Charnock in 1686 to create Calcutta. The zamindars, forced to leave their land, were compensated handsomely to settle in other parts of the city, and the property came under the control of the East India Company.
EDEN GARDEN STADIUM
Courtesy : Google
Location: Dr. B. C. Roy Club House, Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Established: 1864
Seating Capacity: 66,000
Floodlights: Yes
End Names: High Court End, Pavilion End
Home Team: Bengal and Kolkata Knight Riders (IPL)
DISTANCE OF PITCH
According to Wikipedia distances from the center of the pitch to the boundary is about offside 66 Meters and onside 69 Meters, High Court end side 64 meters and Pavilion 71 Meters around the ground.
HISTORY
Though there is no definite information about the history of Eden Gardens, some believe that the land belonged to the Maharaja of Cooch-Behar, while some are of the opinion that it was the property of the Auckland Family. However, one thing which is certain is that the land was conferred to Governor General’s family, who, in turn, presented it to the citizens of Calcutta for recreational purposes.
It was, then, that the Calcutta Cricket Club was established, Eden Gardens serving as it’s headquarter. In the year 1871, the pavilion was built with which started the history of playing cricket in the ground, amidst Sylvan surroundings. However, it was in the year 1917-18 that the first ever first-class match was played. The foremost test match played was in January1934, against Douglas Jardine’s MCC. Since this first match, the ground has hosted more test matches than any other venue in India. Talking about the one day internationals, the first match was played in 1987 February against Pakistan.
Popularly called the Lord’s of Asia, Eden Gardens is the oldest cricket ground in India and also one of the finest in the world. It was established in the year 1864 .Apart from a cricket ground, Eden Garden comprises an indoor cricket stadium, two indoor sports complexes and the All India Radio building. The stadium hosted its first ever first-class cricket match in 1917-18. The first test match of this stadium was played in January 1934. A one day match was played here for the first time in February 1987, between India and Pakistan.
LOCATION
The stadium is situated in B.B.D. Bagh area of the Kolkata city near Secretariat and Calcutta High Court. It stands in more than 50 acres of blissful landscape. The verdant pathways of Eden Gardens are shaded by huge mahogany, mango and Banyan trees that make it a peaceful place to sit and enjoy the marvels of nature. There is also a 3 storeyed Burmese Pagoda in red and yellow that was brought here by Lord Dalhousie.
A brand new pitch cover was installed in 2016 from England. The entire ground can be covered in 15-20 minutes.
It’s the second largest stadium in the country with 66,000 capacity after renovation. It is also used for Football matches.
The entire stadium and the surrounding land still is administered by the Defence Ministry, without whose permission no event can take place. The Cricket Association of Bengal is merely a lesser and not the owner.
Modernization Of Eden Garden
The first time ever Eden Gardens was revamped was in the 1987 World Cup. Being the venue wherein the final match was to take place, the ground was given a face lift and covered stands were built all around, with a modern ClubHouse and pavilion. In the present times, the Club House holds the office of the Cricket Association of Bengal. Floodlights were first installed in the year 1993, in the stadium, on the eve of the five-nation tournament, held to celebrate the CAB Diamond Jubilee. The ground played host to all the day-night one-day international matches in the tournament.
Present Scenario
Eden Gardens holds the distinction of being one of the largest cricketing facilities in the world. It is a dream-come-true for all the cricketers in the world, when they play in this magnificent and gigantic lush green stadium. Boasting of one of the largest seating arrangements in the world, the average number of people attending the matches has never been less than 50, 000. The stadium is always filled with people, who cheer the players and keep their hopes alive and the spectators play as the 12th man for the home team. . However, on the flip side, crowd violence has marred some of the key matches played in this ground.
Eden Gardens, today, is basking in the glory and has reached the pinnacle of success. Whether it was the epic India-Australia Test match in 2001, or the hat-trick clinched by Indian spinner, Harbhajan Singh, against Australia or South Africa’s comeback into International cricket, or even matches against the arch-rivals Pakistan, Eden Gardens has always been known to produce some of the most exciting and electrifying cricket encounters. The stadium is also the home ground of Kolkata Knight Riders, a franchise of the recently started India Premier League (IPL).
UNIQUE ARTWORK
The walls of the ‘Pride of Indian cricket’ gets wall art like any other cricket stadium. What’s fascinating about the wall art is that it has been prepared by over 25 students from Kolkata’s Government College of Art & Craft. The decoration of the project was managed by Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). The wall art is about four storeys tall on one side.
“Our basic idea was to capture the feeling – the awe and excitement people feel when for the first time they see the historic field,” said Sayan Mukherjee one of the artists responsible for the work, “As children, when we walked in for the first time here in the stands, we felt like it was a magic, a transformation and through this work, we wanted to highlight that.
”Here are a few photos of Eden Gardens’ wall art work :-
Photo Courtesy: Indian Express
Photo Courtesy: Indian Express
The Kolkata stadium also has the paintings of cricketers celebrating their success. The entrance of the stadium has photos of legendary cricketers Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, Jhulan Goswami and others.
BIG BELL
Kapil Dev rung the bell just before the Indian and New Zealand teams walked out for the national anthem on the opening day of the second Test at the Eden Gardens at Kolkata on Friday. ( in 2016)
Former Indian captain Kapil Dev with CAB’s president Sourav Ganguly. AP
India’s first World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev rung the bell just before the Indian and New Zealand teams walked out for the national anthem on the opening day of the second Test at the Eden Gardens at Kolkata on Friday.
Accompanied by Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President and former India captain Sourav Ganguly, Dev completed the much sought-after ritual in front of a motley crowd.
Looking dapper in a suit, the 1983 hero wore a wry smile on his face as all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was seen witnessing the event keenly from the players’ dressing room. The ringing of the five-minute bell, introduced at Lord’s, London is a ritual started in 2007. An international cricketer or administrator or a well-known enthusiast of the sport is asked to perform the act.
Ganguly had stated that every morning it will be rung by a cricketer from either side or ex-players.
The one at Lord’s is located outside the Bowlers’ Bar of the pavilion and is rung to signify the imminent start of play.
FACILITIES
The stadium’s outfield and drainage system came under a lot of criticism. When Sourav Ganguly became CAB President in 2016, he made sure that a new covering process was done in the outfield , so that the outfield does not remain waterlogged for long. The drainage system was also upgraded. Previously the CAB had only 3 super soppers in place. Keeping in mind the unpredictable weather conditions, Sourav ordered 2 more super soppers from Australia so that even if it rained, the ground could be made ready for the match to resume quickly.
Eden Gardens had installed a new electronic scoreboard like MCG. The new scoreboard will show all the details, highlights and graphics of a match.
The raised sight screens would provide the Indian batsman a better view of Pakistani pacer Mohammad Irfan, who stands 7 feet and one inch tall.
“After consulting the umpires, we have raised the height of the sight screens which has resulted in reduction of around 850 seats at the Club House and High Court ends,” Cricket Association of Bengal joint secretary Subir Ganguly said.
The reduction of the seats is a blow to the ordinary cricket spectators.
NEW DRESSING ROOMS
The International Cricket Council (ICC) wanted two more dressing rooms at the Eden Gardens which will host the World Twenty20 final in 2016. The Eden Gardens had only two dressing rooms, one for the home team and the other for the visiting team before T20 WC 2016. . But as the women’s World T20 final will also be held on the same day, cricket’s world governing body has asked the CAB for four change rooms and now it has 4 dressing rooms.
2011 Renovation
Eden Gardens underwent renovation for the 2011 World cup. Renovation had been undertaken to meet the standards set by the ICC for the 2011 World Cup. The Cricket Association of Bengal retained the team of Burt Hill and VMS to renovate the Eden Gardens Cricket Stadium. The plans for the renovated stadium included a new clubhouse and players’ facilities, upgrades of the exterior walls to give the stadium a new look, cladding the existing roof structure with a new metal skin, new/upgraded patron amenities & signage and general infrastructure improvements. The upgrade also meant reduction of the seating capacity to about 68,000 from around 94,000 before the upgrade.
The stadium hosted three scheduled World Cup 2011 Matches on 15, 18 and 20 March 2011. In the last of these three matches (Kenya vs Zimbabwe), the stadium had the lowest ticket-purchasing crowd in its recorded history with 15 spectators having bought tickets.
The Historic stands of Eden Gardens
The stands of the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata are named after prominent cricketers and soldiers of Indian Army. The names include that of Sourav Ganguly, Pankaj Roy, Jagmohan Dalmiya, and B. N. Dutt.
Some of the names of the Soldiers after whom 4 stands are named include, Colonel Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair, Havildar Hangpan Dada, Major Dhan Singh Thapa and Subedar Joginder Singh Sahnan.
LC Dhan Singh Thapa and Subedar Joginder Singh were the war heroes of 1962 Sino- Indian War and were awarded posthumously with Param Vir Chakra, the highest wartime military gallantry award in India. Col NJ Nair and Havildar Dada sacrificed their lives while fighting insurgents in Nagaland and Kashmir respectively. Both were awarded posthumously with Ashok Chakra, India’s highest peacetime military gallantry award
.Best Moments
In 1977, New York Cosmos played a Football match against Mohun Bagun at the stadium. Edson Arantes do Nascimento “aka” Pelé played in that match for the Cosmos. The match was drawn at 2–2.
16 football fans died in a stampede after a derby league game between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan on 16 August 1980.
Eden Gardens hosted the 1987 Cricket World Cup Final which was the first ever Cricket World Cup final hosted outside England. The match ended with Australia defeating England by 7 runs. This was the first time Australia won the Cricket WC Final.
The 1996 World Cup semi-final was called off and Sri Lanka awarded the match after crowd disturbances following an Indian batting collapse.
During the 2nd final of the 1997 Independence Cup the Test and ODI captains of the Indian cricket team of all time (with a few notable exceptions) were given a lap of honour around the stadium.
In 1999, leading Indian batsmanSachin Tendulkar was run out after colliding with Pakistan’s Shoaib Akthar. Akhtar had impeded Tendulkar and the crowd rioted, forcing the police to evict the spectators. The match continued in front of an empty stadium.
Kapil Dev took an ODI hat-trick against the Sri Lankans in 1991 at the ground.
Harbhajan Singh took a hat-trick against Australia in 2000/01 at the ground. He became the first Indian to take a hat-trick in Test cricket.
In 2005, in an ODI against South Africa, the Eden Gardens crowd booed the Indian Team and Greg Chappell because Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the team. Chappell allegedly showed middle finger to the crowd.
In 2005, Sachin Tendulkar scored his 10,000th run in Test Cricket against Pakistan on this ground making him the second Indian batsman and fifth overall to achieve this feat.
Eden Gardens hosted the historic 199th (penultimate) Test match of Sachin Tendulkar’s career against West Indies from 6-10 Nov 2013. India defeated West Indies by an innings and 51 runs in 3 days.
On its 150th anniversary, on 13 November 2014, Eden Gardens witnessed the highest ever score by a batsman in One Day Internationals, a 264 off 173 balls scored by Rohit Sharma during the 4th One Day International of Sri Lanka vs India at the venue.
On 3 April 2016, in this venue, within a span of hours, the finals of the ICC world cup Twenty20 tournaments for the women and for the men were won by the respective women’s and men’s teams of the West Indies.
The stadium hosted the 200th and 250th home tests for India in 2005 and 2016 respectively.
On 22 January 2017, Ravindra Jadeja became the first Indian left arm spinner to take 150 One Day International wickets, when he dismissed Sam Billings of England.
On 21 September 2017, Kuldeep Yadav became the third bowler for India to take a hat-trick in an ODI after Chetan Sharma and Kapil Dev When he took a hat-trick against Australia.
Iconic Matches Played at Eden Gardens Kolkata
1962- India Vs England: India gained victory in this match. This was the first match where India beat England in a test match at Eden Gardens after a long period of 10 years. India had won the match by 182 runs thanks to brilliant spin bowling by Salim Durrani ( left arm orthodox) and Chandu Borde (leg break) and Poly Umrigar (off break).
1975- India Vs West Indies: Though India could not win the test series, the third test match in a 5- match series went on to become a legendary victory when India beat West Indies by 85 runs. The match was played against the likes of Sir Andy Roberts, Bernard Julien, Roy Fredericks and Lance Gibbs in the West Indies team, the diminutive Gundappa Viswanath hit a magnificent century and paved the way for India’s win here after 2-0 down in the series.
1993- India Vs South Africa: When the ball was tossed to Sachin Tendulkar by Captain Azaruddin to bowl the ultimate over to defend a paltry 5 runs, it was a shocker to everybody. The iconic win of this Hero Cup final match was pulled off by none other than our own master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar with his miraculous bowling over at the last moment. India won the match by 2 runs.
2001- India Vs Australia: A watershed moment in the history of Indian test cricket. Another iconic match is remembered when India was asked to follow-on and due to the sudden twist pulled off by partnership of V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid when the first four batsmen took a quick return to the pavilion very early into the match. Rahul and Laxman played the full 4th day without being separated when V.V.S. Laxman hit a marathon 281 runs and Rahul Dravid 180 runs putting 376 runs for the 5th wicket and India won a match that was thought to be lost in the beginning.
2005- India Vs Pakistan: After losing to Pakistan at Mohali in the test series, India went on to win the thrilling match at Eden as well as the entire series thereafter.
2013- India Vs West Indies: This match is termed iconic as it marked the last test match played by Sachin Tendulkar of his career. It marked the end of an era.
2019- India Vs Bangladesh : On 22 November 2019, India’s first ever DAY / NIGHT test match between India and Bangladesh was hosted at Eden Gardens and the game was inaugurated jointly by the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Bannerjee and the President of Bangladesh which India won comfortably by an Innings & 18 runs.
INDIA -ENGLAND TEST SERIES IN ENGLAND PREVIEW- 2021
Courtesy : Times of India.
As the battle lines are drawn for another awe inspiring Test series between England and India Test series and getting underway today at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, let’s peep into the history of the rivalry.
The Pataudi Trophy (named in 2007 after India’s illustrious cricketer M.A.K. Pataudi )was claimed by India once only in the inaugural series in 2007 under the captainship of Rahul Dravid with a solitary win at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in the 3 Test series.
The India-England Test series will kick start the second edition of ICC WORLD TEST CHAMPIONSHIP (WTC), which will be played in 2021-23 cycle.
More than winning the Pataudi Trophy, a feat India last achieved under the leadership of RAHUL DRAVID in 2007, Kohli said the challenge for his team was to win in “situations which are not ours”.
INDIA IN ENGLAND
India and England played 62 Tests in England from 1932. England won 34 tests and India won 7 tests.
After 22 outings, India registered its first Test win in English soil in 1971 at The Oval under the leadership of Ajit Wadekar with Indian spinners having a field day led by the unpredictable leg spinner Chandrasekar and it also marked India’s Firstever Test series win in England.
India had to wait for another 15 years for the next series victory as the team led by the mercurial all rounder Kapil Dev. Kapil led his team into a tumultuous win in 1986 by 2-0 by winning comprehensively both in Lord’s and Headingley, Leeds.
Then under the leadership of “The Wall”, Rahul Dravid in 2007, India won the Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham and also the series with 1-0.
Though India did win a Test in 2014 under M.S. Dhoni at Lord’s with Ishant Sharma & Bhuvneshkumar bowling their best, but India had to suffer heavy defeats in the remaining 3 Tests.
In our last outing in 2018 under “King “ Kohli, we could manage a solitary win in the 3rd Test at Trent Bridge with Kohli leading from the front with 97 & 103 runs and Jasprit Bumraha’s incisive spell, after a humiliating innings defeat when they were blown away by the English pacemen and Chris Woakes scoring a magnificent century in the 2nd test at Lord’s.
Now, India with well acclimatising with the weather conditions at England and a practice match before the Test series are well equipped to take on a depleted England side in the absence of their mercurial all rounder Ben Stokes, bowlers Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes due to injuries. England will include the young all rounder Sam Curran who made a sensational start in 2018 against India and Jonny Bairstrow in place of the injured Ollie Pope.
Indian team have a dilemma to choose the best XI, though there are indications from the Captain’s pre-match interview that the all rounder Shardul Thakur will make it to the playing XI and Mohamed Siraj will also make a cut into the final XI. Two spinners may be a luxury in England pitches and the captain will be tempted to include the all rounder and athletic fielder Ravindra Jadeja into the XI and leave out R. Ashwin.
We have to wait and see whether the history will repeat at Trent Bridge as India has most success here with 2 wins here.
England (possible): 1 Rory Burns, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Zak Crawley, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ollie Pope/Jonny Bairstow, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Sam Curran, 8 Ollie Robinson, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson
India (possible): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Ishant Sharma / Mohammed Siraj, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.
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