🏏 India vs England 2021 - Full schedule, Squads, Match Previews, Results & Discussions

[Yogesh]

India announces squad for upcoming home series against England.

In main points, Hardik walks in a specialist batsman, Axar Patel gets a call up as bowling all rounder in place of Jaddu, Natrajan has been rested. Here is the whole squad.

Main squad:
Openers: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal

Middle-order: Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul (subject to fitness after first Test)

Fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur

Spinners: R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel

Standbyes: KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Priyank Panchal

Net bowlers: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, K Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar

[Sagar]

Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer Return To England’s Squad For First Two Tests vs India

England Men’s Test Squad: Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

Reserves: James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Amar Virdi.

[Sagar]

India vs England 2021 Complete Schedule:

Tests:

• 1st Test: February 05-09, MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, 09: 30 AM IST
• 2nd Test: February 13-17, MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, 09: 30 AM IST
• 3rd Test: February 24-28, Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad, 02:30 PM IST [D/N Test]
• 4th Test: March 04-08, Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad, 09:30 PM IST

T2oIs: [All matches will take place in Ahmedabad]

• 1st T20I, March 12, 07:00 PM IST
• 2nd T20I, March 14, 07:00 PM IST
• 3rd T20I, March 16, 07:00 PM IST
• 4th T20I, March 18, 07:00 PM IST
• 5th T20I, March 20, 07:00 PM IST

ODIs: [All matches will take place in Pune]

• 1st ODI, March 23, 01:30 PM IST
• 2nd ODI, March 26, 01:30 PM IST
• 3rd ODI, March 28, 01:30 PM IST

[Aman]

Full Squads

India (First two Tests):

Virat Kohli ©, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (WK), Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur.

Net bowlers:

Ankit Rajpoot, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar, Avesh Khan

Standby players:

Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Priyank Panchal, KS Bharat

England squad (First two Tests):

Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Dom Sibley, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, James Anderson.

[Himanshu]

Team India begin Net Session Ahead of 1st Test at Chennai vs England

The first Test is scheduled to start on February 5.

India would start overwhelming favourites considering they would be playing at home. Reports suggest that the Chennai pitch would have a tinge of green on it, which would make things interesting.

India cannot afford to take England lightly as they are a formidable unit and have recently defeated Sri Lanka 2-0.

The first two Tests would be played in Chennai where the players of both sides will stay in an IPL-like bubble.

[Sagar]

England win the toss and choose to bat first .
Playing XIs for the first Ind vs Eng Test in Chennai

[Kuldeep]

IND vs ENG Test 1 - DAY#1

* for Joe Root

for Dominic Sibley

wickets for Jasprit Bumrah

Milestone man Root hits brilliant ton as England dominate India to reach 263/3

Root (128 batting, 197 balls) showed his mastery over slow bowlers during his 20th hundred and third in as many Tests, becoming the ninth player in the history of the game to score a ton on his 100th appearance.

He also admirably guided young opener Dom Sibley (87 off 286 balls), who showed commendable game awareness and enormous doggedness during their 200-run partnership for the third wicket before Jasprit Bumrah (2/40) got him in the final over of the day.

Root’s innings was an exhibition of how to construct an innings on a low, slow track while countering a hostile post-lunch spell from Ishant Sharma (15-3-27-0) where he got the ball to reverse swing.

Root’s speciality, the sweep shot, was also brought out of the closet once Indian spinners started altering the length.

Unlike a lot of batsmen, who in a premeditated fashion, come down the track, Root and Sibley waited for the Indian spinners to toss up the ball before they took the plunge.

Scorecard

[Sagar]

Scoring 50+ in debut inngs both home and away (India)
Rusi Modi
S Amarnath
Arun Lal
S Ganguly
S Raina
H Pandya
M Agarwal
W SUNDAR

[Sagar]

ACHIEVEMENT!!

Ishant Sharma became the only 3rd bowler in the Indian cricket history to take 300 wickets in Test Cricket!!

434 Kapil Dev
311 Zaheer Khan
300 Ishant Sharma

[Sagar]

A 28th (!!!) five-wicket haul in Tests for Ravichandran Ashwin.

[Sagar]

Most wickets after 75 Test matches
420 - M Muralidharan
386 - R Ashwin
383 - Dale Steyn
378 - Richard Hadlee
358 - Glenn McGrath

[Himanshu]

IND vs ENG 1st Test: England Outclass India In Chennai To Take 1-0 Series Lead

India vs England Test Highlights:

• Jack Leach and James Anderson helped England register a 227-run win over India in the first Test match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

• In reply to England’s target of 420 runs, India could only muster a second innings score of 192 in 58.1 overs. Virat Kohli was the top performer for India with a knock of 72 runs off 104 balls, but his half-century went in vain as England bowlers put in a fine performance.

To summarize this Test match:
England outplayed India comprehensively in all the facets of the game. Joe Root’s double century laid the platform as the touring team posted a gigantic total on the board. India were not at their absolute best with the bat in the first innings as they failed to save the follow-on. Although England didn’t enforce it and came out to bat again. In their second innings, it was all about scoring quick runs and building on their 241-run lead however Root was criticized for not declaring the innings. Anyway, the English skipper knew what he was doing and his bowlers backed him by picking 10 wickets in the second innings as well.

[Himanshu]

A huge win over India in the first Test has propelled England to the top of the ICC World Test Championship standings

[Parthiv]

Qualification scenarios for the WTC21finals:

India can still qualify if…
2-1
3-1

England qualify if…

3-0

3-1

4-0

Australia qualify if…

1-0

2-0

2-1

1-1

2-2

[Parthiv]

For his stellar knock of 218 in the first innings, Joe Root has been awarded the Player of the Match

[Aman]

Joe Root’s 26th Test win as England captain

No England skipper has won more.

[Sagar]

England have named a 16-member squad for the five-match #INDvENG T20I series, starting 12 March.

[Himanshu]

India vs England 2nd Test: Feb 13-17, Chennai

For the second Test starting on Saturday, the pitch has a “darker soil”, as England’s new wicketkeeper Ben Foakes put it, and it is going “to turn earlier than what it did in the first Test”.

"There’s no doubt the sweep had a big effect on the first match and India need to find solutions. For that they need to get the team combination right,” former national selector and opening batsman Devang Gandhi told TOI.

India may use Axar Patel to check England’s sweep. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel, who took an injection to treat an injured right knee and was ruled out of the first Test, was back in practice and did both batting and bowling in the nets.

“India are sorely missing Ravindra Jadeja, the pace that he bowls doesn’t allow the batsmen to sweep. Axar hits the right areas and will probably do a decent job,” Gandhi said.

While adjustments in the bowling attack is the way forward for the second Test, the batsmen, too need to do better than what they did in the first Test.

Sweep is a shot that no one other than Rishabh Pant in the Indian toporder plays. So, it will be crucial that the batsmen use their feet more and negate the threat that the English spinners, who took 11 of the 20 Indian wickets in the first Test, pose.

[Jay]

IND vs ENG 2nd Test - Fans return to Live Cricket

The second Test at Chepauk, which starts on Saturday, will be the first instance of fans being allowed for a sporting event in India since the Covid-19 outbreak in March last year.

With only 50% crowd capacity permitted for this Test, fans will have to be seated in every alternate chair so that social distancing is maintained at all times.

In order to ensure that all the protocols are followed, elaborate arrangements are in place.

[Sagar]