Ben Stokes hits back at Steve Harmison over England's preparation for Tests in India

The England cricket team, led by Ben Stokes, will face one of their toughest challenges when they embark on a five-Test series against India next month. England were the last team to beat India in India back in 2012, but have since struggled in the country. England’s Test team have been in brilliant form in recent times and can expect to excel against India in the upcoming series. However, former England fast bowler Steve Harmison was not too happy with the team’s preparations and lambasted the apparent lack of planning. He even called the side underprepared for the India tour. England’s most recent Test series was the drawn Ashes in July, and Harmison, in a candid conversation, said that he would not rule out a 0-5 whitewash for the Stokes-led side. Harmison was not very happy with the fact that the side is expected to arrive in India on January 21, merely four days before the first Test in Hyderabad. “You cannot go into India underprepared. [In fact], you cannot go into India over-prepared. You could be in India six weeks before and still not be prepared for that first Test and the emotion of that. To be honest, I love this new approach. I love Ben Stokes, the Brendon McCullum approach, obviously Rob Key, and everything that they have done, ECB have done. But I’m sorry, going in three days before [the India series]. You would never do that for an Ashes Test series,” Harmison said on talkSPORT cricket.

❎ "If England go in 3 days before, they deserve to get beat 5-0. You can't go into India underprepared!"

🏏 "You'd never do that for an Ashes series. It stinks!"

Steve Harmison launches an EXPLOSIVE rant about England's preparation for the tour of India

A must listen 🍿🔥 pic.twitter.com/O25llvnmbq

— talkSPORT Cricket (@Cricket_TS) December 27, 2023

Responding to this, Stokes issued a sarcastic comment on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, where he spoke about England’s training camp in Abu Dhabi before heading to India. “Good job we’re going to Abu Dhabi for a training camp before we go to India for even more training before that 1st Test then isn’t it,” he replied to a post shared by TalkSPORT on X handle.

Good job we’re going to Abu Dhabi for a training camp before we go to India for even more training before that 1st test then isn’t it. https://t.co/2Q0qCOEbFO

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) December 28, 2023

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As far as the England squad is concerned, the team management has added the uncapped spin duo of Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir, along with fast bowler Gus Atkinson, to the squad. The series will be played across Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Ranchi, and Dharamsala.