England vs India: Lord’s offers best chance for the visitors to win: Ganguly & Sehwag

Two former captains Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag agree on the point that Team India’s best chance to grab a win and level the Test series against England comes at Lord’s. The start of the second Test on Thursday, August 9, was postponed because of rain. India are currently trailing the five-match series 0-1 after losing the first game at Edgbaston by 31 runs.

Speaking about the conditions ahead of the second Test, Ganguly said the weather in London had improved and the playing conditions were perfect for India to bounce back in the series. His one-time opening partner in ODIs Sehwag also agreed, saying that Lord’s is one venue where England haven’t won many and Asian sides have done well here.

Wicket will be favourable for Indian spinners

India’s last Test win in England was at Lord’s in 2014 when they beat the hosts by 95 runs in a series which went against their favour.

“The wicket will be favourable for Indian spinners in the later days of the match. The forecast suggests rainfall, so the ball will definitely swing here. The Lord’s Test will be a carnival for five days,” Ganguly said while talking on India TV.

Sehwag, who believed the Lord’s Test will be India’s most important game in the series, said: “This will be a crucial game for India. England hasn’t won a match here for a long time. Recently, Pakistan also defeated them at Lord’s. Earlier, India and Sri Lanka have also won Test matches here. It’s a great chance for India to make a comeback. If the wicket is helpful to bowlers, India has the best chances to win.”

“If there’s grass on the wicket, fast bowlers will be in command on all five days. Indian bowlers will take 20 wickets again. It will be interesting to see whether Indian batsmen manage to match the opponents’ total or not,” India’s only batsman to have two triple centuries in Tests added.

While Sehwag banked on the trio of captain Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma – India’s two most experienced bowlers on this tour who did well in Birmingham – Ganguly felt the visitors should play two spinners in the game, the second being Kuldeep Yadav.

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