Will England dethrone India from No. 1 spot?

After England's thumping win over India in the first Test at Lord's, former cricketers have tipped the hosts to usurp India as the No. 1 Test team.

Allan Donald, former South African pacer, said the England team deserved to edge past India as the new world number one in Test cricket.

"England deserve to be the number one, there's no question about it," Donald told 'BBC Radio 5 live'. England beat India by 196 runs in the opening Test of the four-match series.

Donald said England are improving with every passing game.

"They are a good side, they're progressing every game. They're progressing as a really good unit." Donald said in pacers Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett and James Anderson and spinner Graeme Swann, England have the best bowling attack in the world right now.

In his column in the Daily Telegraph, former England skipper Geoff Boycott said he did not foresee world number one India bouncing back in the ongoing Test series against England and believed the hosts are well on their way to clinch the top spot in ICC Rankings.

"The hosts are all fired up. Confidence is high, they believe they can beat India and they are hungry to be No.1 in the world. I can't see India stopping them and it would be an amazing turnaround if they beat England," Boycott said.

Strauss also believed his side is poised to go past India to become the world number one in Test cricket.

"To be number one you have to grab your opportunities and I think we did that very well in this game," Strauss was quoted as saying by the 'Daily Telegraph'.

"It's the first of a four-match series but we've demonstrated that when we play well we're a match for anyone. Now we just have to play well again.

Legendary all-rounder Ian Botham said: "There is little doubt that the current English team are now cricket kings of the world."

"What we saw at Lord's was the sort of performance you would expect from the best team on the planet and there will be more to come before this series is over.

"At some point, England will take the No.1 title from India officially and then an era of dominance should follow, because we are well ahead of the pack. Every department is covered and without a weak link," he wrote in his column in 'Daily Mirror'.

Legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram said India should drop their off-colour spinner Harbhajan Singh and bring in leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

"Harbhajan looked off-colour at Lord's. He got very little spin; his line was also very bad. I think it's about time that Mishra came in. English batsmen have traditionally been poor against leg-spinners. Besides, Mishra is a very intelligent bowler. I saw him bowling in the IPL and he impressed me a lot. To cut it short, Mishra should play in the next match," Akram said.

Former Indian skipper and NDTV cricket expert Sunil Gavaskar, however, feels the series is still very much alive and it might end at 1-1.

(With agency inputs)