Time: August 12, 3:30 PM IST
Venue: Lord’s, London
Pitch report
The weather in London will be warm throughout the week. The rain may not make as many appearances as it did in the first Test, but the clouds are likely to loom over for most of the game.
The pitch will have a film of grass as we witnessed at Nottingham, but this time, we will see more swing at the start of the match.
Teams
England did all they could with the ball, and it is too early to comment on their batting performances. Perhaps, they would start making changes if things fall apart after the Lord’s Test.
Probable XI for England: Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Zak Crawley, Joe Root (c), Jonny Bairstow, Daniel Lawrence, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad, James Anderson
India have revealed their strategy, that they will decide their XI based on the conditions. R Ashwin is likely to be benched again.
Probable XI for India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
Fantasy tips
We have opted for a fantasy cricket team based on the recent performances, overall impact, and credit points.
Players to watch out for
KL Rahul has made vital changes in his technique. He goes towards the ball rather than staying square of it. This helps him read the ball better and leave it when needed: he latched on to it when pitched full and played it late past the slip cordon when it was slightly short. He scored a total of 110 runs including 18 fours. His last three scores in England read 149, 84, and 26.
Joe Root was awarded the Player of the Match for his scores of 64 and 109. Despite the fall of wickets at the other end, he continued his counterattack and kept India on the backfoot. He has an excellent record at Lord’s: in 15 Tests he has scored 1,271 at 47 including 3 hundreds and 5 fifties.
Stuart Broad may not have bowled his best in the opening Test, but his batting record at Lord’s makes him an effective player in fantasy cricket. In 24 Tests, he has managed 891 runs including a hundred and four fifties. With the ball, his numbers are even better: 94 wickets at 27.9. However, it will be difficult to leave out Ollie Robinson, who sniped up a five-wicket haul, from your team. Decisions, decisions!
James Anderson is the highest wicket-taker at the venue. His 105 wickets have come at an incredible average of 24.6.
Ravindra Jadeja is easy-going. He batted as if he was playing on a subcontinent wicket, with ease and comfort. His fielding was flawless as usual. And he managed to turn the ball in the second innings, although he ended up wicketless.
Of the current lot, only Ajinkya Rahane has a hundred and Jadeja has a fifty at Lord’s. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli has scores of 25, 0, 23, and 17.
Jasprit Bumrah squashed all the talks of him being out of form. A spirit-lifting 28 runs and a total of 9 wickets showed that he has got it all.
Prediction
India won a Test at Lord’s in 2014, but is their only win here this century; they lost the remaining 4 games. However, they looked like a better team last week. Their batters especially showed discipline and grit needed to survive and score in such conditions, and the bowlers attacked the stumps, with no fear of giving away runs.
England, on the other hand, were saved by Root’s batting in both innings, and only two of their four pacers looked threatening. To put things into perspective, we are in for a crackerjack of a contest.
Read today’s match prediction to pick your best fantasy team.