Former England captain and commentator Kevin Pietersen said India is 100% favorites to win the upcoming four-Test series at home mainly because England hasn’t picked their best team for the first two Tests.
Team India already has home advantage and then their confidence is high presently after winning Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 in Australia recently, while their captain Virat Kohli is also back to only increase England’s challenges in the upcoming four-Test series starting Friday (February 5) in Chennai.
The South African-born former England batsman is very excited for the India-England Test series while questioning whether Jofra Archer will be able to stop Test giants like Cheteshwar Pujara in his own backyard and if James Anderson will be able to do the business in India.
Pietersen said on Star Sports' “Cricket Connected” show: “India’s got experience at home, they definitely do. They’ve got Kohli coming back….England has not taken their best team for the first two Test matches.
I think Johnny Bairstow has to be there and I don’t think he’s going to be there. India is definitely favorites. 100% they’re the favorites because England haven’t taken their best team or they’re certainly not starting with their best team.”
He further explained, “Kohli, Anderson, Ajinkya Rahane, how’s he going to go, being captain in Australia and then coming back and Kohli, how’s that dynamic going to work? It’s going to be a very interesting dynamic.
I think that might be, something that is talked about a lot during this series. Then you have got Jofra Archer, can he knock over Pujara?
Bumrah’s back… there are so many different permutations that could happen in this Test series, but I think there’s going to be a very interesting story that’s going to run through this series – Kohli comes back as captain after Ajinkya Rahane was so good in Australia. I know Joe Root has been outstanding in Sri Lanka, so he’s clearly somebody who’s going to come in with a lot of form.”
The 40-year-old also said that the upcoming Test series is going to be “a fantastic series between the two great teams on slow tracks”.
He further added, “England’s opening batsmen – have they got enough time to turn their techniques around?
Dom Sibley did well in the last Test match. Has Crawley got enough time to turn his technique around? Is Rory Burns going to come back in? Ben Stokes is there, and he’s an absolute superstar. Is Anderson going to be able to do the business?”
Pietersen signed off by saying, “Then, you have got Ashwin, Bumrah, Kohli, Rahane, Pujara…there are too many superstars for me to sit here and pick one player in particular. I just think that it’s going to be a fantastic series – slow wickets, but two great teams!”
