England made a big statement with a more clinical show that that caught the Indians napping. Naturally, all eyes were on Virat Kohli’s men when the series began against the disciplined Joe Root’s team.
New Zealand have already qualified for the WTC final, to be held at Lord's later in the year, winning 70.0 per cent of their matches (with no other series scheduled).
Nineteen Australian players took part in the last edition of the Indian Premier League, which was held in the UAE last November due to Covid-19 pandemic.
The Australian team was scheduled to play a three-Test series during the tour. However, with the host nation battling a second wave of Covid-19 and a new variant of the virus, Cricket Australia's (CA) interim chief executive
Joe Root's team, missing Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, need a convincing win in the two-match series to keep alive their hopes of reaching the World Test Championship final
