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India's England tour: Lords of cricket face stern Test today

Unveiling of the No 1 Test mace, a parade of former captains, exchange of commemorative caps, debates and lectures over the future of Test cricket… the enormity of the occasion is inescapable.

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There is a bit of hype surrounding the first Test between India and England. The England and Wales Cricket Board, the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the International Cricket Council have lined up a series of events to commemorate the 2000th Test, which incidentally is the 100th contest between the two countries.

Unveiling of the No 1 Test mace, a parade of former captains, exchange of commemorative caps, debates and lectures over the future of Test cricket… the enormity of the occasion is inescapable.

“I don’t think the series needs a hype anyway,” said England skipper Andrew Strauss alluding at the expected intensity in the contest between the two teams. After their away Ashes triumph against Australia, England have been on a high and they could not have run into a tougher opposition than the world No 1 Test side. So, when the sides line up at Lord’s on Thursday, there cannot be a bigger Test, pun intended.

The hype is not only about the 2000th Test and 100th contest between India and England. There has been an air of expectancy around Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international century and the Little Master may not get a bigger occasion to achieve the milestone. “We will try to prevent it,” Strauss said vowing to make life difficult for Tendulkar in the series.

His counterpart, on the other hand, is unfazed about the milestone. “We will celebrate whenever it happens but we are not going to be discussing it,” said MS Dhoni. The India skipper’s larger goal is to win the series; failure could mean losing the No 1 ranking in Tests.

India have not had the best possible preparation for the series, having come here just a week before the first Test. But Dhoni’s side has the reputation of winning big games. They, perhaps, will not get a bigger game than the one starting at Lord’s today.
 

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