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The series between India and England was a highly anticipated one as the two top-ranked Test teams were playing against each other. The series started on the right note as England won the closely contested first Test match by just 31 runs.
Indian bowlers, who earlier couldn't manage to take 20 opposition wickets, have stepped up and are now consistently bowling out the opposition twice in a match, as seen in South Africa and the first Test in England. Even though the bowling stepped up to the occasion, batting was India's main concern in the first Test as Virat Kohli was the only Indian batsman who could handle the lateral movement.
Ahead of the match, India's bowling coach announced that Jasprit Bumrah wasn't fit enough to play a Test match so the question of who he will was put to rest. Another change which was discussed a lot was the inclusion of the second spinner in the playing XI, but with the rain pouring down in London, team India might stick to the same bowling lineup.
In spite of the defeat, India had a lot of positives to take from the first match. Not just Indian batsman, but also the home team was bowled out for relatively lower scores. With this in mind, the Indian cricketers were ready to face a Ben Stokes-less England, but were stopped by the rains Gods.
England, on the other hand, were forced to makes changes as their star all-rounder, Ben Stokes, had to attend a court case. The No.4 slot will now be filled by 20-year-old Ollie Pope, who will be making his international debut whenever the match starts on Day 2, in place of Dawid Malan.
Apart from the cricket field, fans at Lords witnessed the presence of Sachin Tendulkar, who was present at the iconic ground to start off the second test by ringing the bell at Lord's.
As an outcome of the rainy day, Tendulkar mostly had to spend his time in the stands. In the stands, the master blaster bumped into Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh and director Kabir Khan. The Twitterati left no stone unturned as they even responded to the presence of Bollywood stars.
Here's how Twitter reacted:
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