England vs India: Lord's Twitter handle welcomes Team India to the venue with a Virat Kohli GIF

After an unfortunate rain-enforced stalemate at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in the opening fixture of the Pataudi Trophy, the action between England and India moves to the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground, for the second encounter of the five-match series.

Ahead of that, the BCCI and the Lord’s Cricket Ground’s got involved in a tiny bit of Twitter interaction, as the Indian board wrote: “Hello Lord’s, we’re here #TeamIndia #ENGvIND”, alongside a stunning, bright picture of the venue. Within a couple of minutes, the Lord’s Cricket Ground, via its official handed, tweeted a Virat Kohli GIF to acknowledge BCCI’s tweet: “Good morning, @BCCI Welcome back to Lord’s. #LoveLords”, read their response with the Indian skipper seen clapping in the GIF posted underneath.

👋 Good morning, @BCCI.

Welcome back to Lord's.#LoveLords pic.twitter.com/FwbMhprP7V

— Lord's Cricket Ground (@HomeOfCricket) August 10, 2021

India’s humbling record at Lord’s

India’s record at Lord’s does not inspire much confidence: they have played 18 fixtures, losing 12 and drawing four, with only two wins, one of which came during the 2014 tour under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. However, India were completely outplayed in their most recent outing in the longest format at the venue, as they lost the second Test during the 2018 tour by an innings and 159 runs, being tumbled out for 107 and 130 in the two innings.

In the buildup to the current series, Indian skipper Virat Kohli spoke about how the 1-4 loss during India’s last tour on these shores of the world was not an apt representation of the teams, considering how the lack of capitalization led India to lose out matches they fought well for large parts. To that end, India must be disappointed for not being able to seal the deal in the series-opener at Trent Bridge, where they needed only 157 runs with nine wickets intact to draw first blood and take a 1-0 lead. Thanks to the rain, though, and the series stands 0-0 for now.

The current series is crucial in more senses than one as it has initiated the second World Test Championship cycle, where both England and India stand with four points after sharing the equal points from the drawn fixture. The second encounter gets underway on August 12.