India 5-2 already at Chelmsford in a warm up game against Essex

Ffs Dhawan and Pujara struggling against a bloke named Matt Coles. Anderson and Broad will have a picnic at this rate.

Matt Coles is a decent county bowler to be fair but yeah, India struggled in the morning for some reason even though the ball wasn't swinging.

On a flat dry pitch, India will be disappointed to have scored 395 with 11 batsmen against an Essex attack with their main 4 bowlers not playing.

In other news, England have named their squad for the first test;

Root, Moeen, Anderson, Bairstow, Broad, Buttler, Cook, S Curran, Jennings, Malan, Porter, Rashid, Stokes.

Rashid and Moeen being brought back along with Porter getting a first time call up are the key talking points. I'm sure England will want to get both in the starting XI so what's the most balanced XI with both in the side?

One ball which could have hit a crack and it gets Rashid back in the test squad even when he’s retired from red ball

Rashid getting Kohli out is going to remain the highlight of his career

Shuns the long format of the game by saying he isn't interested in it anymore and would rather concentrate on white ball cricket. Gets into the Test squad regardless. Hilarious.

I was critical of Buttler getting into the side but Rashid's inclusion is even more ridiculous. Hopefully that means he'll have an even bigger impact than Buttler did on his return.

Brave selection by ed Smith. Starting to like him. Also keep your nose out Yorkshire nothing to do with you. Right to pick the best 2 spinners, can both bat too. The team, I would leave out Porter and malan. Hit India with a 6 man attack with variety.

Had doubts about stokes playing but in the squad so will start fitness permitting.

Ed Smith embarrassing himself with the selection of rashid.... rashid has promised to be available for county red ball from 2019 - what a numpty. Should have told Smith to get lost... England have been treating rashid like shhht over the years, bad move on both sides

To be fair to Smith, he did say he's only come in very recently and had no involvement with Rashid when he decided to be a "white ball only" cricketer. He obviously believes in his ability and wants him back available for all forms of cricket.

Not sure I believe that he's the best choice for the side but his confidence is probably as high now as it'll ever be so now does seem the right time if you're going to back him.

What's your line up from 4-9 if you don't pick Malan? Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler, Moeen, Curran, Rashid?

There aren't many spin options, are there? Neither Leach or Bess seem ready to go into the Test team right now.

There is talk that Moeen will bat at 4 which would be interesting.

Not sure I agree with that re Leach and Bess but time will tell whether England were right to back their more experienced spinners on the international scene.

Moeen at 4? Tinkering with his position again!

Essex got 359/8d in response to India's 395 probably to allow the Indian top order to get a bit more practice. Dhawan lasted 3 balls this time so got out twice in 4 balls

I hope India don’t go with kohli at 5. This looks like a pretty bad move if that is case.

Dhawan manages to find his way through the team despite getting dropped every single time he has played an away series. Not sure why we are not trying someone new. Prithvi shaw would be a good addition. A very young batsman and can only be a good move from India’s point.
This will be Pujara’s last few matches if h cant score runs. Has no excuse of not scoring runs anymore. Has played 2 County seasons and failed in almost all away tours so far. If he can’t score runs then India need to move on.

Viru we have massive problems in that batting line up on form. Pujara has had a shocker of a season for Yorkshire and a player of his class should be making centuries most games against first class bowling line ups. For me Rahul should be given a chance even if it is at 5. Rahane is in poor nick as well. It really is a mystery what our top 6 will be come the first test next week.

Also I really am not convinced by Vijay and have never been. Total flat track bully. I miss Sehwag

Yeah agreed Kav. Vijay is way too overrated. He has played one or 2 gritty innings but has never been a game changer in away matches. I really think time to invest new blood. I always hear pundits say India have so much talent in batting but they only seem to give opportunities to tried and failed players. Rahul has to be persisted with the rest we need to look at new talent. I can already see for many players this will be their last shot. If Rahane, Pujara vijay don’t score runs in this series India to need to move on. We can’t take consistent non performers to Australia. Dhawan should be shown the door when they announce the 4th and 5th test match squads

My team for Birmingham is vijay, Rahul, Pujara, kohli Rahane, Karthik, Ashwin, Jadeja/kuldeep, Shami, Ishant and umesh. And possibly pandya but not convinced his bowling will be useful at all so we might be risking by only having 4 bowlers for the test. If the pitch looks bowler friendly then we need to make sure we have cushion in our batting. 4 bowlers are more than enough

Personally I'd drop Pujara and let Rahul bat at number 3 with Dhawan and Vijay opening (for the time being - lets see how they get on in the first test). Pujara has always been a subcontinent player and nothing more.

Viru the Sky commentators love their cliches. I can bet any money we’ll hear Hussein say “Indian batsmen play spin so well” at least a dozen times this series. The last time we played in England we were out foxed by Moeen Ali for god sake. I bet his bowling average is close to 40 yet he made our batsmen look like idiots last time.

Also, we are not winning a Test series in England or Australia any time soon. These batsmen are just not attuned to the fine art of being patient and playing swing bowling. I think we’ll compete better down under where we came close last time but bottled it. This tour however I can really see a 3/4-0. I’d be shocked if we won a Test.

I'd be shocked if you didn't win a test. England have shown time and time again that if you get ahead in the game, a bit of pressure with the ball will result in us collapsing dramatically.

I just hope it's a competitive series with competitive matches. Even 3-2 either way with teams winning by 100s of runs or 9-10 wickets isn't what I want to see.

Weather looks decent for the 5 days with Wednesday looking like the coolest and most overcast.

TCM, we are missing Bumrah and Bhuvi for the opening few tests and our bowlers have never really done it in England. For example, we still have Ishant Sharma in and around the side - I think that says it all about the quality of fast bowlers we possess, don't you

If India are to even get anywhere close in this series, the top three have to do their job and effectively protect Kohli. If he comes in within the first 20-30 overs with the ball still moving around, we will be very vulnerable and more than likely he will nick off to second slip. If he averages 50-60+ in this series, we stand a chance.

So England have treated rashid like shtt over the years and now recall him based on a 1 ball wonder in an odi.. you have ex England captains now personally attacking rashid because of his selection. Shouldn’t their frustration be directed at the selectors? Hardly inspiring confidence in the lad.... typical England.