The second Investec Test between England and India begins today at the Mecca of Cricket in Lord’s. The first Test which ended three days ago ended in a high-scoring draw on what was a flat pitch at Nottingham. Lord’s too is expected to be a flattish surface and perhaps only the famous slope here going to test the young Indian bowlers and batsmen.
This second Test at Lord’s is going to kick off with some animosity between the two sides following India’s complaint against James Anderson for his alleged abuse and shoving of Ravindra Jadeja during the second day’s play at Trent Bridge. We will have to wait and see how Jimmy Anderson is going to react with the ball and whether his anger will destroy India or not.
Both the teams could retain the same XI that had drawn the first Test at Trent Bridge despite many talks of them getting the composition wrong. Simon Kerrigan has been included for the Lord’s Test but will England take the big risk of playing him instead of Moeen Ali looks very unlikely. India would welcome any such move though. Meanwhile, Stuart Binny is all set to play his second Test for India as a reward of his match-saving knock at Nottingham.
The conditions at Lord’s is pretty fine though rain is forecast for the weekend.
The match will be telecast live on Star Cricket channels in India and the start time is going to be 3:30 pm. The commentary panel includes Harsha Bhogle, former India Captains Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid along with Wasim Akram, Sanjay Manjrekar and Alan Wilkins.
India Squad: Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (Captain and Wicket Keeper), Stuart Binny, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Ishwar Pandey, Varun Aaron, Wriddhiman Saha (Wicket Keeper), Pankaj Singh
England Squad: Alastair Cook (Captain), Sam Robson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Matt Prior (Wicket Keeper), Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Liam Plunkett, Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes, Simon Kerrigan