England take on India in the first of five Tests which begins in Birmingham on Monday. Top-ranked India are without their premier fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah while England have won just two out of their last 10 Tests.

Stakes will be high as India try to prove they truly deserve the No1 status while England look to put the impetus back into their red-ball cricket after prioritising limited over cricket for a few years.

Here, Sport360‘s cricket writers make their predictions about the Pataudi Trophy 2018.

ALEX BROUN

Winners: England

A lot of it depends on the weather. If it stays dry and hot then the games may descend into slow scoring draws while if the rains start to come the wickets will tumble. Either way the hosts to win.

Best performer: Alastair Cook

With not that many home series to play the former captain will want to make this summer a big one. With the wickets unlikely to give the bowlers much, expect Cook to dig in and stay there.

Disappointment: Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin has been magnificent through his career but I think he will struggle here. England won’t have a lot of trouble picking his regulation off spin and expect the middle order to score heavily against him.

Scoreline: 3-1 to England

Alastair Cook needs to deliver against India.

DENZIL PINTO

Winners: England

The hosts won in 2011 and 2014 against India and expect that record to be continued. Their batting is capable of doing serious damage to an under strength Indian bowling unit while the tourists’ batsmen are still finding their feet on English soil.

Best performer: Joe Root

All eyes will be on how Virat Kohli fares following his disappointing 2014 tour but the England captain should steal the spotlight, just how he did when he finished highest scorer four years ago.

Disappointment: Cheteshwar Pujara

Despite playing county cricket this summer, the 30-year-old isn’t in the best of form after averaging 14.33 from 12 innings for Yorkshire. It won’t come any easier against the likes of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Scoreline: 3-1 to England

Cheteshwar Pujara is out of form.

CHRIS BAILEY

Winners: Neither side. India will take time to warm up in England – so may Virat Kohli – but Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah will come back in time to trouble the hosts and help level the series.

Best performer: Jos Buttler. It’s difficult to imagine England’s top-order woes will be miraculously cured – their middle-order isn’t shabby though. Buttler, the new Test vice-captain, is box office and now with added substance.

Disappointment: Kuldeep Yadav if and when he starts. England’s limited-overs team will be full of tips for openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings on how best to play a spinner who they eventually got to grips with last month.

Scoreline: 2-2

Jos Buttler is the man of the moment.

ASHISH PETER

Winners: England

The injuries in India’s pace department cannot be understated neither can the wealth of experience in their English counterparts be overstated. Expect the hosts to start strongly while India take their time to get going.

Best performer: Jonny Bairstow

One of the few respectable performers for England when they toured India in 2016-17, Jonny Bairstow is primed to have a big series with the bat following his excellent form in limited-overs cricket.

Disappointment: Adil Rashid

England have set themselves up for a big fall by giving leg-spinner Rashid a Test recall based solely on the fact that he dismissed Virat Kohli twice in the ODI series.

Scoreline: 3-1 to England.

Alastair Cook (l) with Adil Rashid.

AJIT VIJAYKUMAR

Winners: England

If India had a fully-fit side, I would have backed them to win against an English team that has fallen dramatically behind in red-ball cricket. But in a five-Test series, you need your best wicket-taking bowlers and India don’t have that at the moment.

Best performer: Virat Kohli

Kohli is too good a player to keep failing. Expect him to double down to ensure he comes up with the runs. This time it’s personal and Kohli will leave no stone unturned.

Disappointment: Cheteshwar Pujara

The wheels are beginning to come off Pujara’s batting. There is hardly any fluency in his scoring and his game has come to a standstill when it should have progressed to the next level.

Scoreline:  England 3-2 (weather permitting)

Indian captain Virat Kohli.