'England will be very attacking' - Monty Panesar's colossal warning to India

Former England cricketer Monty Panesar shared a piece of valuable advice for the Indian team ahead of the five-match Test series against Ben Stokes & Co. He said that the Rohit Sharma-led side should prepare for England’s attacking cricket.

England under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have completely changed the dynamics of the way they play Test cricket. Their attacking approach, which they tout as Bazball, has been extremely successful for them in various conditions and has given them positive results. It was extremely successful in Asian conditions when they toured Pakistan and whitewashed the home team.

England’s next challenge is against India as they will be lock horns in a five-Test series, starting 25th January across five different venues in India. It is expected that Ben Stokes and company will play the same aggressive brand of cricket because it has yielded them positive results.

However, one question that has been bothering many is if their Bazball approach works against the Indian spinners. The likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel have wreaked havoc across the batting lineup of the opposition and haven’t let batters settle at all.

England batters no doubt will be aware of the challenge that will be ahead of them and it will be interesting to see how they go about the business. India on the other hand would be up for the challenge and would be eager to take the field in conditions they have been extremely dominant.

Monty Panesar believes that England will continue with attacking approaching and if India gets surprised by it then they haven’t prepared well. He while sharing his advice to the Indian team cited the example of how Australia planned during the Ashes. Speaking to News 18, he stated:

“I Think England are going to be very attacking and if India gets surprised by it then they have not prepared for that. They must prepare for that (England playing attacking cricket), like what Australia did during the Ashes where they were like let England pull up the first punch and then let’s see what happens. We will react accordingly as we know how good we are.”

They need to go with England attacking first and see how that goes – Monty Panesar on India

Monty Panesar urged India to let England take the first step and then see how things go. He believes that once India finds out the strategy, they will know how to beat England. He added:

“They need to go with England attacking first and see how that goes and then once they find out the strategy and then they succeed, then India would be like they know how to beat England.”

India’s team has started preparing for the series in Hyderabad. The players have arrived and have started their drills. England on the other hand, underwent a camp in Abu Dhabi for the last few weeks. They have arrived in India and will be looking to script history by winning the second series in India after the 2012 tour.