England v India: 2014 series live on Sky Sports

England’s summer rolls on apace with five Tests, five One-Day Internationals and one Twenty20 International against India, all of which you can watch on Sky Sports and Channel 5 throughout July and August.

Three years after they were whitewashed in a four-Test series, India return determined to make amends with experienced captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and former England coach Duncan Fletcher at the helm of a much-changed side.

England’s attack won’t have to contend with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, all of whom have now retired, while one-time crackerjack opener Virender Sehwag has omitted from the touring party.

In addition, India will be without the services of veteran seamer Zaheer Khan, who misses out because of injury, but fellow paceman Ishant Sharma makes the trip and Gautam Gambhir is recalled to add some much-needed experience.

Much will depend on how England’s batsmen perform against emerging bowlers Mohammed Shami, Varun Aaron, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishwar Pandey and Pankaj Singh in what is India’s first five-Test series for over a decade.

After seeing his side struggle against Sri Lanka, England coach Peter Moores and his selectors have plenty to reflect on, not least Alastair Cook’s position as Test captain, given his dip in form and the side’s recent results, and the lack of a frontline spinner.

Hopes were high at the start of the summer that Cook and Moores could kick-start England’s fortunes after their 5-0 mauling in Australia in the winter, though they suffered narrow defeats in both the Test and one-day series just a few weeks ago.

Despite failing to secure victory, the encouraging performance with both bat and ball should give England renewed confidence going into this series.

It was 1959 when India last waged war with England over five Test matches here and they will hope to return home having fared far better than their ancestors, who suffered the humiliation of a whitewash defeat.

Series victories over Australia and the West Indies towards the end of 2013 have been followed by defeats to South Africa and New Zealand.

Those results have seen India drop to fifth in the ICC Test rankings but they will be buoyed by the fact their hosts have struggled in equal measure. 

England will be hoping to prove all the doubters and critics wrong this summer by dismantling Dhoni’s side in front of their home fans.

Sky Sports will screen exclusive live coverage of England’s Test, ODI and T20 series against India on TV, mobile and tablet devices as its busy summer of international cricket continues

There will be live coverage of all five Test matches in July and August, followed by the limited overs encounters which features one T20 international and  five one-day internationals.

David Gower introduces live coverage of each day’s play during the test and one-day series, including a full one-hour build-up to the start of each day’s play during the test series, while Ian Ward presents Sky’s coverage of the T20 international.

Expert commentary, analysis and opinion will be provided throughout the series by Sir Ian Botham, Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, David Lloyd, Andrew Strauss and Michael Holding, with Indian legends Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid joining the team for the series, while reports and interviews come from Ian Ward.

Extended highlights will be broadcast each evening at various times across the Sky Sports network, with the first showing usually at 8.00pm, followed by The Verdict with Charles Colville and Bob Willis.

Extra features, analysis, interviews as well as live score updates and text commentary can be found on the Sky Sports cricket website, with additional, behind-the-scenes updates via Twitter – @SkyCricket.

Channel 5 will broadcast free-to-air highlights of every day’s play from India’s tour of England throughout the summer.

Mark Nicholas presents every programme on Channel 5 and Channel 5 HD, with commentary coming from the regular team of that includes former England captain Michael Vaughan, ‘The Analyst’ Simon Hughes and the legendary Geoffrey Boycott, plus former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar joins the rota for the series.

Each one-hour highlights show during the test series, one-dayers and T20 internationals will be shown in a prime-time slot at 7.00pm every night.

If you miss any of the action then you can catch-up on each Cricket on 5 episode via Demand 5 (online only).

Channel 5’s coverage of cricket will be continue to be produced this summer by Sunset+Vine, who have been responsible for English cricket’s free-to-air output since 1999.

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