Test number two out of five. Joe Root and Virat Kohli might both be content with where the series stands at the moment; equally, they might both feel like it could've been 1-0. Most importantly, they might both be excited at the forecast for this Lord's Test which is, in theory, a significant improvement on the first. Join us for updates, analysis and colour. All timestamps are local time. Click here for ball-by-ball commentary. Here's our live coverage in Hindi. (Please refresh your page for the latest)

Lunch, Day 1

1.10pm

An early lunch, most desirable in every other context. Over here, conditions have gotten better, but the delay was close enough to the session break that they could take it without losing too many overs.

Once again, Rohit Sharma has done a job as opener. As he has been on the last few tours, Rohit was happy to leave and defend in the opening hour. When Sam Curran came on, he was briefly troubled by his front foot plant across off stump. But he sorted that out in quick time - in a matter of minutes, really - and then put pressure on Curran with that giant 15th over. Four boundaries in the over, the best of them a scrumptious push through point after jumping down the track to counter swing; and then a gentle flick to reinforce that the front foot plant was gone.

KL Rahul looked assured as well at the other end. It is India's first session overseas since Cape Town 2007 where they've gone to lunch without losing a wicket. It helped of course that this wasn't a full session, but it's a decent indicator of how well they did this morning.

England were spot on too, barring Curran's up and down spell, after electing to bowl. It's a day on which both captains were looking to bowl first, possibly influenced by the overhead conditions. But India might feel slightly relieved they were put in after this start.

A good over rate, you say?

12.30pm

So England have got in 15 overs in the first hour. Remember, both teams were docked points after the first Test for the over rate. The correction has been alright early in this one. Here's what our experts said in the pre-match show. What do you think? Feel free to find me over on Twitter @varunshetty and we can try to get a discussion going.

First ten overs

12.10pm

The wonderful thing about watching two quality teams play each other over a long series is that the cricket just seems to take off where it had left. The openers from both teams have been on the money again. You expect Anderson to be on the money every time, and Ollie Robinson is continuing to impress at Test cricket. Two slightly different styles of bowling, but Robinson has been less hit-the-deck so far and has kept it full enough to ask questions. That will gradually change, I think - Hameed jumping into short leg for Rohit is a signal in that direction. Remember, he was out hooking last match and never really shies away from that shot.

KL Rahul looks as solid as he was at Trent Bridge as well. Soft hands, close to the body, and no exaggerated shuffle. A decent start for India, they haven't looked too troubled. Now Sam Curran will test that.

What these playing XIs mean

11am

Anderson's scans were "clear as anything," says Root. So that's that, he will continue to lead the attack. The big talking point is Haseeb Hameed's return. Don't think it's an exaggeration to say English fans have literally waited five years to see this again. He had such a bright start against India - against whom he has played all three of his Tests so far - in 2016 and it's been a long, wobbly journey back into the team for him. He'll certainly be pleased he isn't batting this morning. As expected, Moeen Ali is in there and the bluster of Mark Wood will bring variety to this line-up.

England: 1 Rory Burns, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Haseeb Hameed, 4 Joe Root (capt.), 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Ollie Robinson, 10 Mark Wood, 11 James Anderson

Ashwin was part of the 12, says Kohli, but he will miss out once again. This is a very aggressive approach from India; yes, they did it last match as well, but without the batting of Thakur, you would've forgiven them for reverting to their old structure. Instead, it's an old-fashioned tail who will be given the license to worry only about picking up 20 wickets. I get the feeling that WTC loss is still stinging them a little.

It is impressive, but especially bold because it's not just a show of confidence in the bowler's abilities to take 20 wickets, but also in Pujara and Rahane. India's most experienced batters alongside Kohli have been told once again that they simply must do the job of holding that batting together. They're likely to have finalised this XI long ahead of the toss, but in conditions like this morning's, it is another very aggressive decision considering the form those three have been in.

India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Ishant Sharma, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj

How often do you see this?

Rishabh Pant practicing his wicket-keeping with the England slip cordonhttps://t.co/YcwobX6Fxm | #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/YPGP1g2jlm

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 12, 2021

Selections

10.20am

Some gloriously half-hearted football from Jimmy Anderson. He's not officially out of contention yet… #EngvInd pic.twitter.com/Zr69OCsPCp

— Andrew Miller (@miller_cricket) August 12, 2021

Plenty to ponder for both teams. England, more so. Ollie Pope isn't playing this game and so we could see a proper restructure from them today. For one, we might see Moeen Ali in there as a genuine fifth bowling option and batting at 7. That means batting all the way down to 9 with Ollie Robinson. Nagraj also reports that Haseeb Hameed is in the slip cordon during warm-ups, alongside Sibley, Burns, and Bairstow. Crawley out?

The bigger headache for them, of course, is James Anderson's fitness; and you get the sense that they might be keen to get him on with Stuart Broad ruled out. It does make for a relatively inexperienced bowling line-up otherwise. England's other options in pace are Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood and Craig Overton.

For India, the big questions remains whether R Ashwin will play. Shardul Thakur is up and about at the warm-ups, but he has a left hamstring strain that will rule him out. It should be the same line-up otherwise, aside from considering whether Ishant Sharma makes it over Mohammed Siraj this time.

"There's no forecast for rain"

10am

And yet there is rain. As usual, there is much banter and mirth on ESPNcricinfo's internal channels about what exactly constitutes an English summer. When Andrew Miller was walking down Wellington Road earlier, he reported grey skies and a hint of drizzle, "but the sense is that it will burn off." Not long after that, Nagraj Gollapudi reported simply: "all covers on, rain."

All of that was about a half an hour ago, and the good news is that the drizzle has thinned out and the forecast looks good. We're still an hour away from the first ball, so keep your fingers crossed. And in the meantime, here is the customary - and slightly skewed - report of what's for lunch at the Lord's today.

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