Series opener promises run-spree

"There's so much cricket being played these days that you really don't know where both teams stood before the last series compared to now," said Rahul Dravid on the eve of the Lord's Test. A little bit of consideration, however, will leave him pleasantly surprised. India's squad arrived in England with some gaping holes, and start the series as second favourites, but England, it appears, are in a mood to even things up.

At the start of England's tour to India last year, Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick and Simon Jones all left within 48 hours of each other, leaving the side seriously depleted. Events haven't unfolded as rapidly this time but the absence of Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison and, in all likeliness, Matthew Hoggard gives India some serious openings. It might be the first time in six years that none of the three are part of an England Test line-up.

England's likely bowling attack reads: Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Monty Panesar. It boils down to 37 Tests, a minuscule figure when compared to the 419 that India's middle-order batting quartet have been a part of. It's not even comparable to the 174 Tests that India's first-choice bowling line-up totals. But experience alone is far from enough, as Dravid himself was quick to point out. "Everyone starts on zero, the team that performs during the course of this Test match will win."

One glance at their recent scorecards and you'd imagine Lord's to be the English fortress: 568 against West Indies in 2004, 551 for 6 dec against Sri Lanka last year, 528 for 9 dec against Pakistan last year, 553 for 5 dec against West Indies earlier this summer. That apart, Bangladesh have (expectedly) been shot out for 108 on the first day of the 2005 series while Australia were (surprisingly) felled for 190 on the opening day of the epic series in the same year. Yet, a tally of just three wins out of six - two against West Indies on the decline and one against lowly Bangladesh - provides an indication of how they've let their dominance slip.

Unlike Sri Lanka, who played in cloudy May, India will have bright sunshine (except on Friday when showers are predicted); unlike Australia, who were up against a furious four-pronged pace attack, India face a relatively second-string line-up. India must beware of the trap Pakistan fell into: dropping catches in the field and lacking purpose with the ball. Bob Woolmer had talked about the players being "intimidated" by the arena and India must walk in thinking they can win. Pakistan battled to draw, India must believe they can go one better.

Dravid didn't announce India's XI but indications are that it will comprise six batsmen, Mahendra Singh Dhoni as wicketkeeper - "he's done nothing wrong so far" - three seamers - "Sreesanth's got some pace and swings it away, Zaheer has come back and has experience in these conditions, RP Singh is young and promising" - and Anil Kumble. Wasim Jaffer is likely to retain his spot at the top despite a poor couple of practice games - "in his last three Test matches he has got two hundreds". Walking out with him will be Dinesh Karthik - "I've been very impressed with what Karthik has done. He has shown a lot of character."

You'd expect a run-fest, especially if the pitch is as flat as the one used for last year's Pakistan Test. With such high voltage in the batting line-ups, and such low profiles in the fast bowling, it points to a high-scoring encounter. Two Northamptonshire spinners, Monty Panesar and Anil Kumble, would have other ideas but as early indications go this one has all the makings of a batathon. England know they can score; India know, if they're to have any chance in the match and series, they simply must.

Teams (likely):
India - 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Dinesh Karthik, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Sreesanth, 11 RP Singh

England - 1 Andrew Strauss, 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Monty Panesar, 10 Ryan Sidebottom, 11 James Anderson