"I Think India..." - Michael Atherton Makes Blockbuster Prediction For IND vs ENG Test Series

Former England cricketer Michael Atherton predicted the result for the upcoming India vs England Test series. He believes that the Rohit Sharma-led team will emerge victorious because the visitors don’t have better spinners and it could be a huge difference.

The much-anticipated Test series between India and England is less than one week away from now. The first match of the series will be played from 25th January at Hyderabad’s Uppal Stadium and the second game is slated to take place from 7th March in Dharamsala.

England under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum are yet to lose the series, which depicts their dominance. Their Bazball approach has been one of the main reasons behind their success but their biggest challenge is about to happen as beating India in India isn’t an easy task.

India in their home conditions are beast. It won’t be easy for England to come and attack right from the start. The biggest battle will be between English batters and Indian spinners, who run through the opposition and pick wickets in no time.

Michael Atherton highlighted the spin will play a big part in the series but he isn’t staying away from admitting that hosts have world-class fast bowlers. The former England skipper pointed out the variety of Indian spinners, saying that they are different from English spinners. Speaking to Sky Sports, he explained:

“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.

“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.”

“I think India will win – Michael Atherton on IND vs ENG series

Michael Atherton while talking about England spinners said that they have three inexperienced spinners in the team and that getting used to conditions will be the biggest challenge for them. He added that India will win the series as they have good spinners in the ranks. He added:

“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.”

“I think India will win. Their spinners are better than England’s and that will be the defining thing in the end.”

England since last month have been toiling hard to prepare for the India series. They recently had a camp in Abu Dhabi and will be arriving in Hyderabad soon. They are the only team to have defeated India at home in the last decade. The Three Lions achieved the feat during the 2012 tour under the leadership of Sir Alastair Cook. Ben Stokes would be hoping to achieve the feat and win the series.