lordsThe second test match between England and India gets under way at Lords on Thursday and after bad weather saw the first test end in a draw it's all square with four to play.

 

 

 

The first test was staged at Nottingham and the game ended in a draw. England won the toss and opted to bat first but they found it tough going and Joe Root's 64 was the top score in a total of 183 all out. Bumrah took 4 wickets and Shami claimed 3.

 

In reply Rohit Sharma (36) and Rahul (84) put on 97 for India's first stick before England fought back with Jimmy Anderson going on to take 4 wickets and Ollie Robinson took 5. Jadeja made 56 and India's innings closed on 278.

 

England;s second innings saw Joe Root make 109, no other batsmen made it past32 and Bumrah took 5 more wickets as England were all out for 303.

India were 52/1 in their second innings when rain arrived on Day 5, they needed another 157 runs but no play was possible. Joe Root was named Man of the Match.

 

This was how the teams lined up at Trent Bridge

 

England - Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Zak Crawley, Joe Root (c), Jonny Bairstow, Daniel Lawrence, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

 

India - Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah

 

The Venue Lords, London

 

Over the course of the last decade England have played 17 test matches at Lords, winning 8, drawing 4 and losing 5.

 

In August 2018 England beat India by an innings and by 159 runs at this ground. India were dismissed for 170 and 130 with Anderson claiming 9 wickets in total and Chris Woakes top scored with 137 not out in England's first innings total of 396/7 declared.

 

The most recent Lords test saw England draw with New Zealand in June this year. The Black Caps made scores of 378 and 169/6 declared and England replied with 275 and 170/3. Ollie Robinson took 7 wickets in the match and Rory Burns made 132 in England's first innings.

 

You can check the weather forecast here

 

 

The Betting - 2nd Test

 

England are currently trading at around 13/10 to win the game with the draw a 4/1 chance and India can also be backed at around 13/10

 

As far as the top 1st innings bat markets are concerned Joe Root is 15/10 favourite for England and Virat Kohli is 2/1 for India

 

Jimmy Anderson (22/10) is the favourites to be top England's wicket taker in the first innings whilst Jasprit Bumrah is 37/20 favourite to do likewise for India

 

Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

The Verdict

 

The match result betting at the time of writing was struggling to separate the sides and so am I so my focus is on the top first innings bat markets and a couple of speculative plays.

 

England's reliance on Joe Root in the batting department was evident in Nottingham and the home side's skipper desperately needs support from the top order. It's hard to argue with Root to be top England bat again but at the prices I will chance Rory Burns who has a recent Lord first innings ton to his name.

 

The India top bat market looks competitive but there was plenty to like about the way KL Rahul went about his task at Trent Bridge and his price also makes some appeal.

 

Bets: Top India 1st Innings Bat KL Rahul at 4/1

Top England 1st Innings Bat Rory Burns at 9/2

 

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Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change