India aim to secure series against resurgent England

The India-England series will finally meet its conclusion as the two teams face off at Edgbaston for the fifth Test of the Pataudi Trophy. From what it was a year back, it is now a totally different scenario with Bazball coming to England and the Wall taking over the Indian reins. It just isn’t a change of coaching personnel but both the teams would be coming to this contest with new captains as Jasprit Bumrah or Rohit Sharma would be taking point for Team India while Ben Stokes would be spearheading the hosts.

India will be playing in the whites after almost three months as they played their last assignment against Sri Lanka in March. England, on the contrary, is in the midst of some serious form as they completed a whitewash of the Blackcaps, a completely different upshot from what the Kiwis did to them in the latter’s turf.

The Indian batting will have to be wary as they hope to bring the series home. There have been a lot of questions asked about the flailing middle-order. However, with the returning Pujara who seems to be in decent form, backed by the presence of Kohli, Iyer, Pant, and Jadeja, the fears may be allayed.

England, on the contrary, have seemed invincible at times under the new pair of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes while Joe Root’s imperious form still continues to hurt the opposition. More importantly, James Anderson has come alive in an even more menacing avatar, instilling fears in the hearts of the batters.

Team news:

Uncertainty about Rohit Sharma still continues as BCCI is still to clear the air around the Hitman testing negative for Covid. KL Rahul had to be ruled out even before the series preparations started owing to an injury.

Bumrah will lead the pack for the bowlers and would be accompanied by  Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, and Prasidh Krishna as they steam in with some hot pace while Jadeja and Ashwin would be teaming up for the spinners. With a wide range of batters available to choose from, the management would be hoping to pick the best possible combination to confront the mighty English bowlers.

Match details:

England vs India (5th Test, Test series)

Edgbaston, Birmingham

1st July – 5th July

3:30 PM IST

Head-to-head:

Total matches: 130

India: 31

England: 49

Draws: 50

Stats:

Virat Kohli is 40 runs away from becoming the fifth batter in the history of India-England rivalry in the longest format of the sport to rack up 2000 Test runs. Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Alistair Cook, and Joe Root are the only other four on the list.

Virat Kohli is the highest Indian run-scorer in a Test series against England as he hammered 655 runs in 2016/17 when England traveled to India.

Ravichandran Ashwin is just 5 wickets away from surpassing Anil Kumble’s 92 scalps which will make him the second-highest wicket-taker for India against England in Tests.

Squads:

India:

Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Srikar Bharat, Srikar Bharat, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav

England:

Alex Lees, Harry Brook, Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, Ben Stokes, Ben Foakes, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Craig Overton, Jack Leach, James Anderson, Jamie Overton, Matthew Potts, Stuart Broad