If India Can't Win This England Side, They Should Go Home: Michael Vaughan

Former England captain Michael Vaughan, who recently predicted a 3-1 series win for Team India in the UK, has said that if Virat Kohli’s men should pack their bags and go home if they end up losing the Test series against a weak English side.

Vaughan, who is known for making outrageous predictions before a series, gave his thoughts on the Pataudi Trophy 2021 during an interaction with Harsha Bhogle on CricBuzz.

With Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes unavailable and a majority of England’s batters out of form and practice, and India, riding high on consecutive Test series wins in Australia, Vaughan reckoned that this is the best possible chance for the visitors to register a series win in the UK for the first time in 14 years.

“I’m going to put India under a huge amount of pressure. If they can’t beat this England side, with the team that they have, on the back of winning in Australia (twice), on the back of the unfortunate incidents in terms of Ben Stokes missing out, no Chris Woakes – his record in the UK is exceptional, no Jofra Archer… if India can’t beat this England side, on the back of New Zealand winning here decently, they should go home, simple as that,” Michael Vaughan told Cricbuzz while previewing the Test series.

 

India dominate proceedings on the first day against England

India and England kickstarted their five-match grueling affair on Wednesday in Nottingham and the tourists have started their campaign to win their maiden Test rubber in England since the summer of 2007.

In seamer-friendly conditions against a world-class Indian attack, England’s usual struggles with the bat were once again exposed as they ended up managing 183 in just over 65 overs.

England got off to a poor start as they lose Rory Burns in the first over of the game. They were soon reduced to 3/66 at the start of the second session but skipper Joe Root’s classy 50th half-century and Jonny Bairstow’s patient 29 helped the hosts stitch a 74-run stand for the 4th wicket.

But, as they say, death, taxes, and an English collapse are some of the few constants in this ever-changing world and that is exactly what happened as the home side lost its last seven wickets for a mere 45 runs.

Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul saw off the tricky phase before stumps to ensure that India finished the day with each of their 10 wickets in the bag.

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