Context
After their win against Sri Lanka last month, England’s test cricketers face a tougher task away against India, with the first of a four match test series starting tomorrow in Chennai
It promises to be an exciting series with England fresh of their 2-0 win over Sri Lanka and India high on confidence after beating Australia in their own backyard in a historic series last month.
It will be an early morning for England fans with the test getting underway at 4:00 in the morning. There is some good news though because for the first time since 2005 England Test Cricket will be free to air for fans after Channel 4 secured the rights to the series over Sky.
Our Test tour of India will be shown on @Channel4 ๐
โ England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 3, 2021
Everything you need to know about the series ๐
๐ฎ๐ณ #INDvENG ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ
Team News
There has been both good and bad news in terms of team selection for England. The bad news is that batsman Zak Crawley has been ruled out of the first two Tests against India after spraining his wrist slipping outside the changing room. There is better news regarding Ollie Pope as the Surrey batsmen is available for selection after missing the Sri Lanka series through injury. Elsewhere, star players Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer are in contention having been rested for the Sri Lanka series.
England captain Joe Root is also reaching a personal milestone by playing in his 100th test match tomorrow. Root has been speaking about his side ahead of this series and his own personal career as he reaches that milestone.
The Test debut ๐
โ England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 3, 2021
The 100th Test cap ๐งข
The future ๐ฎ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐บ
Full @Root66 interview ๐
Root’s opposite number Virat Kohli has been singing Root’s praises saying “He’s someone who has really become that face of England’s batting over the years. When we play England, Joe is always that vital wicket that we look to get early on in the innings. That is a compliment to his game, to the longevity and consistency over so many years. Hopefully in the future we can sit down and have a nice long chat about how our journeys have gone and playing each other over so many years.”
Here are the squads for both teams for the first two tests:
India – Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur
England – Joe Root (Yorkshire, capt), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Dom Bess (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wk), Ben Foakes (Surrey, wk), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Olly Stone (Warwickshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).
Predictions
It certainly looks like a difficult task for England against India away from home. The Indians will be riding high after that performance against Australia and are always incredibly difficult to beat at home. They have arguably the best batsmen in the world in Virat Kohli and a great young bowling attack. Check out this Park Life Sport podcast as we preview the series in India
Root’s young England side will go into the series with no fear and be looking to show what they can do. They have experienced head around them that have done it before such as Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes. A lot of England’s chances rest on how Joe Root performs with the bat and if he does similar to the series against Sri Lanka, England will run India all the way.
It promises to be a fascinating series and with it all being free to air England will be hoping it inspires a brand new generation to fall in love with cricket
