India vs England 2021: Andy Flower Reckons England Will Find It Tough To Beat India

Former England Coach Andy Flower has reckoned that India is a more confident side now and England will find it tougher to beat them in the upcoming test series. India is coming off a historic series win in Australia and will be riding high on confidence which will make it an even bigger challenge for England. India is on top of the world championship table and they have stamped their authority at home.

England managed to win a Test series in India 2-1 in 2012 under former Zimbabwe cricketer Andy Flower. Alastair Cook had a great series with the bat which made it easy for England to put pressure onto India.

The spin duos of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar ran past the batting order of India and with the likes of Kevin Pietersen supporting with handy knocks with the bat, it was a nightmare series for India.

Joe Root Is Key To England Success: Andy Flower

Andy Flower mentioned about Joe Root being the rock-like Alastair Cook was in 2012 which helped England in a great way to build the innings and take it up from there. He also told about Joe Root being the best player of spin in the team and the likes of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler can come to the party to play impactful innings.

“Joe should be the rock around which we can build big innings like Cook was in our team.‘He’s our most skilful player of spin and can combine a really nice, soft defence with the alternating of strike and occasionally jumping out of his bubble and scoring boundaries,” Andy Flower told Daily Mail.

“Then we need guys like Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes to come to the party with a more pro-active game, a bit like Kevin Pietersen did in 2012. Where Root might be playing at a certain tempo, those guys can up it and really put pressure on the opposition spinners,” he added.

India Confident About Their Stature In World Cricket

Andy Flower also mentioned about India being more confident about their stature in World Cricket. India will not go down with a fight as we saw in the recently concluded Border Gavaskar Series. He also mentioned about being difficult for the current England side than the side in 2012 where Joe Root was on the bench and made his debut in the final Test at Nagpur.

“It’s one thing going to Australia and trying to win but a four-match series in India is challenging in a very different way and I think it’s going to be tougher for England now than it was for us. India will be more confident after that win in Australia and they’re also a more confident nation now about their standing in world cricket,” Andy Flower added.