Former England skipper Nasser Hussain feels veteran pacer James Anderson should tour India for the five-Test series early next year given the fact that Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali are now retired.
Anderson, 41, would be keen to tour India after an ordinary bowling display during the recently concluded Ashes against Australia at home.
"Jimmy's (Anderson) got a very good record against India... and you need a balanced attack. You need that experience for younger players to come in," Hussain said on The ICC Review on Thursday.
Anderson managed to claim only five wickets in four Tests of Ashes 2023. However, the seasoned campaigner has an impressive record in India, taking 34 wickets from 13 Tests at an average of 29.32.
"Listen, Jimmy's had a bad or an average couple of months, but you are a fool if you're writing off Jimmy Anderson. I spoke to him in an interview and he was like, the hunger is still there. He's already thinking about how to get back to his best," he added.
Hussain feels with the Ashes now history, Anderson was looking ahead to newer challenges and aiming to hit the nets soon.
"He's already thinking about going back in the nets and working hard at his game and that's a good sign for me that he's still got that hunger. He's, what, 10 wickets away from 700 (Test wickets), and that will keep him going for a while yet."
While Nasser Hussain acknowledged that the absence of Broad and Moeen will be felt, he believes England have depth in their bowling ranks to do well in India.
"I think especially with Broad going, I would like that experience (of Anderson in India)."
"(All-rounder) Chris Woakes has stated that he's not that keen anymore of playing away from home and his record's not great away from home. We'll see, he (Woakes) might change his mind. There's been a lot of mind changes recently. But if you don't have Woakes and you don't have Broad, you will need that experience of someone like Jimmy Anderson," he remarked.
Hussain further said that the tour of India will pose the next biggest challenge to "Bazball", a term which has been coined for England's aggressive style of play under the regime of captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
"(Spinner) Jack Leach will (hopefully) be back and Rehan Ahmed is a very good second spinner, as we saw in Pakistan," he said.
"(Pacer) Josh Tongue has bowled really well. (Pacer) Ollie Robinson is a very skilful bowler. Unfortunately, someone like Olly Stone is injured and obviously Jofra Archer is injured.
"You need that extra pace as well in India. So England have got...they've got that lad (Gus) Atkinson at Surrey, who has a lot of good things being said about him. So England have options. It's (India) the next test for Bazball. They said Bazball will work against one side, then they moved on to the next side.
"Then they moved on to New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan. The next challenge is India and everyone knows India in India is one of the sternest challenges in Test match cricket."
Nasser is eager to see how "Bazball" will work against India's spin troika of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel.
"It's Bazball against spin. Bazball against Ravi Ashwin, Jadeja and Akshar Patel and that is going to be fascinating," he concluded.
(With PTI Inputs)
