(Cricket news) The first test at Trent Bridge ended in a draw after rain stopped play for the entire last day. Rain robbed cricket fans of what would've been an exciting end to the first test. Nevertheless, a lot of cricket is left to play with the next Test match set to begin on 12th August at the home of cricket- Lords.
India have only won 2 test matches at Lords, one in 1986 and another one in 2014. The records clearly favour England but given the recent form of both the teams, things are in India's favour. In the first test match at Trent Bridge, India needed 157 runs to win on day 5 with 9 wickets in hand. Rain washed out the entire day but India had the upper hand for the majority of the game.
England have a lot of questions to answer after no batsman apart from Joe Root crossed 50 runs in the two innings. Stuart Broad didn't have the best of games with the ball while Sam Curran bowled only 15 overs throughout the game. James Anderson and Ollie Robinson bowled well in sections but lacked a bit of consistency.
India will not get a better chance of winning a Test series in England. A win at Lord's will set a perfect path for Virat Kohli's men to win in England after back to back wins in Australia. The series becomes more important if put in the context of the World Test Championship.
Possible Playing XI:
England
Lords unlike Trent Bridge will assist the spinners towards the end of the match. So England will be looking to accommodate Jack Leach by either dropping Sam Curran or moving him up the order and dropping Dan Lawrence to play 5 bowlers. Haseeb Hameed who got a hundred in the warm up game against India could replace out of form Zak Crawley at number 3.
India
Ravichandran Ashwin should return to the side to replace Shardul Thakur. Ishant Sharma and Mayank Agarwal will be fit for the 2nd test but it is tough to see them come back in the side given the performance of their replacements.
Player to look out for: Mohammed Shami
Shami took four wickets in the first game but the numbers don't do justice to his performance. Bowling with the new ball in the first innings, Shami caused a lot of trouble to England's batsmen. Shami was getting the ball to seam swing on a consistent basis throughout the game. Throughout the game Shami provided excellent support to Jasprit Bumrah by keeping things tight from the other end as Bumrah took 9 wickets. India will need Shami to fire on all cylinders at Lords. The pacer has made himself undroppable with his performance in the first game and the WTC final.
