When England and India start their four-match series next week, the clash between two of the leading sides in Test cricket is eagerly anticipated. A genuinely appealing contest is ahead of us, and not one artificially pumped up by media hype, which surrounds even the most mundane of tours there days. It appears that fate has come down ever so slightly in England's favour. The first two venues in this series, Lord's and Trent Bridge, are known to favour swing bowling. England's ability to swing both the new and old ball is a big reason behind their recent rise up the rankings. In addition, India are missing their greatest counterattacking weapon.
There's no batsman in the world who can disrupt bowling plans quicker than Virender Sehwag, and he'll be missing for at least the first two Tests. India could dispute that reasoning by saying that they played without Sehwag the last time as well, in 2007, and won at Trent Bridge to clinch the series. Also Sachin Tendulkar enters the 1st Test at Lord's with a highest score of just 37 at the ground.
As Indian sides always will, those of 1936 and 1952 contained some fine natural cricketers. For no obvious reason their best batsmen in those days seemed more likely to be tall and wristy and elegant, like Mushtaq Ali and Rusi Modi, than small and wristy and insatiable, like Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. John Woodcock on India's 1936 and 1952 tours of England - "The team was featuring an incompetent prince-captain and a colossal allrounder in Lala Amarnath".
A cricket relationship that was one-way traffic, in England's favour, for most of the 20th century has now turned towards India. Though lacking the edge of their rivalries with Australia and Pakistan, these two countries share emotional and historic ties that predate the 79 years they've been playing Tests and the recent rise of both teams has seen them more evenly matched than ever before. Since 2007 they've played for the Pataudi Trophy - named for Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan, who played for both teams - which India have won twice on the trot and now travel to England to defend.
----- Courtesy CRICINFO
