To many people's surprise, Shubman Gill's young Indian side has transcended expectations early in their tour of England 2025.
Considering the new-look side had little experience at the top level, the pundits did not heavily lean towards India before the Test series.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan was among those who believed the home side would cruise through the series against an inexperienced Indian outfit.
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However, following encouraging performances at Headingley and a historic 336-run win at Edgbaston, the former England captain expressed his surprise.
Here's what Vaughan had to say about his early feelings for the upcoming Test.
Michael Vaughan proven wrong by India and Shubman Gill
While discussing the favourites for the Lord's Test with Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz, Vaughan backed India to have an upper hand over England after the return of Jasprit Bumrah.
India have enjoyed a strong start to the series, dominating most of the first two Tests. The only blip came on Day 5 at Headingley, where England managed to successfully chase down a total of 371 to win the match.
Barring that final day collapse, India appeared to be in cruise control, piling up scores of 471, 364, 587, and 427/6 declared across four innings, and securing first-innings leads in both matches.
"After Leeds, I thought England would really dominate the series. India has produced skills that have been too hard for England to cope with. So, realistically, I would say India has got their foot in front because Bumrah comes back," he said.
"This is the first time I looked at England and thought, 'yeah, there are concerns' because India has now in four innings have scored over 1700 runs," he added.
Vaughan recalls Virat Kohli's famous huddle talk at Lord's
He also recalled India's good recent record at Lord's, pointing out Virat Kohli's 60 overs of hell huddle talk.
Kohli had reportedly said before the team went out to bowl during the 2021 Lord's Test: "For 60 overs, they should feel hell out there."
During that Test, England were bowled out for 120 in 51.5 overs on the final day. Chasing 272 to win, they needed only to survive 60 overs to secure a draw, but collapsed spectacularly against a fired-up Indian attack.
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Vaughan believes Ben Stokes and Bazball can make a comeback
However, despite being morally down, he still thinks that Ben Stokes' men thrive when their backs are against the wall.
"This England side has the habit of coming back from disappointment — I go back to the Ashes series here two years ago, where they were 2-0 down and suddenly started getting back into gear," he reminisced.
He further addressed England's bowling concerns, emphasizing the need for early wickets.
He focused on the need to find ways of dismissing in-form Shubman Gill under 20-25 after his 269 and 161 in Birmingham on the back of a 147 in Leeds.
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Notably, the former captain had previously predicted a 3-1 series win for the hosts, citing inexperience in the Indian side after some big retirements in Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.