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Match Facts
August 10-14, Edgbaston
Start time 11.00 (1000GMT)
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The Big Picture
In 1981 the race riots were an undercurrent throughout a summer where
England claimed a famous Ashes series victory. Thirty years later the
unrest which began in London and has now spread elsewhere has
overshadowed the build-up to a Test match where they can go No. 1 in the
world with victory over India.
The England team were locked in their hotel on Monday evening, while
India were keeping tabs on the situation, but the match is expected to
go ahead as planned at a new-look Edgbaston which has undergone
extensive redevelopment. The hosts are a win away from taking over from
India at the top spot in Test cricket and they will take some stopping
in their current form.
India have been a major disappointment during the opening two matches
except for the herculean efforts of Rahul Dravid and occasional bursts
from their pace bowlers. The batsmen have failed to reach 300 in four
innings, while the support bowling for the quicks has been awful and
the fielding often poor. For a side that came with such a mighty tag it
has been quite a fall from grace.
MS Dhoni, himself in a poor run of form, and coach Duncan Fletcher
have a major challenge. They will hope the return of Virender Sehwag
can provide an x-factor but he's played hardly any cricket recently,
falling for 8 against Northamptonshire over the weekend. Still, he has
never been a player to value warm-up matches too highly.
Despite England's outstanding performances it is now that they could
be at their most vulnerable. They have a recent track record of losing
their way when a major target is there for the taking; at Headingley in
2009 and Perth in 2010 they stumbled with the Ashes up for grabs
before recovering to claim the prize while last summer against Pakistan
they lost at The Oval having been 2-0 up. This time they'll be
desperate not to leave the series open.
Form guide
(Most recent first)
England WWDDW
India LLDDW
Watch out for...
India have sent out their SOS - Send our Sehwag. After three months on the sidelines with a shoulder injury
Virender Sehwag
has returned to action although it remains to be seen how effective he
can be. His shoulder is still causing trouble and he's also suffered
partial deafness. Yet he has the ability to open some old scars. His 83
off 68 balls in Chennai was the key innings in India's successful run
chase during the 2008 series against England. Sehwag is the type of
batsman who can score a hundred in a session and give a struggling team
belief. Still, it's asking a huge amount of one cricketer.
Another batsman returning to Test cricket, although under different circumstances, is
Ravi Bopara.
However, with Jonathan Trott unlikely to be absent for long it is set
to be a one-off chance for Bopara to show his game has matured to make
him a viable option in the Test team. He'll slot in at No. 6, a more
natural position than No. 3 where Australia found him out, but still
needs to convince he has the technique and temperament for the top
level. However, having narrowly missed out to Eoin Morgan earlier in the
summer he knows he's still the next in line.
Team news
With Trott and Chris Tremlett ruled out England don't face any
last-minute selection issues. Steven Finn is part of the squad but won't
keep out Tim Bresnan after his outstanding display at Trent Bridge.
Bopara is likely to bat at No. 6 on his Test return which means Morgan
moving up one spot.
England (probable): 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2
Alastair Cook, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ravi
Bopara, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Graeme
Swann, 11 James Anderson.
India know they'll be without Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj
Singh for the rest of the tour, but will at least be able to welcome
back Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to strengthen the batting and
allow everyone to play in their usual positions. Given Suresh Raina's
problems against the short ball Virat Kohli, who replaced Yuvraj, may be
considered while Amit Mishra is still favourite to come in for
Harbhajan despite talk of a four-man pace attack.
India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam
Gambhir, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Suresh
Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (c) (wk), 8 Amit Mishra, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Ishant
Sharma, 11 Sreesanth.
Pitch and conditions
The surface was very green in the days leading up to the game and
although some grass will be taken off there should still be plenty to
encourage the seamers. However, Steve Rouse, the Edgbaston groundsman,
said there won't be much pace. The ground has had problems with wickets
this summer and one Championship pitch was ruled 'poor' and cost
Warwickshire eight points. The forecast, meanwhile, is mixed with rain
expected to be around at times.
Stats and trivia
- England have won four out of five Tests against India at Edgbaston
although the two teams haven't met on this ground since 1996, when
Nasser Hussain and Sachin Tendulkar scored hundreds.
- Kevin Pietersen averages 60.57 at this ground but the next best among the fit England batsmen is Andrew Strauss's 32.10.
- For a full stats preview click hereQuotes
"Even in the two Tests we've played, there are moments when we've
really had our backs to the wall. We're not expecting anything
different from them, we're going to have to work very hard and
hopefully earn the right to get on top in this Test match."
Andrew Strauss refuses to take India lightly.
"If he nicks it and doesn't walk it may be different, but apart from that he's quite good."
MS Dhoni doesn't think Virender Sehwag's partial deafness will be much of an issue.
Preview source:cricinfo.com