England head coach Chris Silverwood on Tuesday (January 26) said India’s historic Test series win in Australia shows that Team India will be a “difficult” team to beat but he is confident of thrashing the hosts on their own home soil in the upcoming four-Test series.
However, Silverwood has admitted that the upcoming four-Test series starting with the first Test on February 5 in Chennai is “going to be a hard-fought contest” but England has already gained the needed confidence with a recent 2-0 Test series win in Sri Lanka.
Now they are going “with their eyes open” and going to be at their best to outwit India in the upcoming series.
The head coach further said he respects the “big challenge” in India but said if England managed to defeat India in the upcoming Test series, then their confidence will go through the roof.
Silverwood said at a virtual press conference: “The one thing Australia has shown is India will be a difficult team to beat. It's a great challenge for us. Do I think we can beat them? Yes. I always take the positive side of things. I think we can beat them, but we know it's going to be a hard-fought contest.
If we come out on top of this one, confidence again will go through the roof for us. I respect the fact they are a fine side with some really good players. We're going to have to be at the top of our game.”
The England coach further noted, “We are going there with our eyes open. We know it is going to be a tough challenge. We know they are an excellent team, especially in their own conditions, and we respect that. But I think it is an exciting challenge. We are in a good place. We are constantly growing. But we completely respect how big a challenge it is.”
Meanwhile, England has decided to rest Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, and Chris Woakes for the India Tests while Jos Buttler would also return home after the first Test. However, the rotation policy didn’t go down well with many former English cricketers, but the head coach defended the move.
Silverwood further explained: “We have got to look after our people. We are spending a lot of time locked in hotels and bio-secure bubbles and it is not easy. It is good we are being proactive. I am perfectly happy with the system at the moment.
We have decided that we need to look after our players and I do believe we have been proactive. I would ask them to understand why we do what we do. It is in the best interest of each player and to get the most out of them, long-term.”
On being asked whether Bairstow will come straight into the playing XI for the 3rd Test in India, the coach said: “Bairstow will come back into the group, then the rest is down to selection. We don't make any guarantees to anybody. I don't think you can, you don't know where you'll be at any given time.”
He signed off by saying, “I do think it's right he has a rest. Jonny is very busy, a multi-format player and we've got to look after him, give him a bit of time at home to chill out. He did well - Jonny asked me the same question and I said he'd done very well. He went in during some difficult periods of the game and applied himself well on what we're testing wickets. I was pleased with him.”
Here’s the England squad for the first two Tests against India:
Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, and Chris Woakes.
(With ANI Inputs)
