England vs India: Five-match Test series set to be played in front of capacity crowd

The five-match Test series between India and England, starting from August 4 will be played in front of packed crowds after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the lifting of Covid-19 related restrictions on Monday.

India and New Zealand had played the World Test Championship final in front of a limited crowd at Southampton last month with the upper limited capped at 4000.

India lost the match by eight wickets on the sixth day in a rain-affected Test match.

The Indian players are currently on a break and will reassemble on July 14.

India are set to play a warm-up match against a ‘Select County XI’ ahead of their first Test against England in Nottingham.

The three-day match will be accorded first-class status and the team, which was earlier called the ‘Combined Counties’ will consist of players from the County circuit. Tentative dates for the game is between July 20-22.

“We are aware of a request from the BCCI to play a three-day warm-up match against a County Select XI as part of the Indian men’s Test teams build-up to the five-match Test series,” an ECB spokesperson told PTI.

A number of former players, including batting great Sunil Gavaskar, had said that India were underprepared for the Word Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand, which they lost by eight wickets. While New Zealand arrived in the United Kingdom almost a month earlier than India and beat England 1-0 in a two-match Test series, India could only play an intra-squad match.

The five-Test series between England and India starts with first match at Nottingham (Aug 4-8), followed by Lord’s (Aug 12-16), Leeds (Aug 25-29), Oval (Sep 2-6) and Manchester (Sep 10-14).