All eyes will be Taunton at the end of this week with very good reason.

India are always a great draw in this country and this summer's tour, which gets underway against Somerset on Friday, will be no exception.

Quite simply, Test cricket's best side will come up against the team that dreams of sitting top of the pile - England - and it should be a cracking four-Test series.

Array of talent: Dhoni has a formidable batting line-up at his disposal

Over the coming days we will get plenty of early pointers about how the summer will unfold but for now here is how I think the sides stack up ahead of next week's first Test at Lord's.

Captaincy

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an absolute cricketing superstar in my eyes - it's virtually impossible to fault him. He has mastered batting, captaincy and keeping wicket in all forms of the game which makes him pretty unique as a cricketer.

Moreover, he has succeeded in stamping his imprint on the side since becoming captain in 2007/08 - even though there are plenty of egos and multimillionaires in the team - growing into the role almost effortlessly.

Similarly, Andrew Strauss has the ultimate respect of all his players after leading England to back-to-back Ashes series wins; his captaincy has definitely improved as time has progressed but his decision to retire from 50-over cricket is a huge error on his part because it will splinter his authority within the group.

His batting form has dipped recently and everyone is awaiting his contest with Zaheer Khan with baited breath. Verdict: Dhoni delivers more on this score.

Batting

India's array of talent at Lord's will be astonishing even if Virender Sehwag, who is still recovering from shoulder surgery, misses out.

Incredibly, Sachin Tendulkar is getting better with age, while Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh - to name but three - will be tremendously difficult to dismiss twice. England must capitalise on any favourable pitches and atmospheric conditions to make deep in-roads.

It's incredible to think that someone like Virat Kohli, who was a revelation during the World Cup - completely unselfish and playing for the team - can't even make the squad while someone of Suresh Raina's quality may not get into the side.

There are more question marks against England in this department - Strauss is struggling, while Kevin Pietersen's career is coming to a crossroads; he's nothing like the Viv Richards or Brian Lara we thought he could be when he burst on the scene. But Alastair Cook is in the form of his life, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott are run-hungry and Eoin Morgan is growing into the side very nicely.

The selectors got that one right. Morgan is clearly a guy with special talent and temperament; they put him above Ravi Bopara on those criteria. Verdict: India are simply the best in the world.

Seam bowling

Even with Zaheer Khan (man-of-the-series back in 2007) on board, India's attack is not world-class.

Ishant Sharma bowled well in the Caribbean but that was against a poor West Indies team, while the feisty Sreesanth must find greater consistency even though he is a better five-day bowler than one-day bowler. They have much to prove because they are far less experienced in English conditions.

I always think that counts against bowlers. Rarely do you see bowlers who haven't had a lot of experience in England coming over here and doing particularly well.

On form James Anderson, Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan should probably be England's frontline three at Lord's but I'm still a big Steven Finn fan.

Finn picked up wickets in the Lord's Test against Sri Lanka without bowling very well; I'm sure that he will have learnt from that experience.

If everyone is fit I would put both Bresnan and Finn above Broad, who hasn't really produced anything for over a year - partly due to those injuries in the Ashes and the World Cup. It's just not happening for him at the moment.

He needs to reappraise his bowling. He and the England management have got to decide what type of job he is going to do for England; they've always thought of him as an aggressive opening bowler but he's certainly no Michael Holding!

Now Tremlett is getting the ball to bounce off a length, they don't need Broad haemorrhaging runs with the new ball at the start of an innings. I think a spell out of the side would actually do him some good. Verdict: England have the edge.

Spin bowling

Harbhajan Singh may have 400 Test wickets but I rate Graeme Swann as a better bowler. I don't foresee see a scenario where either side will select a second spinner - both sides like depth in their batting too much - so it will be a straight shoot-out between these two. Verdict: Swann will rise to the challenge.

Overall verdict

Bat will dominate ball for much of this series so we may only see one or two results. England may be able to exploit India's seamers to a greater degree than vice versa, but I predict that the sides will end up winning one Test apiece.

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