"India Are Favorites, But..." - Nasser Hussain Fires 'Bazball' Warning To Rohit Sharma & Co.

India and England will face each other in a five-match Test series and former England skipper Nasser Hussain reckons India are favourites to win the series. The hosts have won 16 consecutive Test series at home since England last defeated them in 2012 under Alastair Cook’s captaincy where spin duo Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar spun their web and starred in the incredible 2-1 series win against India on their home ground.

The baton has been passed to India as their players and fans wait to find out if the rank turners prove tough enough to undo what Bazball is renowned for. The aggressive style of batting in Test cricket which is called the Bazball by England can fail in India as the turning pitches will make it difficult for the batters to attack from ball one. However, former England skipper Nasser Hussain feels that the Bazball has not lost a single Test series and England couldn’t be written off against India.

“India are the favourites, but every single challenge Bazball has faced they’ve stuck to their guns and Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum’s record is seriously good, I wouldn’t write them off,” said Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports.

“Bazball has been very successful, especially at home and the two toughest places to tour are India or Australia. It’s going to be a massive challenge for England. India wants to see how this new approach will work at home. It will be fascinating cricket and will be interesting to see how this particular side will go against what is one of the great cricketing outfits at the moment, which is the India side,” added Nasser Hussain.

The rank turners in India will be one of the toughest challenges for Bazball as the tracks will spin prodigiously and the record for England against spinners has not been very good. Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav are the four Indian spinners included in the squad for the Test Series against England.

Nasser Hussain Feels Ben Stokes Will Lead England To Another Great Series Win

However, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have proved their leadership time and again. There were speculations about whether England could handle the flat pitches before they toured Pakistan for the first time in 17 years and to everyone’s surprise, they finished with a 3-0 whitewash series in 2022 against Pakistan.

Nasser Hussain added, “Last winter in Pakistan, Stokes’ captaincy was magnificent in the way he waited for reverse swing and brought himself on and then saw the wicket turning and left it to his spinners.”

Ben Stokes will lead the side against India in the Test series but will only take part in a batting capacity as he is still recovering from his knee injury and it is highly unlikely that he would bowl in the series. Apart from that Ben Foakes has also earned a recall in the England Test side. He has not featured in the Test team since the drawn series in New Zealand back in February.

“Bairstow got better with the bat and gloves as the Ashes went on. He admitted he was undercooked after that serious injury and the balance of the side with Stokes not bowling is going to be even more challenging,” said Nasser Hussain. “Bairstow is probably the one they’ll look to unless it is spinning big in which case England will want Foakes because he is an incredible gloveman.”

The balance of the England side is yet to be decided with Stokes occupying a batting role and Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes both included as wicketkeeper-batters. India has named three wicketkeepers KL Rahul, KS Bharat, and Dhruv Jurel in the squad. The series is set to begin on January 25 as the first Test kicks off at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.