India and England will face each other in a five-match Test series which commences on January 25. Rohit Sharma and Ben Stokes will be leading their respective teams in the all-important Test series as it will be one of the turning points for both teams on their path to reaching the WTC Finals for the 2023-2025 cycle. India is currently second on the WTC points table whereas England is eighth among nine teams.
The Men in Blue are almost invincible when they donn the white jersey at home with a near-perfect record in Test cricket in home conditions. They have not lost a home Test series for more than 11 years. India’s last defeat in a Test series on home soil came in 2012 under MS Dhoni’s captaincy at the hands of Alastair Cook-led England.
Rohit Sharma has already dropped some hints that the tracks here will be rank-turners and a lot of focus is being diverted on the pitches after the Cape Town Test between India and South Africa. Former England captain Nasser Hussain has warned the Indian team about producing rank turners against ‘Bazball’ and claimed that the hosts will be better off making surfaces that are ‘good pitches’.
“I think what India should do is ask for good pitches that spin a bit because I think their spinners and batters will then out-bat and out-spin ours. If they ask for pitches that spin a lot, then it becomes a bit of a lottery and brings England’s spinners into the game. The way Bazball goes about its business, they would not die wondering,” said Hussain to SKY Sports Cricket Podcast.
England’s Last Two Trips Have Been Disastrous In India
England’s last two trips to India have been disastrous, to say the least. They were defeated 4-0 in the five-match series in 2016 and then in 2021, they started auspiciously by defeating the hosts in the series opener but then went on to lose three Test matches on the trot. They would be hoping to recreate what they did in 2012 and win a Test series in India and they have selected a squad with a lot of spin power including new spinners like Shoaib Bashir, Tom Hartley, and Rehan Ahmed.
India has announced the Test squad for the first two Tests and they will announce the squad for the remaining three Tests after the commencement of the second Test in Vishakhapatnam. The first Test of the series will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad while the second Test will be played in Vishakhapatnam. The other three venues for the Test series are Rajkot, Ranchi, and Dharamsala.
The pitches will play a huge factor in determining the winner of the series as England has shown some vulnerability in playing spinners in any conditions. India will create spin-friendly pitches with the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav present in the squad. England is up for a huge task and they will have to hold their horses as the Bazball strategy might be ineffective on Indian rank-turners.
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India and England will face each other in a five-match Test series which commences on January 25. Rohit Sharma and Ben Stokes will be leading their respective teams in the all-important Test series as it will be one of the turning points for both teams on their path to reaching the WTC Finals for the
The post Nasser Hussain Sends Bazball Warning To Team India Ahead Of The Test Series appeared first on CricketAddictor.
