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                                            INDIA VS ENGLAND TEST SERIES

First Test of #ENGvsIND series:

2011, Lord's: 2000th Test overall, 100th Test bw England & India

2018, Edgbaston: England's 1000th  Test, India's 200th Test outside Asia


We have some team India news. Ishant and Mohammed Shami have marked their run-ups, observes Vishaal. Will Umesh play as a third pacer or will it be two spinners plus Hardik Pandya?

Rahul says: I like the way England always announce their squad early. It's their confidence on their game, not the plan. Everyone should follow it and play cricket without fear.



09:55 AM Local Time: Our man, Vishaal Loganathan, is up and early at the ground. 'Nothing signficant as yet', he says. 'Just some random practice going on at the moment. Kohli getting knockdowns. DK - catching practice. Shami - laps. Ishant, Hardik - bowling on side wickets'. Any idea about India's playing XI? If they are keeping it as a secret, they are doing pretty well.

England have no such things to ponder about, they have announced their playing XI and Adil Rashid - back into the Test fold after a lot of furore, finds himself playing his first Test since Chennai, 2016. It's their 1000th Test and the hosts couldn't have asked for a better venue than Edgbaston to start the series. No Asian team has won a Test at this venue and India's record is lop-sided. Five losses and one draw is all that they have managed over the last six visits. James Anderson and Stuart Broad are back to full fitness after suffering from a few niggles. But what's next after those two? Sam Curran is still learning the trade, Ben Stokes is an useful asset, but can he win matches on his own with the ball? Or what about the pressure on Adil Rashid? Fair to say England are also a team under progress.

Will the axe fall on Dhawan? Or will it be Cheteshwar Pujara? Or will India once again take a left-field decision and leave out Ajinkya Rahane - as they did so with disastrous effect in South Africa. And what would be India's bowling combination? Without first-choice pacers, will India go in with a 3-1 pace-spin combination with Hardik Pandya as the fifth option. If so, who will be India's first-choice spinner, will they keep trust in Ravi Ashwin or will Kuldeep Yadav - who shone in the white-ball games get the first go? Or will the team bite the bullet and opt for a 2-2 pace-spin combo? Lots of positive headaches ahead for the team management.

While the Test preparations have been solid, India's problems arise from the fact that they are yet to arrive at the ideal playing combination. There's a three-pronged race for the opening combination with only Murali Vijay certain to start. Will India go in with Shikhar Dhawan as his partner and push KL Rahul down to three - as they did against Afghanistan? But it would come at the cost of either everyone moving down a slot or India going with just four bowlers. It worked in Bengaluru, where Kohli missed the game with an injury, but with the Indian captain back, it will leave the management with a dilemma.

09:30 Local Time, 08:30 GMT, 14:00 IST: Is this tour India's best chance at securing an overseas Test series win in countries other than the sub-continent and West Indies since the victorious New Zealand campaign in 2008-09? The experts think so and so do the layman on the streets. India are ranked as the number one Test team for a reason and England's recent red-ball form has been patchy at best. But is it enough to install India as the favourites? Afterall, this is one team that has famously struggled on its travels, the last time they set foot out of their own home comforts, they were beaten 1-2 by South Africa.



"Don't carry any sandpaper, guys," was the generous advice of one of the ground staff at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground. England might take special delight from Australia's spiralling misery, but there is still a lingering doubt how this England side might fare against the current world toppers - India.



"You think India will win? It's going to be a tough series," he added. And it might well be, looking at both sides, at least on paper.



But such promises for exhilarating cricket between these two sides have fallen on deaf years. In the last two series the two teams played against each other, the results were 3-1 and 4-0 in favour of the hosts.



That might just be the difference between the two sides - the conditions. But here's the twist. England is in the middle of a heatwave, something that was summed up by Ajinkya Rahane, who said their practice game at Chelmsford was almost like playing in Mumbai or Chennai. That would mean conditions in England could be somewhat similar to what you'd get in India.



In Birmingham though, there was a brief spell of rain a couple of days before the Test, a welcome break from the heatwave that coincides with the duration of this match. England will hope conditions return to normalcy but if it doesn't though, India could well pull out the mattresses and come out to sleep on these tracks.



That the series will not be a walkover has already been underlined by England. Alastair Cook talked up India's pace bowlers, and England, perhaps swayed by Rashid knocking over Kohli's stumps in the limited-overs leg, brought him into Tests despite him not having a red-ball contract. Not long after, they announced Jos Buttler, two Tests since his own return to the Test squad despite not having a red-ball contract, as their vice-captain for the series, with a view on long term benefits.



India, of course, have their own worries. Shikhar Dhawan's practice match lasted all of 4 balls, while Pujara, despite his County stint, struggled in the nets. They have lost their best bowler in these conditions, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and another strong backup in Jasprit Bumrah. The pitch wears a slightly dry look, but England's decision to pick Sam Curran over Jamie Porter perhaps indicates that swing bowlers will be key.



Key also will be how India's batsmen have adapted to English conditions. Pujara and Ishant had already travelled to England to play County cricket, and four from the current Test squad played the India A game as well, before the practice match against Essex. But the England squad offers challenges at a whole new level.



Alastair Cook already served up a notice with a 180 against India A, as did Dawid Malan and Sam Curran. India must make sure that they start well, and then keep it going from there. They would have learnt from the last time they toured here that just a good start will mean next to nothing if they fail to keep the momentum going. They will also know that England have had a far from impressive year in Tests, just managing to shrug off a eight-Test winless streak, and some solid performances could land them serious pressure again.



England, on the other hand, will lean back on how reliable they are at home. The last time they lost a series at home was back in 2014 to Sri Lanka. They will also know that India have only one draw and one win in 10 games in England. It would probably only take one big Test to make India relive those nightmares again.



Who's your money on?



When: England vs India, 1st Test, 11 AM Local time, 3:30 PM IST.



Where: Edgbaston, Birmingham



What to expect: The pitch has a brown, hard look to it and if the sun beats down, it should be good for batting. Weather forecasts, however, point at more cloud cover, which could just prompt the teams into playing a lone spinner.



Team News



England: England announced their starting XI a day before the Test, giving Sam Curran a cap ahead of Jamie Porter. Moeen Ali, too, doesn't find a slot, with the selectors going for Rashid.



Playing XI: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Stuart Broad, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, James Anderson.



India: A few questions linger over India's team selection. Dhawan, Pujara and Rahul all batted in the nets, but it looks as if Rahul would get the nod ahead of the left-hander to open alongside Murali Vijay. Shami should be up alongside Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav, with Ashwin as the lone spinner.



Probable XI: KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.



Did you know



- At no other venue have Asian teams played more Tests without registering a single win than the 16 they have played in Edgabston. India have lost five of the six matches they have played at this venue.



- Adil Rashid will be playing his first Test in England. All his first ten Tests were played in the sub-continent - three in the UAE, two in Bangladesh and five in India. Rashid picked a four-wicket haul in four of the five Tests he played in India in 2016.



- Joe Root has scored a fifty in each of the 11 Tests he has played against India. No other player has hit fifty-plus scores in more consecutive Tests against a single opponent than Root's 11 against India.



What they said



"Back in the day when I did not know better, these things used to bother me because I used to read a lot. But honestly - and I'm not saying this because I'm sitting here in front of all of you - I genuinely don't read anything. I have no idea what's going on. After the first two Tests in South Africa, I had no idea what was going on. My only focus was on my preparation and where the team has to head. If I waste my energy on all these things, I'm compromising on my mindset." -- Virat Kohli keeps his focus despite growing pressure on him to deliver in England



"I've known Adil from being a really young lad at Yorkshire. He's been around the first team since I joined the academy. He's very talented; he always has been. I think over the last couple of years, with experience, he has grown as a player massively. He's developed his game in a way that he has a better understanding of what he's trying to do and how he's trying to work batters out. He's got high skill levels which I think are very transferable into Test cricket." -- Joe Root backs his spinner after his contentious selection

Teams:

England (From): Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root(c), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow(w), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Moeen Ali, James Porter

India (From): Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik(w), Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur

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