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After a thrilling first match, the England v India test series moves on to Trent Bridge this Friday and the exciting is already building.
Andrew Strauss’ men won the first test on a frantic final day at Lords to go 1-0 up in the series and it was a superb performance from the home side.
At least one of the batsmen stood up when needed. Kevin Pietersen’s knock in the first innings was sublime, while Matt Prior’s in the second was arguably match-winning.
Then, the bowling unit was superb throughout, but especially on the final day. Each of England’s four bowlers performed well for Strauss. It was particularly pleasing to see Stuart Broad return to form in this match.
The statistics show that England dominated of course, but India played their part in an incredible five days of cricket.
The tourists didn’t have much luck at Lords, with Zaheer Khan’s injury on the first day as well as Gautam Gambhir’s hit to the elbow and Sachin Tendulkar’s illness on the fourth day.
They still competed admirably though and with Zaheer – or at least a replacement seamer – in the mix for Trent Bridge, India will go again knowing that they can get on top of England.
There will be many twists and turns in this series and England won’t always have it their own way. India are not the No.1 test team in the world for nothing and they will bounce back.
MS Dhoni’s men were possibly undercooked ahead of the first match too. They only had one warm up game – a rain affected clash with Somerset at Taunton – in the build up and many have questioned whether this was enough ahead of a major series.
A lot could rest on the fitness of Zaheer. If he can come back into lead the attack alongside Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma, India have a bowling attack that can get to England. They can take 20 wickets.
As for the hosts, they will undoubtedly name an unchanged side as they look to go 2-0 up. England enjoy playing at Trent Bridge too, so they will be looking forward to this one.
Strauss’ men will go in as favourites, but they should be wary of a wounded India side that will have a full quota of bowlers to call upon.
You can follow the action from Trent Bridge from Friday morning at 11am.
