India vs England 1st Test Match Prediction

Team Previews

India

Looking at the Indian squad and the recent Indian performances, we think that the top-5 select themselves. If all the players are fit then Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane select themselves.

This is a very strong batting lineup. Rohit Sharma is a giant in Indian conditions, Gill has shown us what he can do already, and Kohli is returning with a hunger for runs and a poor year behind him (by his standards at least). So much is spoken about Pujara’s defense that his strike rate and success against spin can be forgotten.

Rahane is a bit more tricky. He did not play well apart from a brilliant match-winning century in Melbourne and tends to struggle in turning conditions.

Whatever be the past, though, these are the five that will be the first names on the team sheet.

From here on in the tough decisions start. Does India play Wriddhiman Saha at 6 who is purported to be a better keeper than Pant? Dropping Pant after his heroics in Australia is unthinkable to us and would be a very harsh decision.

Does India play, both? Not likely either as that would compromise the five bowler theory Kohli and Shastri have always believed in.

Saha is coming close to the end of his career and we think it may be tough for him to break into the side unless Pant has a shocker in the first match.

Then the bowlers. Ashwin and Bumrah select themselves once more. India then has to decide whether it plays three spinners or two. Does it want to choose Washington Sundar for his better batting or Axar Patel for his left-arm angle? Does Mohammad Siraj get preference over Ishant Sharma? Is Hardik Pandya a factor here at all?

All of these are tough questions. We think India is going to go in with two spinners to start, Ashwin and Axar, and choose both Siraj and Ishant to partner Bumrah.

Either way, this is a strong team with a lot of depth.

England

England has decided to rest Jonny Bairstow for the test leg of this tour, a strange decision and one that we think they will come to regret. Without Bairstow, Joe Root is going to struggle for support.

He is a genius at number four and has shown that he is hungry for runs and to be counted among the Fab-4 once more. He averages over 100 against Sri Lanka and played the sweep shot effectively.

We have no doubt he is going to some runs in India as well and will likely be the highest run-getter for the tourists. What about the rest of the batting, though?

Rory Burns should take his place at the top of the order but will Dom Sibley get the nod or will Zak Crawley get another chance? Neither looked comfortable against spin but Sibley seemed to have made more of an improvement by the end of the Sri Lankan tour.

All three of these players should be picked, though, Jonny Bairstow is not available at three.

Either way, this is a weak top-3 and one that we expect India to knock over quickly in most matches.

Root will be followed by Ben Stokes at 5, Jos Buttler at 6, Ben Foakes at 7, Moeen Ali at 8, Jofra Archer at 9, Stuart Broad at 10, and then Jack Leach at 11.

That is a very deep batting lineup and the tail is certainly a lot more capable than what India has. If England can play out enough time, its lower-order is going to benefit against some tired Indian bowlers.

We think England is going to have to make the tough decisions of leaving out Dan Lawrence, Jimmy Anderson, and Dom Bess, all of whom did quite well on the Sri Lankan tour.

While this England team is not as strong as what we saw in 2012, they could well prove to be the toughest challenge that the Indian team has had at home in recent years.