ENG vs IND: 'India would have been 2-0 up in the series if...' says former England captain

Like Indian skipper Virat Kohli, commentator and former England captain Michael Atherton also believed that the visitors would have been 2-0 up in the series if not for the rain on the final day of the first Test at Trent Bridge. India needed 157 runs with nine wickets in the bag on the final day before the rain came and relented for the whole day not allowing any play possible, resulting in the match ending in a draw.

However, the rain couldn't stop the Indian team from forcing and eventually getting a win in the second game at Lord's against all odds. India were just 154 runs ahead with six wickets down and needed their middle and lower order to contribute to have a hope of a good second-innings lead. Early departures of Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma didn't help but what followed turned the match on its head and more towards India's favour.

Pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami stitched an unbeaten partnership of 89 runs, with the latter smashing his second Test fifty, helped their side get a 271-run lead and had 60 overs to bowl them out. Bumrah and Shami with their tails up removed both England openers in quick succession as India could smell something special.

Then a combined performance from the pace attack followed as India bowled out England for just 120 runs and won the game by 151 runs thereby taking a 1-0 lead in the series.

Atherton writing in his column has said that India's will to win and their skill would have taken them to win in Nottingham had the Test match been completed.

"Although home sensibilities will focus, inevitably, on England's final day performance on Monday (August 16), which was by far unintelligent and then limp, it was India who left an indelible impression," Atherton wrote in his column for the Telegraph.

"The ferocity of their play, their will to win, and their skill to carry them through difficult moments, should have removed any doubts about how the Nottingham Test would have finished but for rain. To all intent and purposes, India should be 2-0 up," he added.

"Over two matches, England have competed for long periods, and this without some serious cricketers - Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, and Chris Woakes absent for two Tests and Stuart Broad for one. They have the benefit of two of their greatest cricketers, in James Anderson and Joe Root, and in Test cricket, great players can make up a lot of ground for limitations elsewhere. All is not lost," he said.

The two teams will now lock horns in the third Test at Headingley, Leeds from Wednesday, August 25.