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Second Test match between India and England will start on 27^th July, 2007 at Trent Bridge, it is happy hunting ground for India because during the India’s last tour to England, India gained momentum at this ground and they carried that momentum in next test match by winning that and making series level.

There are chances of rain in next five days, which may spoil the party, Nottingham hasn’t witnessed a sunny day in a while and Trent Bridge was dotted with large puddles on the evening of the game, it is also being said that that Trent Bridge’s drainage system is not as efficient as one at Lord’s. Let’s hope for the best….

England most likely stay with same eleven they fielded at Lords.

India should also pick up the same team as first test, there are still some doubts over the fitness of Sourav Ganguly, although he has been included in final 12 for the Second Test, Yuvaraj Singh might get chance to play his part if Ganguly is unwell to get included in side.

Indian Openers will have to give India good start this time around; both openers made successful half centuries during first test but it came in separate innings. If they can blossom in the same inning then India might take advantage of that.

It is evident from the first test that only Anderson and Sidebottom are real threat to Indians, if openers negotiate with their front line bowlers and add some good partnership then it will certainly give India an upper hand for the rest of the innings. Other bowlers Tremlett took wicket but he was rather inconsistent and gave away some feast to Indian batsmen. Panesar is really bowling well but since Indians are good at playing spin bowling, I don’t see much of threat in his bowling at least on England pitches.

Rahul Dravid failed to make big score in first test, but in my opinion he will bounce back with his batting in second test. Sourav Ganguly did okay job in both innings by scoring 35+ runs in both the innings, but one should note that he got out within the first few over of the day in both innings, he needs to bargain first few over of the day carefully to build up long innings

Sachin Looked confident when he took the guard in first inning of Lord’s test but couldn’t keep the momentum. But good news for us and Tendulkar is that he has fond memory at this ground, he has scored one century, two fifties and averages 94 in four innings at Trent Bridge. Hope he will capitalize this record and give India solid support in middle order. VVS Laxman had some good opportunity in both the inning to show his value to the Indian team, but once again he didn’t perform up to the scratch, he bated well in second innings and put on good partnership with Dhoni, but in my opinion he could have stayed longer at the crease. He really needs to perform consistently and use his immense talent.

Dhoni bated very well in the second inning after having duck in the first inning, though he was lucky on couple of occasions. His inning (along with weather) at Lord’s kept England away from deserving win.

In bowling department, Zaheer Khan and RP Singh did excellent job to trouble English batsmen, but Sreesanth and Kumble failed to interrupt England batsmen while they were on the crease. Indian bowlers need to keep good line and length to refrain England batsmen from making big score. Weather would definitely help Indian seam bowlers at Nottingham

England, on the other side, must be in positive frame of mind, as their batsmen and bowlers have performed well to take their team to win the test match that unfortunately resulted in to draw due to weather god.

In my opinion both team will field same XI tomorrow. We shall come up with more match details and live scoreboard if the match gets start on the time on 27^th. Keep tuned for all the details of the first day right here, and don’t forget to leave a feedback!