India and England are taking on each other in the second Test of the five-match series at Lord’s and the focus is well and truly on the weather conditions in London after the first encounter between the two sides was a rain-curtailed one.
It was expected that the rain gods will be kinder to the sides and the fans, but the script has been similar to that of the Trent Bridge Test. Just before the scheduled time for the toss, clouds opened up and it delayed the start of the game by 15 minutes. The first hindrance was not enough and the players have had to walk out of the ground even before one ball was bowled for the second spell of rain.
Ultimately, the game began half an hour late and Rohit Sharma along with KL Rahul started India's efforts.
Both India and England suffered some blows ahead of the second Test. Shardul Thakur is missing the second Test due to a hamstring injury while Stuart Broad has been ruled out of the series after pulling up his right calf.
"England seamer Stuart Broad has tweaked his right calf in today's warm-up at Lord's. He was unable to train this afternoon with the rest of the England squad. Broad will have a scan tomorrow to determine the extent of his injury," the ECB had said.
Thankfully for England, fast bowler James Anderson proved his fitness on the eve of the game and played the second Test.
England had called up Lancashire paceman Saqib Mahmood as cover for Broad.