England vs India 2018: Sachin Tendulkar will signal the start of play today, ringing the "Lord's Bell"

Keeping up with tradition, the second Specsavers' India-England Test match will begin on the Lord's cricket ground today, with a customary ringing of the "Lord's Bell". The ringing will signal five minutes before the official start of the play on Day 1 morning. And the bell will be rung by none other than the most decorated batsman of modern times, Sachin Tendulkar.

The Lord's management introduced the tradition back in 2007 since when several eminent people from the cricketing fraternity and a few other honourary personalities as well, have been invited to ring the bell and officially set a start to Test matches that are being hosted in the venue.

The bell is located outside the Bowlers’ Bar of the Lord’s Pavilion, and being invited to do the honours at what's called the "Mecca of cricket" has become a matter of great pride to the guests.

Over the years, several legends like Sir Vivian Richards, Ian Botham, Mike Gatting, Graham Gooch, Richie Benaud, Shane Warne, Waqar Younis, Clive Lloyd, Graeme Smith, Wasim Akram, Kumar Sangakkara, Brendon McCullum, Brett Lee, Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath, Steve Waugh, Brian Lara and so on have been part of the occasion.

Kapil Dev, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sunil Gavaskar, and the Nawab of Pataudi are the Indians to have been honoured similarly, prior to Tendulkar today.

The bell-ringers for the subsequent days of the Test match will be announced via the Lord’s website each day.

Here is the tweet released by The Lord's some time ago:

🔔 @sachin_rt will be ringing the five-minute bell before the start of play today 🙌📝➡️ https://t.co/a0vmQTTVMQ#LoveLords#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/eal3Y1dAoS

— Lord's Cricket Ground (@HomeOfCricket) August 9, 2018

Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest exponents of the game and his numbers need no description. He holds the record for most international matches played, international runs scored, international hundreds taken and much more.

Tendulkar notably played his first ever Test match against England at the Lord's in 1990, and he also played his last ever competitive match in the same venue in 2014 post his international retirement, when he played for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC - He has been an honorary member of the club since 2010) against a Rest-of-the-World XI, on the occasion of the Lord's ground's 200th birthday. The venue belongs to the MCC.

As latest news come from the venue itself, the toss has been delayed due to a slight drizzle, and it may be later than 11am local time, when the game actually begins. England currently leads the series 1-0 after the win at Edgbaston, Birmingham last week.