India Vs England Test Series Preview-Things To Expect From The England's Tour Of India

          England tour of India is just 4 days away as we kick off this 2 month long tour.  This Will be India's first home game since their last game in India was more than a year ago when they faced the Aussies in a 3 match One-Day series which India do won 2-1.  Their scheduled South Africa One Day Series at Home never kicked off as the first game was washed out and the next one was suspended due to the CoronaVirus Outbreak.

  India will finally step on home turf, but due to the strict restrictions, they will lack their immense supporters in the stadiums.  

          Another important fact is that this series is set to be held wholly in 3 locations, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Pune.  The biggest ground in the world right now with a capacity of 1,10,000 is going to make it's International debut for the second time in it's history.  It is the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, which has been renovated to hold a capacity of 1,10,000 members, but this Stadium will look deserted as no spectators are allowed to watch the match at the ground.

The Motera Stadium,Ahmedabad

  So let us get into the Format wise analysis of this Tour.  As you know first up is the Test Series.  Let us put on this curtain raiser fir the one days and T20's just before the start of those respective series. As for now we will focus on the test series.

Paytm Test Series:

            The Test Series is the first one to commence as the Test Championship is also nearing it's end.  We will have the Big Final of the Test Championship this June.  And most likely India and the Kiwis are the ones to battle it out at Lord's.  Let us come back to India now and look up to the home series ahead, England and India will play the first two tests at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

            Now, let us just look at the path that India have crossed coming up to this series,

            India are coming back from a thumping 2-1 victory against Aussies back at their home.

  India made a wonderful comeback with a B-Classed Indian team which had very low amount of it's stars, namely Pujara, Rahane and Rohit were the stars in the team and every other player was a youngster.  The positives from that series were those Youngsters, Pant finally looks to be at his full potential.

             This time against England, the big boys are back in full fitness and the youngsters will have to sit out.  Kohli is back after his paternal leave and Ashwin is back again and so has Ishant Sharma.  Last time England faced India in India, they got thrashed without any evidence as India ruthlessly put them into the coffin by defeating them 4 to nothing.  Ashwin was on the top of his game as simply ran through the England Batting Order for fun.

Ashwin Against England In 2016

  But can we expect the same this time around?  I bet not so.  The main reason that England might test India is that, they've been absolutely rampant in the last six months or so.  They haven't yet found their ideal opening pair after Alaistair Cook called it a day in 2018.  They had Rory Burns who was doing well for some time, got that Ashes Hundred and now Zack Crawley and Dom Sibley are largely inconsistent at the top level and we can expect Rory Burns getting back to the side with Sibley as his partner.  But to be fair the England team is still largely reliant on Joe Root for runs.

Root Scoring A Hundred.

  But, the biggest threat that England Posess is in the form of their Bowling attack, which is very deadly, Anderson is still in his peak,  Broad is doing some fantastic work as he has been doing for over a decade. Woakes has always been good, England might suffer while batting and could get things back their way with their bowling, so England would be really good contenders and could give India a tough fight.  India, given their recent form and their well-known bounce back ability, can never be ruled out even if they go one down early on the Series.  If India win this series they might well be back at the top of the Test Team Rankings.  Now let us sum up the Strengths and Weaknesses of the both teams. 

England-Strengths:

           England's strength lies in their captain Joe Root and their bowling.

 

Stokes might be one of the players' to watch out for.  Their bowing attack is indeed a plus point but as usual Anderson and Broad might step up and do the job for the English Men.

England-Weaknesses:

           As I said, England are heavily reliant on their captain Joe Root, so if he fails to perform, then England might be in trouble.  Woakes is a little injury ridden for the last few months and his absence at any point of the series might affect England's chances.  Their spin attack is the area where they lack a lot, they seemed to struggle against Sri Lanka at times but managed it through their Pacers.

Mathews Easily Tackled The Spinners Out.

  At a subcontinent track, going without any accomplished spinner is a big risk and England might suffer a lot due to this.

           And now let us get to the strengths of the Home team.

India-Strengths:

          India's biggest strength is that they have made home turf a fortress.  I couldn't recall the last time that they lost a Series at home.  On My perspective, India might just edge out England in this Series, given their impressive home record over the years.  Apart from that, India's key players would be their top 5 as they rarely fail at batting when it comes to home conditions. 

India-Weaknesses:

           India Do have some weaknesses from their side as well.  Even with the inclusion of Hardik Pandya, they do lack that extra pacer, given Pandya is not fit enough to bowl 10-20 overs in a test match.  This lacking option might lead to heavy workload on Bumrah, Siraj and Ishant, mostly the effects of this workload can be seen on Ishant sharma.

Ishant Sharma Training With India Coming Back From His Injury.

  Who is just coming after a long injury break.  So if India have an extra pacer it would let Ishant gradually and slowly come to his best.  This is what is India's only weakness, other than that India have all their bases covered, Rohit and Gill will open the batting and followed by brick wall Pujara and Captain Kohli and Deputy Rahane.  He will get backed up by an in-form Pant and Sundar would back up Jaddu's position.  Ashwin will retain his position and will be followed by the three pacers Ishant, Siraj and Bumrah. I see no place for Pandya and only see him as a replacement for someone. 

That is it, my verdict for this series is an India win, England might give a good fight but India Will most certainly see it through.  Until then it is your own Sportscurator who is signing off.