In this episode of the show, Raj, Baldy, Binksy and Stu look ahead to the upcoming Test series between England and India.

We start the show with a short summary of what's ahead of us in this five-match series, before sharing what excites us most about India's tour to the UK. We discuss the unknown quantities of a visiting side led by Shubman Gill and missing the experience of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, plus England's strength at home in recent times.

There's also talk about potential lineups, whether we might see a debut for Sai Sudharsan, a return for Karun Nair and the make up of England's bowling attack. We ask if India really need two allrounders in the side, whether they can they find room for Kuldeep Yadav, if Jacob Bethell will be in England's best XI and discuss our expectations for this new-look Indian batting lineup.

To round out the show, we give our predictions for what we hope will be a series that makes for fascinating viewing over the next six weeks.

We'll be back in your feed next week to review the first Test and any other news that catches our eyes. Until then please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter & Facebook, and @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram & YouTube) and a (5-Star!) review at your favourite podcast provider, or tell a friend to download. It really helps others find the show and is the best thing you can do to support us. You can also find all our written content, including our Hall of Fame series, at our website.

You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including conversations with Mike Hesson, Shane Bond and Mike Hussey, current players such as Matt Henry, Sophie Devine and Ish Sodhi, coaches Gary Stead, Jeetan Patel and Luke Wright, as well as Barry Richards, Frankie Mackay, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world. And if you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

0:00 Intro

1:00 Venues and build up

2:50 What makes this series so interesting?

9:50 England's recent strength at home

12:20 England's potential playing XI for the first Test

14:55 India's lineup and selection questions

20:00 Preparation for both sides

25:15 Expectations for India in this WTC cycle

28:40 Series predictions

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