England vs India 2022: 3 reasons why England start as favorites against India

After more than a year of waiting for the rescheduled Test, England and India will be raring to go at each other, come July 1, with the series on the line. Both teams will be led by new captains (Ben Stokes for England and Rohit Sharma for India) after Joe Root and Virat Kohli stepped down to concentrate on their batting.

England have been bolstered by a regime change in which England head coach Brendan McCullum and skipper Stokes are going for a high-risk, high-reward brand of cricket.

India haven't got the best of starts in Test cricket under their calm and composed head coach Rahul Dravid. They lost the away series 1-2 to South Africa.

A new-look England team start as favorites

With less than two weeks left until the conclusion of the epic five-match series, here are three reasons why England start as favourites.

#3 England's settled batting order

One of the major problems for England more than a year ago was losing wickets in a bunch. They have been bowled out in a session three times in the recent past. Currently, England's batting order looks more settled with the arrival of Alex Lees as the opener and the promotion of Ollie Pope at No. 3.

Both the batters have performed well with the moving ball and the middle order has come to the party to chase 250+ totals in the first two Tests of the New Zealand series.

Ollie Pope is looking good at No. 3

India, on the other hand, have suffered a set-back with the non-availability of KL Rahul. One of the major reasons why India are ahead in this Test series is because of the opening partnership between Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.

With inexperienced Shubman Gill at the top and an unsettled middle order without Ajinkya Rahane, it seems India are under-cooked on the batting front.

#2 Anderson and Broad getting their mojo back

Many doubted the rationale behind bringing back Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad for clashes against the Kiwis after both were dropped for the West Indies series. Both have proved their naysayers wrong. Together, they have already picked up 20 wickets in two Tests and are very much back in form.

Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad may be playing for the last time against India

India's famed pace bowling attack has not played a Test in four months and their lone spinner last year, Ravindra Jadeja, is coming back from an injury and a disastrous IPL campaign.

#1 Root's top form compared to Kohli's downward spiral

Joe Root has been phenomenal since 2021, scoring 2355 runs and hitting 10 centuries. He single-handedly carried England's batting before the New Zealand series.

In the current set-up, he is ably supported by Pope, Stokes and Bairstow. Since relinquishing the captaincy, he has been batting more freely and has already scored more than 300 runs in the two Tests.

Joe Root is in the form of his life

Kohli's form has been a worry for Team India with an abysmal run over the last two years where his average has dropped to below 50. He had a poor IPL averaging just 22 where repeatedly his weakness outside the off-stump was exploited by swing bowlers. With Jimmy Anderson back to his best, Kohli will have his task cut out.