It is a deja vu situation as India will take on England in the second Test match at Vizag from Friday onwards. Back in 2021, England won the opening Test match at Chennai by 227 runs and once again the visitors won the first Test at Hyderabad by 28 runs.
That India went on to win 2021 series by 3-1, will give Rohit Sharma and co. a lot of confidence. We look at the current form, head-to-head, players to look out for, and squads of both teams in our match preview.
Current form for India: L W L D W
It is a rare sight that India loses a Test match at home but they have failed to register a win in their last three home games. The hosts will be determined to turn the tables but they have suffered injury blows as Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been ruled out.
Current form for England: W W W D W
England were able to impress as they made a fine comeback despite conceding a lead of 190 runs. Stokes’ deputy Ollie Pope led from the front as he scored 196 runs whereas Tom Hartley had figures of 7-62 in the second innings.
Head to Head: Matches: 132, Won by England: 51, Won by India: 31, Drawn: 50.
Players to look out for: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, and Jasprit Bumrah will be the crucial players for India.
Ben Stokes, Mark Wood, Joe Root, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow and Tom Hartley will be the important players for England.
India’s squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Sourabh Kumar.
England squad: Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood.
