England v India, 2018: Top 5 things to look ahead of the Test Series

It’s coming home!

No, It’s not some frantic statement by a hungover football fan but rather, one that is filled with expectations as test cricket, a purist’s carnival returns to its homeland.

After a roller-coaster of T20I and ODI games, where blows were traded, exposing each other of their weak spots, England edged past India in the latter format and India in the former.

The two teams face off in a long 5-match tug-of-war with India looking to prove their prowess as the top-ranked test team and England hoping to script the history books with their continued dominance over India at home.

Let’s take a look at what the series has to offer:

#1 England faces a herculean task

England’s domination of the shorter format seems to be balanced by their struggles in the longer formats. Their last three series with the red ball have seen them losing the urn in the Ashes 4–0 (5), surrendering to the Kiwis 1–0 (2) and drawing up with Pakistan 1–1 (2) which obviously suggests that they’ve had some key issues to address.

Among James Vince, Mark Stoneman and David Malan, only Malan has been able to hold onto his place with some consistent scoring, while Stoneman’s lack of success has reopened the door for Keaton Jennings.

England’s inability to pick 20-wickets

Moeen Ali’s repeated failure to either pick wickets at crucial junctures of the game or contribute with the bat has culminated in selectors replacing him with Dominic Bess. With the heatwave in England supposed to last long, coach Trevor Bayliss has added weight to the possibility of Adil Rashid returning to red-ball cricket.

While the re-inclusion of Jos Buttler to strengthen the tail and availability of Ben Stokes is welcome, the England team trying to plug its holes will look up to its senior players like Cook, Anderson and Broad for inspiration.