ENG vs IND 2018: The Bowling Side That Can Quickly Adapt Will Have More Success: Stuart Broad

England pacer Stuart Broad insisted that the nature of the Edgbaston pitch for the first Test against India is not known even to the groundsmen as the ongoing heat wave in England has soaked all the moisture from the track.

And with neither of the teams aware of the pitches’ conditions, Broad feels the series would be an exciting one.

“It will be a really exciting series as both teams don’t know what the pitch will do neither the groundsmen really know because probably they haven’t experienced this sort of weather in England for a long time. The lack of moisture that has been around, players will have to adapt,” Broad told ESPNcricinfo.

For Broad, every ground from Trent Bridge (Nottingham) to the Lord’s will pose different challenges. And the speedster feels the bowling unit that adapts quickly will have the upper hand.

“The bowling side that can quickly adapt will have more success. (Need to) realize what’s the threat. Is it spin, reverse swing, or knee roll seam? We will be discussing all the way through.

“Each ground will be different. Trent Bridge might be very different to Lord’s. Lord’s (track) traditionally in last couple of years have spun quite a lot. Bowlers like Yasir Shah, Moeen Ali have got 10-fors. At Trent Bridge, it doesn’t turn that much. So we need to use different skills for different grounds for sure,” said the 32-year-old.

However, Broad did not make any prediction on how the much-anticipated series will pan out.

“It’s impossible to tell how the series will go. If the pitches are spin-friendly, the spinners will take a lot of workload. Seam bowlers would not have many overs through them but that will be a wrong mind set to go in thinking that ‘I would just want to play five Test matches’. You want to go in there fit and firing in each and every Test match every time,” said Broad.

Terming India as a standout side, Broad said consistency throughout long periods will be key to success in the long series.

“India are a stand out side in world cricket and they have got some wonderful players, who have adjusted to conditions to all around world,” Broad said.

“It’s going to be a hard-fought series. What I really enjoy is a five-Test series. Generally, your best players win you five-match series. Let’s hope, we come out on top. It is nice to have longevity to the series. Generally, the team that adapts and plays best cricket has longevity through the series will win it,” Broad said.

History will be in England’s favour. They have throughly dominated India at home in recent years. In 2011, they had thrashed the visitors 4-0 before winning 3-1 three years later.

However, England’s Test fortunes have been anything but impressive in recent times. They are yet to win a series in their last three attempts. They lost the Ashes 4-0, before losing the series in New Zealand.

Joe Root and his men had the chance to get back to winning ways when they hosted Pakistan in May. However, they could only manage to draw the series 1-1.

On the other hand,  India has been the most dominant side in the world for quite some time now. Barring the defeat in South Africa earlier this year, the Virat Kohli-led side has done exceedingly well.

India thrashed every team that visited them in the last couple of years including England. They also registered impressive series wins in Windies and Sri Lanka. Currently sitting at the top of the Test rankings, the team won nine consecutive Test series. The winning run came to an end earlier this year when South Africa beat India 2-1.