Can England beat India at home in a Test series?

It is surely the ultimate challenge in international cricket: winning a Test series in India. It’s the pinnacle for a Test team, much harder than in Australia. India have lost only one home series in 19 years, in 2012, when Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar spun Alastair Cook’s England to an epic victory. The latest instalment of this marquee series is almost upon us, and will be a chance to see whether Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum and their Bazballers can deliver when the odds look stacked against them.

Or is it going to be one of the last rituals before Test cricket becomes a quirky occasional outing for a handful of countries? The recent two-match series between South Africa and India seemed to be a weird version of It’s A Knockout, and featured the shortest Test match ever played.

England will be going into this series with three rookie spinners and no Stuart Broad, and won’t be playing a single warm-up game, which you may regard as something of a mistake.