*Official* First Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham - Aug 4-8 - 2021

[honestbharani]

Likely XIs -

England	India
Rory Burns	Rohit Sharma
Dom Sibley	K L Rahul
Dan Lawrence / Zak Crawley	Cheteshwar Pujara
Joe Root (c)	Virat Kohli (c)
Ollie Pope	Ajinkya Rahane (vc)
Jos Buttler (wk) (vc)	Rishabh Pant (wk)
Sam Curran	Ravindra Jadeja
Ollie Robinson	Ravichandran Ashwin
Jack Leach	Ishant Sharma
Stuart Broad	Mohammed Shami / Mohammed Siraj
James Anderson	Jasprit Bumrah

 

[wpdavid]

I don't see Lawrence being an option at 3. If we're right about Buttler and Curran at 6 & 7 respectively, then Lawrence and Pope are competing for one play at number 5. We've left out Bairstow, Bess, Hameed and Wood, which seems fair enough to me.

 

[harsh.ag]

Cracker of a test in the offing.

Since England are without the services of Jadeja lite, India are toying with the idea of

D R O P P I N G
R
O
P
P
I
N
G

the best player in the world.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

England bat all the way from #4 down to #4.

 

[morgieb]

Stokes's withdrawal really, really hurts that English lineup. They do play better at home but will be tough to see them staying with this team.

Why did Rahul overtake Gill, though?

EDIT: Didn't realise Gill was injured.

 

[silentstriker]

Indian batting lineup is definitely short of form, and playing in English conditions is the hardest place for them to regain it. It'll be fantastic watching!

 

[Anil]

i think england will win this series easily...india's batting is too fragile especially in english conditions...

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

i think england will win this series easily...india's batting is too fragile especially in english conditions...

England's batting is pretty fragile in English conditions too. India have a good chance of winning the series.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Stokes's withdrawal really, really hurts that English lineup. They do play better at home but will be tough to see them staying with this team.

Why did Rahul overtake Gill, though?

EDIT: Didn't realise Gill was injured.

Gill also looked dreadful in India against Anderson. In any case, even without Stokes, England should be favourites for the series. India's bating is at its lowest collective level since the 90s.

Dropping Jadeja is a mistake imo but if they do it for an extra pacer its atleast understandable. But the tail is so terrible that without him, India is pretty much 5 out allout.

 

[Cricket.Ticket]

I have tickets for India vs England @Lords on Sat, 14th August and Sun, 15th Aug. Unfortunately I can't go as will be quaranting after India visit.

Drop me a line cricket.ticket2021 @ gmail . com if anyone interested to buy.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

India's bating is at its lowest collective level since the 90s.

Again, this is probably true of England too, and that's a lower bar to limbo under.

 

[Uppercut]

How does the India attack match up to England’s?

Their batting looks a lot better on paper, even if they’re out of form and in unfavourable conditions. But England have a good attack out.

 

[GIMH]

England bat all the way from #4 down to #4.

Pfft. We’ve got a centurion at 10

 

[Pothas]

Going to this tomorrow.

I really don't want us to bat.

 

[Pothas]

Stokes's withdrawal really, really hurts that English lineup. They do play better at home but will be tough to see them staying with this team.

No Woakes makes it so much worse as well.

 

[Niall]

England are strong favs, India's batting is not good.

The top order is unimpressive, Rohit who is a SC bully, Rahul average in tests, Rahane and Pujara who are inconsistent and in probable decline while Kohli is slighty decining. Pant is a loon while the lower order is a disgrace.

 

[Pup Clarke]

I feel this England side is far too fragile to be declared as strong favourites. All it takes is for Kohli to return to form and the likes of Pujara/Rahane to make decent contributions and India will be game in every test. They have an extremely strong bowling attack which will makes the series close imo

 

[Daemon]

Rohit is our second best batsman after Kohli right now imo. Even in England.

 

[honestbharani]

That is just sad and shows how much Rahane has declined though. I would actually say in terms of scoring runs than just looking good out there, it goes -

Pant
Jadeja
Rohit
Virat

right now. Virat has to get out of his own head a bit and see how to get runs than just trying to play every ball in the most perfect way possible. That has only gotten pretty 40s and 70s at best.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

I hope my boy Hanuman makes the xi tomorrow