The last time both teams have faced each other in a Test series, England had won both of them by a margin of 3-1 and 4-0.
Cricket news: England rely on stats while India looks to have a good start and build momentum
While the stats might be the difference between the two teams, another factor that might come to effect in this series is the atmospheric conditions in England.
At present England is experiencing a heatwave which is changed the English conditions somewhat like that of the conditions prevalent in the subcontinent.
Even the vice-captain of India, Ajinkya Rahane, said that it felt like they were playing in Mumbai or Chennai during the warmup game against Essex in Chelmsford.
Although there were a few spells of rain at Birmingham a couple of days back, but the heatwave has still persisted and the England team would hope things turn back to normalcy soon or else India will get a chance to dominate the series.
England’s batsman and former captain Alastair Cook has already stated that the series will not be an easy one because of the variety and depth in the pace bowling department of the opposition.
England have made some shocking decisions by including Adil Rashid in the squad ahead of Moeen Ali, despite the fact that Rashid did not play a single red-ball match this season. The decision might be swayed by the way Rashid dismissed Kohli in the ODI series decider.
They have even named Jos Buttler the vice-captain of the team, keeping in view of the long term benefits. However Buttler has also returned to the Test squad after a long gap and has played just two Tests before this series.
England’s inclusion of Sam Curran ahead of Jamie Porter indicates that there might be swing in the pitch despite the pitch looking dry at the moment.
India has their own concerns as well as their opener Shikhar Dhawan’s match practise lasted just 4 balls while their middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara struggled in the nets despite his County stint.
They have also lost their key swing bowler in the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and their main backup bowler Jasprit Bumrah will also not play in the first Test due to his finger surgery.
The Indian batsmen will also have a tough test to adapt to the conditions. Pujara and Ishant have both played County while four of the current team members have featured in the India A game before the warmup match against Essex.
Alastair Cook has sent some notice to the opposition with his 180 against India A while Dawid Malan and Sam Curran have also performed extremely well.
India must get a good start to the innings and also look to build on the momentum as they have previously learnt that failing to keep the winning momentum can hurt them badly.
England did not have an impressive year in Tests and had just managed to shrug off a eight-Test winless streak and might get under pressure if India puts on a solid performance.
England will however rely on the stats as the last time they lost a series at home was against Sri Lanka in 2014, while India have drawn one game and won just one in the last 10 games they have played in England.
When: England vs India, 1st Test, 11 AM Local time, 3:30 PM IST.
Where: Edgbaston, Birmingham
England Playing XI: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Stuart Broad, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, James Anderson.
India Probable XI: KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.