IND Vs. ENG Test 2: England to Face Blues with Injury Concerns Tomorrow; Preview, Updates and Playing XI

With the flashy start at Trent Bridge of India’s tour of England both the teams will square off against each other at the ‘home of cricket,’ Lords, London between Aug 12-16.

Despite showing masterclass in the first test it was called off on the final and decider day due to heavy rains and unplayable conditions. Team India would be more disappointed by the draw result as they were the favorite for the winner on the day five while England became fortunate to avoid a losing start.

In the second test both the teams will play up to their strength as India looks quite balanced after the glittery comebacks of KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah in the first test and provided likes by Jadeja and Siraj in the both departments, while England’s side has major batting line up problems to solve.

Except Joe Root India’s destructive bowling unit easily managed to roll out England’s batting line-up on the other hand Indian middle order too surprisingly and completely failed against England’s pace attack. Both the teams will seem to follow more technical approach in the batting performance in the Lord’s test.

But this time, England will have some injury concerns, that too in their only strong area, bowling department! Stuart Broad is likely to miss out after injuring his calf in training on Tuesday while James Anderson has a tight quad and is also a doubt. Mark Wood is set to make the team while Saqib Mahmood has been added to the squad and could make a debut as well. Moeen Ali's recall to the squad almost certainly means he is going to play too.

On the other hand, Shardul Thakur, has a hamstring niggle and has been advised rest. It remains to be seen if there's a comeback for Ishant Sharma or Ravi Chandran Ashwin. Seeing the batting line up there are more chances for Ashwin while Ishant can be played in the place of Siraj seeing his feet at Lord’s from 2014.

Playing XI:

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja Ravichandran Ashwin/Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

England: Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, James Anderson/Saqib Mahmood