India and England face off in the first of five Tests at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot from November 9. India go into the series as huge favourites with an imperious home record in Test cricket over the last three years.
In fact, the last side to defeat India in a Test series in India were Alastair Cook’s England in late 2012. Since then, the Indians have won 12 out of the 13 Tests they have played at home, with one rain-affected game ending in a draw.
India are currently the number one team on the ICC Test Rankings and will be hoping to stay true to form and get one over England – a team whom they have failed to beat in a Test series since 2008.
England, on the other hand, are coming off a drawn series against Bangladesh – a series they were widely expected to win. Expectations are not high this time around, but just like 2012, Cook and his team will be keen to prove their doubters wrong once again.
DATE, TIME, VENUE INFO
Date: 9 November 2016 – 13 November 2016
Time: 09:30 local time (IST), 04:00 GMT, 08:00 GST
Venue: Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot
WHERE TO WATCH, LIVE STREAMING INFO
TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD, India – Star Sports 1, HD 1 (English), Star Sports 3, HD 3 (Hindi), UK – Sky Sports 2 HD
Online streaming: starsports.com, Hotstar app (in India only)
LIVE blog: Sport360 blog
TEAM NEWS, SQUAD, PREDICTED XI
INDIA SQUAD: Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.
Although India seemed to have a settled Test squad, the injuries to Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan have opened up some spots in the team. While Gautam Gambhir is the ready-made replacement as an opening batsman, it will be interesting to see who fills up the void left by Rohit’s absence.
With Rohit out, Karun Nair has been added into the squad, but one must not be surprised if India decide to play an extra bowler instead and revert back to a five bowlers strategy. There’s a possibility that Hardik Pandya might be played as the number six batsman, as well as play the role of a second seamer.
Amit Mishra was in supreme form in the ODI series against New Zealand, so he definitely has a very good chance of playing on Wednesday as India might prefer going in with three spinners after seeing England’s recent struggles against spin in Bangladesh.
Ishant Sharma, who missed the New Zealand series due to chikungunya, is back in the squad and is likely to feature in the playing XI.
PREDICTED INDIA XI: Vijay, Gambhir, Pujara, Kohli (c), Rahane, Ashwin, Saha (wk), Jadeja, Mishra, Shami, Ishant.
ENGLAND SQUAD: Alastair Cook (c), Moeen Ali, Zafar Ansari, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Gareth Batty, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Duckett, Steven Finn, Haseeb Hameed, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes,
England come into this tour with huge pressure on them after failing to win the Test series in Bangladesh. Their top-order failed in nearly every innings against Bangladesh and that is a big worry for the visitors.
Captain Alastair Cook has confirmed that 19-year-old Haseeb Hameed will make his debut at Rajkot, with Ben Duckett being pushed to the number four spot. Gary Ballance misses out after a poor series in Bangladesh.
In the bowling department, England are expected to go in with three quick bowlers and three spinners. With Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid likely to play, the spot for the third spinner sees Zafar Ansari up against Gareth Batty.
Pacer James Anderson has joined the touring party, but will remain unavailable for the first Test.
PREDICTED ENGLAND XI: Cook, Hameed, Root, Duckett, Stokes, Bairstow (wk), Ali, Woakes, Ansari, Rashid, Broad.
FORM
(Last five matches – with latest match first)
INDIA: W W W D W
ENGLAND: L W L W W
MATCH PREDICTION
India to win.
