Virat Kohli and Co will beat England 3-1 in Test series: Allan Lamb

New Delhi, Nov 16: Despite Alastair Cook and company's positive start in the Test series against India at Rajkot, former England batsman Allan Lamb feels Virat Kohli and Company still have an upper hand and hosts will win the series by a decent margin.

Ind-Eng series schedule; Photos

Lamb has predicted that India will beat England in the 5 Test series by a margin of 3-1.

In an interview to TOI, the 62-year-old said, "The last time England toured here (in 2012), the duo of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar did wonderfully well. In the current lot, the likes of Moeen (Ali), (Adil) Rashid, Zafar Ansari and Gareth Batty will have to bowl in good areas in order to trouble the Indian batsmen. They would have to be very consistent in order to make it count."

Backing his prediction, Lamb said hosts have a better spin attack and the home advantage will add up to their chances of dominating the remainder of the series.

He reasoned, "Look, on paper - India have a better spin attack. In Indian conditions, they are favorites. Both teams seem to be giving it their all. But, if I were to go purely by the conditions that would be on offer, the series should read 3-1 in India's favour."

Lamb was surprised by the poor assistance spinners got from the Rajkot track in the opening Test and felt this would have given England a lot of confidence.

"Considering the wickets that England played on in Bangladesh where there was a lot of turn, I thought the wicket in Rajkot would spin as well. It was however a good Test wicket. England will take confidence from the way they started (in the series). For me, (Joe) Root, Cook and Moeen played with a lot of purpose and showed how it's to be done on Indian wickets. India did drop a few catches and that can always peg you back in a game," quipped Lamb.

England were labelled as underdogs before start of the Test series but the way visitors dominated the number one ranked side in the first Test was commendable.

India play Englad at Visakhapatnam on Thursday (Nov 17) in the second Test match.

OneIndia News