No. 1 in the world,but not quite in England

That sentiment is still reserved for the Aussies.

Nor has India’s two series conquests,four Test wins since 1986 — a rare creditable away record for the traditionally poor travelers — translated into a sharp shiver presently running down spines of the England squad members. The lack of an intimidating aura could be because of the historical baggage of India’s four winless decades while touring England since 1932,the year India got Test status. Plus the fact that the Indians,over the years,tend to pussyfoot into a land where the ball swings more than it spins and batsmen edge more than they middle too hasn’t helped. Mind games or pre-tour war of words hasn’t been the Indian skipper MS Dhoni’s style anyways.

But its time the Indians threw their weight and let their reputation check in much before they do. They have been the World No.1 Test team long enough and ODI World Champions recent enough to have an attitude that sees the meek surrender without a fight and the mighty grapple with self-doubt.

With men like Sachin Tendulkar,Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman in the side; it is easy to win an argument with numbers that make an English fan walk off disillusioned. Tendulkar’s 51 Test tons are 7 more than the total century by England’s top three Andrew Strauss (19),Alastair Cook (18) and Jonathan Trott (6). Dravid has an average of 65 and a highest score of 217 in England. And in case one wants to really leave deep mental scars on the locals tell them about Laxman’s average of 55 against the Aussies,the team that till very recently were their regular tormentors.

Dynamic pace attack

More about England getting over the Aussie-phobia and emerging as a highly competitive outfit later but first about India shaking off their spin complex. Zaheer Khan,Ishant Sharma,S Sreesanth,Munaf Patel and Praveen Kumar form the most versatile and dynamic India pace attack ever to tour England. Ishant banks on huge in-cutters,S Sreesanth on out swings,Munaf relies on steep bounce while Praveen posses tight control.

As for the spearhead Zaheer,he has all of the above traits and more. Plus he has an uncanny knack of ridiculing left-handed openers. And since skipper Andrew Strauss is a southpaw and in the middle of a lean patch it gives India the hope that the opening wicket partnerships can be in single digits.

But it’s the No. 2 and No.3 — Cook and Trott — who demystified the Australia during the Ashes. They started the series with an unbeaten partnership of 329 with Cook scoring 235 and Trott 135. From then on it’s been a Cook-Trott show as between them they have had five tons and a double ton in the last seven Tests spread over series against Australia and Sri Lanka.

Their contest against the Indian pacers will be the feature event of the series. As for the England pace bowling unit it seems like a group herded together by a basketball talent scout. At 6” 2’,James Anderson qualify to be called ‘Shorty’ as those around him are Stuart Broad (6” 5’),Chris Tremlett (6”,7’) and Steve Finn (6” 7’). While Anderson and Broad make the ball move in the area and just the right precise deviation off the wickets,Tremlett and Finn will operate in the area about the waist. But the Sri Lankans,especially Dilshan and Sanggakkara,give India hope as they showed that batsmen bred on slow and low tracks too can deal with swing and bounce.

Another eagerly-anticipated clash will be the one between the off-spinners Harbhajan Singh and Graeme Swann. It will be a study for the students of spin as the former has a doosra and latter doesn’t. But the fact that the Indians batsmen are said to be more proficient in handling spinners,as compared to English batsman,might just make it an uneven contest.

History in the making

This and many more debates will end when the Indian skipper MS Dhoni walks out for the toss at Lord’s on July 21. Thanks to cricket’s fixation with the multiple of 100,there is being called a history Test. The 100th Test between India and England happens to be 2000th overall. Dhoni has a sense of occasion but isn’t the kind to be overwhelmed. He wouldn’t get tight but swagger on the field the same way he did after hitting the six on that magical April night at Wankhede. If ever there was one man made to lead India out on July 21,it has to be Dhoni.

The stage is set for Dhoni to make a statement. The World No.1 side has a chance to change public perception and add an air of intimidation around it. How much would Dhoni want to have Virender Sehwag at the top of the order.