"Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma Aren't As Intimidating As Sachin-Sehwag And Dravid-Laxman.."- Steve Harmison

Ahead of the 1st of a 5-match Test series between India and England, former English pacer, Steve Harmison has made a bold claim about the Indian batting line-up led by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as highly inexperienced and vulnerable, stating that it doesn’t contain much of a threat for England due to the lack of established Test batters.

Steve Harmison, whose sole Test cricket appearance in India came in 2006 in a 3-match Test series where he picked 6 wickets across the series, claimed that during his playing days, the Indian team contained more established players than it has right now and that the current set of batters is not intimidating enough.

He name-dropped players like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virender Sehwag as key to India’s intimidating batting force back then, something the Asian giants currently deprived of. Harmison backed English bowlers to have a not-so-tough time against their Indian counterparts before claiming that Rohit and Virat will have most of the job to do.

“India will fancy their chances in their own environment, especially with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in their batting line-up. England, though, will feel that there are some vulnerabilities in that batting line-up. When I toured India, you had those big batters in the likes of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid, and Laxman, all stellar players. I am not sure if it’s as intimidating as it was back in the day.” – Steve Harmison.

In contrast and for a fact as well, it is the traveling English team that will be under immense pressure. The Three Lions will be aiming to clinch their first Test series win here since 2012 when Alastair Cook led England to defeat India by 2-1 in a 4-match series.

Since then, India have gone on to become a formidable force on home soil, especially in Test cricket, and England in their last 2 tours (2016/17 & 2020/21) have returned home with 4-0 and 3-1 series losses. And with quite a new look team led by Ben Stokes who will lead the Test side for the first time in India, it will be interesting to see if Indian batters and bowlers can intimidate them or not.

Steve Harmison Claims Ben Stokes And Joe Root Will Have To Share The Burden

Steve Harmison who retired after registering 226 Test wickets, stated that the Indian bowling attack will miss the services of Mohammed Shami but they will still do good with the current pace battery led by Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

He also praised Indian batters Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer but feels that they don’t have much experience in red-ball cricket as compared to the limited-overs formats. Harmison further admitted that in terms of the English batting line-up, most of the burden will be on the shoulders of Ben Stokes and Joe Root, the team’s 2 most experienced batters, and also highlighted England’s inexperience in their batting as well.

“Ben Duckett is still finding his way while Zak Crawley is still trying to find his way, though he’s an exciting talent. So Ben Stokes and Joe Root will have to shoulder the burden and the majority of pressure if England are to perform (well) with the bat.” – Steve Harmison concluded.

The 5-match Test series begins on January 25th with the 1st Test taking place at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi stadium.