Match Preview : IND Vs ENG 1st Test Match

Last night while I was watching Brazil getting destructed by Germany in the World Cup football, my friend asked me “Do you think India will also get a similar kind of beating by England in the test Series starting today?” It took me a while to answer it and said “NO”. And he asked me how could I say so? I had no answer but the gut feeling for India`s fortunes in this test series. India starts their Tour of England with the first Test match today in Nottingham.

Nottingham is known for producing seaming friendly tracks and has produced some test matches where the team gets bundled out for less than 200 on the first day itself. Such wickets just make a mockery of the touring batsmen and are proved to be inept in batting in such conditions. But the focus this year in Nottingham has been to produce an even track for both bowlers as well as batsmen which is a good sign for especially India. It`s because if India manages to start off the test series on a decent note, expect them to be mentally stable as compared to last year when India lost the spearhead Zak on the first day of the series and badly lost the entire series by 4-0. Ishant Sharma is the only fast bowler from the last tour who is still in the side.

The reason why my instinct was positive for India`s future in this series is that this team can score runs in England. I think a lot of batsmen have played various forms of cricket in England. We have got a world class Virat Kohli and rock solid Cheteshwar Pujara to handle the middle order. Do not forget the way Rahane batted in South Africa almost scoring his maiden hundred. The biggest concern has to be the opening pair for India. As we have seen in the past, a good start always makes it easy for the batsmen coming down the order. Dhoni should go in with the best 2 out of the 3 openers in the side on the basis of the form only because we need to start the series well.

India`s Bowling department has been said to be quite weak this time seeing the relative inexperience of our bowlers as against England`s. It will be tough to pick the 3 bowlers out of the six fast bowlers picked for the series. I will definitely pick Bhuvaneshwar Kumar in my side for his ability to swing the ball both ways although he lacks pace. Ishant Sharma has been a regular test team member and has also produced some good performance in South Africa and New Zealand. Remember India is playing such a long series after a long time in England and the fitness of these bowlers will be extremely important. Expect the bowlers to be rotated in the entire series. I also believe the selection of Stuat Binny is a good sign for this series as we have seen how India struggles in such conditions for a fifth bowling option especially the one who can bowl seam up. If the pitch suggests suiting spinners in the second half of the match, expect Jadeja to play in the eleven.

Finally, this is a chance for India to burn the memories of the past when they got white washed here. Dhoni would be eager to remove his name from the fact that he has not won a test match overseas in as many as 14 outings. Something which reminds us all of how Sourav Ganguly and his troops had started winning abroad.

Last but not least, to win a test match India needs to concentrate on very basic things like building partnerships, batsmen leaving balls outside off stump and bowlers bowling to a plan with patience.

Probable XI :
INDIA - Vijay, Gambhir, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Dhoni, Binny, Ashwin, Bhuvi, Ishant, Aaron.

EENGLAND - Cook, Robson, Ballance, Bell, Root, Moeen Ali, Prior, Stokes, Broad, Plunkett, Anderson.