The exciting five-Test series between India and England will commence in Hyderabad with the first Test starting on January 25 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal. England was the last team to beat India in India in a Test series back in 2012.
Since then, India has dominated at home like no other team. However, this England team under the captaincy of Ben Stokes and the guidance of coach Brendon McCullum has adopted the much talked about ‘bazball’ way of batting, which has proven quite successful for them.
England had a 3-0 whitewash in the Test series in Pakistan and drew the Ashes 2023 2-2 at home against Australia. Thinking about the same, former captain Nasser Hussain has cautioned against discounting England's chances due to their recent success with the "Bazball" strategy.
"India are the favorites, but every single challenge Bazball has faced they've stuck to their guns, and Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum's record is seriously good, I wouldn't write them off. Bazball has been very successful, especially at home, and the two toughest places to tour are India or Australia. It's going to be a massive challenge for England.
India wants to see how this new approach will work at home. It will be fascinating cricket and will be interesting to see how this particular side will go against what is one of the great cricketing outfits at the moment, which is the India side,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
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On the other hand, Hussain’s former England teammate Mike Atherton spoke about how different the spinners in the Indian team and the England side. He said that Indian spin assault has greater diversity.
"If you go to India, spin will play a big part, it historically has done, and I suspect it always will do. India does have a very strong seam attack as well. India's four spinners are very different from England's. They have two left-arm finger spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. They have a wrist spinner in Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the greatest spinners of all time.
England has a solid left-arm spinner in Jack Leach and then three very inexperienced spinners after that with Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, and Rehan Ahmed. It will be a particular challenge for them, but the selectors see a high ceiling for them," he said.
The last time England toured India in 2021, they were routed on spin-friendly tracks in Chennai and Ahmedabad.
(PTI inputs)
