IND vs ENG: "McCullum, Stokes Are Taking Ownership" - Stuart Broad On England's Preparation For India Tour

Pace-bowling great Stuart Broad has shared his views on the late arrival of the England National Cricket Team in India for the upcoming five-match Test series.

England are all set to tour India from January 25 for a five-match Test series. The English team faced an embarrassing 3-1 defeat against India when they last toured the country in 2021, and the win played an important role in India’s qualification for the first final of the World Test Championship. However, it will be the duo of England captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, who have certainly changed England’s way of playing Test cricket.

The English cricket team will be arriving in India three days before the start of the series. England will go through a training camp in Abu Dhabi and will start preparing for the series. England last defeated India in a Test series in India back in 2012 and it was Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann, who ripped through the Indian batting lineup to script a historic series win.

However, there are questions about why are England will be arriving late in India. However, former England pacer Stuart Broad believes that it is the planning of head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, due to which England will come late to India.

Stuart Broad opens up on England’s strategy for India tour

England have a very tight schedule and to manage their work balance, England will be arriving late in India. Stuart Broad wrote in his column for Daily Mail, “The decision to fly to India only three days before the first Test next month is not England minimising preparation — Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, as coach and captain, are controlling it.”

“In cricket, when you tour a country, arriving weeks early, the warm-up pitches, quality of the nets, the matches you play, and your travel schedule are seldom arranged to help you. So McCullum and Stokes are taking ownership of this period leading up to the series opener in Hyderabad on January 25 rather than leaving it in someone else’s hands.”

England lost to India when they visited the country on the last two occasions by a margin of 4-0 and 3-1 respectively. It looked like England have prepared well for the upcoming India tour when they came here last time and achieved a dominating win in Chennai. However, the Indian spin trio of Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja exposed England’s poor playing technique against the spinners and Engladn lost the series.

England lost to Australia in the first two matches in the 2023 Ashes, however, they ended the five-match series at 2-2 but were not able to reclaim the Ashes.

Since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have taken over as the head coach and the captain of England’s Test side, they have changed the technique of playing the longer format. The English team has started to play the red ball format like white ball cricket which is also known as ‘Bazball’.

‘Baz’ is the nickname of England’s Test head coach Brendon McCullum, who completely used to decimate the opposition with his aggressive playing style. Now, when England will play on the spin-friendly Indian pitches, it will be great to see how will their technique prove to be for them.