The three-match Test series between England and India gets under way at Lord's on Thursday. The sides look evenly matched, which points to a possible repeat of the 1-1 scoreline of the last series. The weather has been indifferent in England but if the sun finally comes out, Anil Kumble and Monty Panesar will be relishing turning their arms over. The absence of Freddie Flintoff will be felt by the English team and this alone could tilt the scales in the favor of Indians.

The Indian batting looks better, with Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman aiming to round off their final England tour with a series victory. From the way VVS and Sachin have played in the warm-up games, they will be carrying the main responsibility in the Tests. Rahul and Sourav have been playing well but the openers look suspect.

Wasim Jaffer, despite his recent failures, will probably get the nod ahead of Gautam Gambhir because of his Test record against better opposition. Dinesh Karthick has shown terrific determination and patience needed at the top of the order. Yuvraj Singh will be left out in favour of the more experienced Laxman.  MS Dhoni will shore the lower order to add some valuable runs for India.

'The sides look evenly matched which points to a possible repeat of the 1-1 scoreline of the last series'


For England, Andrew Strauss collected some valuable second-innings runs in the latest tour game and Alistair Cook has helped himself to runs against India in the past. Michael Vaughan will be hoping that his form from the West Indies series continues. Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood have also enjoyed some success this summer but in general the England middle order looks weaker than India's.

Matt Prior is capable of giving Mahendra Dhoni a run for his money and the lower order has shown that they can add a few runs when required.

The Indian bowling has a mix of the old and new - Kumble and Zaheer Khan will do the bulk of the bowling and Sri Sreesanth will swing the ball and consolidate his gains from the South African tour. RP Singh is capable of moving the ball into the right-hand batsmen. Ganguly and Tendulkar are the back-up options.

The English bowling is hampered by the absence of Steve Harmison. Matthew Hoggard is coming back from injury, while Ryan Sidebottom will find the Indian batsmen a tougher proposition than the Windies. Panesar has graduated as the key bowler of the English attack with Collingwood and Pietersen in reserve.

The fact that the pitches won't swing, along with the absence of experience in the English bowling attack and the Indian middle-order strength, combine to suggest an Indian victory in the Test series.