England will not be able to win the Test series now vs India claims Michael Vaughan

Former England captain turned expert analyst Michael Vaughan feels it’s a long shot for the Ben Stokes-led English side to stage a comeback in the 5-match Test series in India after the visitors lost the 3rd Test in Rajkot by a heavy margin of 434 runs. The 4th Test in Ranchi will perhaps be the final chance for them to keep their hopes alive for a possible series win.

As we all know, the Indians are undefeated in all of their red-ball series on home soil since 2012 and England had come for this tour to dethrone the home team’s dominance which they have kept intact for the last decade. And Michael Vaughan while speaking to Dinesh Karthik in Cricbuzz’s X space show called “The Chatter”, claimed that Ben Stokes and co. are only going to suffer now.

“Never known an Indian side that gets worse”, Vaughan points out India’s improved performances in the back end of a series

One of the points that Michael Vaughan raised in that session was that the Indian team only improves itself during the back ends of a particular series and that he has never seen an Indian side that gets worse as the series proceeds. It is the same thing that even former South Africa captain Graeme Smith also raised during his recent interview with Wisden Cricket.

Vaughan also claimed that the pitches in the first two Test matches suited England quite well as they had that type of spinners who could make a direct impact. He also suggested the English team management back their 20-year-old tall off-spinner Shoaib Bashir to come in so that the pressure on Joe Root to deliver with the ball eases down and he can focus on his batting more.

“You hit me with the hard questions. No, I don’t think so. It’s a real long shot. I think playing in India, I’ve never known an Indian side get worse as the series goes on, they only get better. I think they’ve worked out the pitches. The first pitch where it spun and bounced a huge amount when batting first but I think it brought England spinners into the equation.”- Michael Vaughan said via Cricbuzz’s The Chatter. 

“The last two Test matches, the pitches have been really good with a little bit of spin and deteriorated more on days 3 and 4. So the 1st innings was pretty much a flat wicket, I’d be amazed if they go back to a Test wicket that we saw in the 1st Test in Hyderabad. They have a young spin attack, Joe Root has looked the most consistent of all the spinners but it’ll be worth playing Shoaib Bashir to give Root a little bit of breather with batting.”- Michael Vaughan added. 

“I wonder if they are thinking what’s coming next”, Michael Vaughan questions England’s batting approach

Michael Vaughan went on to state that England will find it tough in terms of choosing an able-playing XI for the 4th Test as they will toss up between Mark Wood and James Anderson who are looking “cooked”, while youngster Rehan Ahmed is also a bit tired after playing back-to-back 3 Tests. The former England captain was also doubtful about the selection for the 4th Test and wondered if the visitors were even thinking about what was coming up next for them.

“I’m not too sure where the selection is going to go but DK, I have to be honest, I think it’s going to be very difficult for England. Did they have any thoughts in the 2nd innings of the game (3rd Test), and if they lose the game, which they’ve been hammered? But was there any thoughts in that dressing room?”

“I’d be amazed if India don’t go to Jasprit Bumrah and say win us the series, go win us the series in Ranchi, and then in Dharamshala we’ll all be skiing because its snow up there and there’s rain, you can have a week off there to prepare the IPL and these are little cricket things DK, you’ve been around dressing rooms.

I just wonder if this England team really thinks about what’s coming next because they didn’t long enough to win the last Test match.” – Michael Vaughan concluded.