'India are favourites, but wouldn't write England off': Nasser Hussain

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has warned against writing his team off in the upcoming Test series against India, especially after their recent success under the revolutionary ‘Bazball’ approach. England are set to face India in a five-match Test series that begins on 25 January in Hyderabad, which will be their biggest assignment in the red-ball format since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as captain and coach respectively of the Test side. Read | Finn urges England to learn from 2012 team to replicate Test success in India “India are the favourites, 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,” Hussain told Sky Sports. “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 want 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.” Read | Will be interesting to see if England sticks to Bazball whole series: Zaheer England are yet to lose a Test series since Stokes took over as captain, with the team revolutionising Test cricket with their slam-bang approach towards the five-day format. Stokes and Co had whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 at home in their first assignment in the summer of 2022, beaten India in the delayed fifth Test in Birmingham despite conceding a sizeable first innings lead, before coming from behind to defeat South Africa 2-1. The ‘Bazball’ would then help England whitewash the Test series in Pakistan 3-0 in what was their first red-ball series in that country in more than two decades. More recently, England fought back from 0-2 down to hold Australia to a 2-2 draw in the home Ashes last summer. ‘India’s spinners are very different to England’s’ With the Indian pitches traditionally being slow, spin will again play an important role. Former captain Michael Atherton feels the Indian spin attack offers more variety. “If you go to India, spin will play a big part, it historically has done, and I suspect it always will do. India do have a very strong seam attack as well. Read | England might open with two spinners, suggests James Anderson “India’s four spinners are very different to England’s. They have two left-arm finger spinners in 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 have 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. With inputs from PTI