England vs India 2018, second Test: Preview

England

England would be a confident team going into the second Test. A couple of changes are expected in the team that played at Edgbaston. Malan makes way for debutant Ollie Pope. Ben Stokes, facing trial in late night brawl case, will miss the action.

This will be a major setback for England. Chris Woakes has been roped in as Stoke's replacement. Rest of the squad should remain the same. In the last game, England had seven left-handers in their line-up. This worked in favour of the opposition as India had a world-class off-spinner in form of Ravi Ashwin.

English batting was found wanting against the Indian pace battery as well. They would want to improve upon that. There were a number of dropped catches in the slip cordon and England would want to rectify it going forward.

India

The first Test match highlighted the vulnerability of Indian batsmen against the moving ball. It was literally a one-man show in both the innings as Kohli did the bulk of the scoring. Indian captain would want his batsmen to show more character while batting in the middle.

India is expected to make some changes in the batting department. Pujara might come in place of Rahul or Pandya. Kohli might go in with the former as Pandya gives him an additional bowling option. Indian bowling for once looked at home in foreign conditions.

The pace trio troubled the English batsmen in the first innings and did not allow free runs. Ashwin bowled beautifully and tested the English batsmen. Kohli might be tempted to bring another spinner going by the nature of the track at Lords

All in all, this should be another gripping contest. Rain might play a spoilsport as there are some showers expected on third and fourth day.