India's best chance for a series win in England

India thrashed England in the T-20 series but was outplayed in the ODI clash and now we move forward to the much awaited and anticipated Test series where there will be battles within battles. That’s the beauty of Test matches. It's a 5-match series which even though has become old-fashioned, still is the most exciting to watch. During the course, it not only tests the fitness but also the character of the players and the best team emerges as the winner.

India last won a Test series in England in 2007 and have lost the last two 4-0 and 3-1. But this team under a confident captain has played some exceptional cricket for a while now. The series loss against South Africa earlier this year was the first series loss under Kohli. But it must be taken into notice that India gave a very tough fight to South Africa and beat them on a tough pitch at Wanderers.

Had India made the right team selection and latched onto the catches, the result could have been the other way round. Seeing England's poor record of late in Tests and India's dominant performances and squad strength, it's probably India's best chance for a series win in England. But it won't be easy anyway.

Playing 11:-

India has to take some tough calls on team selection which was also the case at the start of the South Africa series. But they need to be very careful in this regard as it turned out to be decisive last time around. Rahul can't be left out of the team given his purple patch. So either Dhawan or Pujara needs to make way for him. Both of them were short of runs in the warm-up match. Given Dhawan's blistering century against Afghanistan, it might be a temptation to leave Pujara out.

In terms of seam bowling, India are a bit unlucky to be plagued with injuries. Their best bowlers Bhuvi and Bumrah are set to miss the first Test and onus now will be on Ishant, Umesh and Shami to deliver the goods. India must go with their no. 1 bowler Ashwin.

Best 11:- 1) Murali Vijay 2) KL Rahul 3) Cheteshwar Pujara 4) Virat Kohli 5) Ajinkya Rahane 6) Dinesh Karthik 7) Hardik Pandya 8) Ravichandran Ashwin 9) Umesh Yadav 10) Mohammed Shami 11) Ishant Sharma.

If the pitch is on the slower side as it was during the limited over series, then India can probably go for in-form Kuldeep in place of Shami who has been out of action for a long time.

This team has the potential to do the unthinkable, and they might surprise many with the end result.