India vs England, India vs England 2021, Today Match Prediction 05 Feb 2021

ind vs eng Match Prediction & Analysis

Cricket is all set to return to the Indian sub-continent after the COVID halt for about nearly 10 months. England will take on India in a full tour comprising of 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs, & 4 Tests starting off with the tests. This series holds great importance in the ICC Test Championship as the results of the series will decide the second finalist alongside New Zealand. Apart from India & England, Australia too has a chance depending on the series result. India has been the toughest place for the visitors and the Indian team will be high on confidence after their historic series win down under. England need to play their best game to challenge this Indian team in their home conditions.

TEAMS PREVIEW

India Preview

Virat Kohli will return to the squad and take over the captaincy duties of the team. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will open the batting with experienced trio of Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane to form a strong middle order. Rishabh Pant is the front runner for wicket-keeping role after his heroics in Australia.

Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are expected to play as the frontline pacers in the team. Hometown boy Ravi Ashwin will lead the bowling attack and Kuldeep Yadav is expected to be second spinner. Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, and Mohammed Siraj will fight out for the last spot in playing XI in this match.

Top players to bet on:

Cheteshwar Pujara – Pujara spent more time than anyone else in the tough batting conditions in Australia facing nearly 900+ balls. We expect him to score big runs in this series and tire the opposition bowling attack.  

Ravi Ashwin – Ashwin has 254 wickets in just 43 matches in Indian conditions. He will look to add more wickets to his tally in this series and he as in superb form in Australia picking up 12 wickets in 3 matches.  

India Predicted Playing XI:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane,  Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar/Shardul Thakur

India Actual Playing XI:

Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Shahbaz Nadeem, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma

England Preview

Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, and Rory Burns are expected to slot in the top-3 batting positions of the team. Skipper Joe Root and Jos Buttler are expected to slot in the middle order alongside All-rounders Moeen Ali & Ben Stokes in the playing XI. Dan Lawrence or Ollie Pope might get a nod if England decide to go in with an extra batsmen.

James Anderson, Stuart Broad were impressive in Sri Lanka recently and will fight out with Jofra Archer for the two pace bowler`s spot in the XI. Jack leach is expected to be the second spinner alongside Moeen Ali and the third spinner`s (Dom Bess) need might be decided depending on the pitch conditions.

Top players to bet on:

Joe Root – Root is all set to play his 100th test and he comes into this series after scoring 426 runs in just 2 matches with a 228 & 186 to his name. He will look to set the tone of the series with a superb knock in the opening match itself.      

Jofra Archer – Arche has a huge success in shorter formats in the Indian soil and will look to translate it into the longer formats too. He will look to trouble the batsmen with his raw pace and swing with the new ball.

England Predicted Playing XI:

Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Rory Burns, Joe Root (C), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Jack Leach, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad/James Anderson, Dom Bess/Ollie Pope

England Actual Playing XI:

Joe Root, Jofra Archer, Jack Leach, Daniel Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler, Dom Bess, James Anderson, Ben Stokes, Dominic Sibley, Rory Burns

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

Chennai is expected to have a hot and humid climate on all the match days. No rain or weather interruptions are expected in this match. This match will be played in front of empty stands as no crowd is allowed for the first test.   

Venue Details

Chennai has been traditionally a spinner friendly track and the curator has promised a slight English nature to the track this time. India posted a massive 759 runs here when they batted against England. We expect both teams to score heavily in the first innings with 400+ scores.

Toss: To Bat

First 3 days will be the best conditions to bat in the sub-continental conditions and both teams will look to bat first and post a big score on board.