India leading a test series outside India with one test to go is a rare matter. But when it happens once in a blue moon, the situations should be taken seriously and dealt with duly. On Thursday, India play England at the Oval hoping to wrap up the series in style. England on the other hand have no intentions of losing this war. England have not lost any of their home series since the Ashes loss in 2001. A draw in this test or a loss at worse would be an embarrassing one.

India should go positively into this match with no changes to their XI from the last test. The current side looks balanced and have tasted victory before. The batting trio of Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly should hold fort against the English bowling. Openers have been impressive and Laxman has been erratic more than once. Recharged Zaheer backed by RP Singh should provide optimum seaming options. Sreesanth who has great potential should get another chance to prove his critics right. Kumble, the lone spinning ranger is quite adept at taking on the opposition single handedly although England has not been a happy hunting ground for him.

England is boosted by the return of Pietersen. His presence adds greatly to the team’s morale. The spinner friendly wicket at the Oval should excite Panesar and maybe Vaughn could chip in a bit. But, the England batting looks shaky and unstable. Bell, Collingwood, Cook and Prior haven’t delivered in the first two test matches and look out of sorts. Bowling looks healthy with swinging options of Sidebottom and bouncy Tremlett. Anderson has looked weak with his out swingers and this test could be his chance for redemption.

On the Indian standpoint, India should be aggressive and look to win the test match rather than a stalemate. Bowlers shouldn’t lose their concentration and should continue where they left off at Trentbridge. Sreesanth will have to put the last test behind and concentrate on hitting the target consistently. India is not an aggressive team in the test matches as they fail to score runs in a hurry. They are always content on accumulating runs than going after the bowlers. Strategy should change in this test match and the matches to come in the future. The batsmen starting with the openers should look to score runs from ball one.

On the English standpoint, they need to bat well; really well. It is their batting that has let them down on all occasions. Bowlers have looked positive and effective. If the English batsmen can come good, there is a good chance of them leveling the series and saving their pride.

The Oval test has all the ingredients to become a historical test match. It is left to the people who matter the most on the field to act out according to the script. This blockbuster should be won with heart and grit to be deemed a great success.

Disappointment is the word of the day when I look at the Indian team that has been chosen for the 2nd test at Trent Bridge. Coming from an average outing at the Lord’s, it was important to get rid of extra baggage and get some live wires to recharge the entire team.

Jaffer was a non-sense man at Lord’s and he should have been replaced with either Gambhir or Yuvraj. Jaffer was clueless against the moving ball; my maid servant would have played better than him in the English conditions. Yet, he boasts of several hundreds in first class matches. Selectors and senior cricketers often talk about the good technique that Jaffer possesses. How can a person have good technique if he can’t cope up with the moving ball? Hitting the ball thats not moving laterally takes hand and eye co-ordination more than technique. Sehwag would’ve done much better here in England and he never talks about his batting technique. Jaffer is lucky to be in this match and my bet is that he would score less than 20 in both the innings.

The rest of the team selected themselves on merit and performance from the previous game. The injury scare to Ganguly would have opened the doors for Yuvraj whose inclusion would have thrown some excitement into this game.

Indians love to live up to their expectations especially when it comes to starting poorly on overseas assignments. Today at Lords, India displayed the grit to start in a fashion that is expected of them. What surprises the most is the inability of the Indian bowlers to bowl at a decent line and length. The ball stayed either too short or too straight. More often than not, they drifted it down the leg side. Every bowler including the deadly Kumble faltered and faltered badly. The presence of a specialist bowling coach has done more bad than good.

If Indians have to get back into this test match, they need to bowl accurately and steadily. They need to use Tendulkar more often and bowl the faster bowlers in short spells. It was evident that faster bowlers were getting wayward after bowling for half hour or so. Kumble should be used extensively as he has already been.

Talking about the sitter dropped by Dinesh Karthik just before the end of first session, what was he thinking? It was one of the most simplest catches. Even my house maid would have caught that while mopping the floor.

As for England, the top three batsmen played brilliantly. Their positive thinking was key to their success which led to punishing the Indian bowlers whenever they drifted. It was evident that the English batsmen were brimming with confidence from the victory over West Indies couple months ago.

Mudhsuden Singh Panesar is the latest English sensation who has destroyed some formidable batting line-ups since he made his debut last year in India. He is in a Bishen Singh Bedi mould and has the potential to incapacitate batting line-ups that are known to play spin bowling the best.

Is this Indian Origin English Sardar good enough to beat the Indian willow? There are arguments on both sides of the track. Indians have traditionally played spin the best and have kept all leading spinners at bay. Shane Warne who is one of the best traditional leg spinners came a cropper against the Indians whenever he played against India. Success against India was like finding an oasis in the Sahara. The spin charmer, Muttiah Muralitharan, has left unforgettable memories in the minds of many great batsmen but does not have a great tally against India.

But, India have always surprised everyone including themselves. Beginning with the triumph in the 1983 World Cup to the shocking exit in the 2007 World Cup. The Indian team could be giving nightmares to people who bet on cricket. Indians tend to be callous and have known to take the opposition easy and have faced many humiliating defeats both at home and away. Against Monty, they could just fall like ten pins.

So the question of Monty devouring the Indians or the Indians making a curry of Monty cannot be answered until the end of the series and I am surely not betting on anyone.

One of the most important series in Indian cricket itinerary is set to begin this Thursday at Lords and there seems to be a dilemma regarding the players comprising the XI. It’s not the openers slot that is being tossed up but the name of the future captain of India, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

There have been several speculations that Dhoni would be dropped for the first Test against England at Lords to adjust Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman in the side. VVS Laxman booked his place in the side with a defiant 97 against Sussex while Yuvraj’s fighting 50 against the Lions made the selection process complicated for captain Rahul Dravid.

Dhoni is one man who can turn any match on it’s head. This man can take the mantle of the entire team and can change the fortunes in a matter of few overs. He is tipped to be the future captain and in all certainty will be captaining India in the Twenty 20 World Cup in South Africa. We would not like to see this youngster’s confidence dented by dropping him from the XI. A player with Dhoni’s stature should be able to walk into any format of the game as he is deemed precious in all conditions.

If I was to leave out somebody, it would be VVS Laxman. He is old, slow on his legs and doesn’t contribute with the ball. Yuvraj is talented, young, great fielder and can chip in with a few overs. Having VVS in the team would not do any good if you are trying to build a team for the future.

Here’s the team that should probably play:

1. Dinesh Karthik
2. Wasim Jaffer
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Saurav Ganguly
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
8. Anil Kumble
9. Zaheer Khan
10. S Sreesanth
11. R P Singh

What would be your team?