England will be playing India twice (once at home and once away), Sri Lanka, Australia, and New Zealand in the calendar year 2021.
With as many as 17 Test matches that might feature the England cricket team, their spearhead pacers 38-year-old James Anderson and 34-year-old Stuart Broad are aware of the fact that they might not play every single Test to manage their workload.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain had a chat with both Anderson and Broad on his show for Sky Sports and the duo talked openly about their thoughts on playing tough opponents back to back and what the series in India means for the England team.
Anderson said on The Hussain and Key Cricket Show, "It's a lot of cricket in 12 months so the likelihood is the seam bowlers will rotate at some point or miss the odd game."
"It looks really exciting, you are playing the top three teams in the world, India at home is always a difficult series, and there are opportunities for the team to improve and develop and make our way into the World Test Championship at the end of the year," he added.
Stuart Broad was dropped for a Test against West Indies during the summer of 2020 and had expressed that he was 'frustrated, angry, and gutted' with the decision. It showed how much he wanted to play Test cricket and that emotion carries on for him even now.
However, with such a long season ahead for England, he is ready to rest for a few games to keep in shape.
Broad said, "It's quite unrealistic to think one seamer will get through all that cricket, and you want seamers to peak at particular times. Of course, you want to win every series but you don't want to be going to Australia with four injured quick bowlers, you want them firing for November and December, so it's a balance that the captain, coach, and selectors have to take."
"It's a fine balance because you want to get experience into young bowlers too; the chance to play with Jimmy Anderson and learn from him is a great opportunity, I keep learning now and I'm 34, so you do want to give opportunities for players to develop," he added.
(With inputs from Sky Sports)
