Anil Kumble predicts that Rohit Sharma and the Indian team will secure a 4-1 victory in the upcoming five-match Test series against England, with the first Test commencing in Hyderabad on Thursday. England was the last team to win a Test series in India, accomplishing a 2-1 margin in the 2012-13 series.
However, India responded with 4-0 and 3-1 home series victories against England in 2016 and 2020-21, respectively. The most recent encounter in red-ball cricket between these teams was in the five-match Pataudi Trophy in England, concluding in a 2-2 draw.
“I’m not a guy with a crystal ball, but I can certainly see India winning the series,” Kumble said on a Jio Cinema interaction. “I am thinking all five Tests would provide results because of the approach that these two teams have towards Test cricket. Unless and until the weather intervenes, all five Test matches would have results. I would give one to England and four to India.”
Should India align with Kumble’s forecast, it would mark their 17th consecutive Test series victory at home. The second-highest record is held by Australia, securing 10 series wins between November 1994 to November 2000 and then from July 2004 to November 2008.
“Don’t just try to hit boundaries when you come in”- Anil Kumble on Bazball
Regarding BazBall, England’s aggressive batting strategy, Kumble mentioned that while it’s necessary on spin-friendly Indian pitches, it should be executed with the appropriate balance.
“We’ll have to see whether it’s going to be basketball or bus-ball – bus as in (the) Hindi (word) bus,” he quipped during the interaction. “The approach certainly is needed. If it’s a spin-friendly surface that they’re going to encounter, they certainly need to have that kind of a mindset coming into a game, you can’t be looking to survive. But at the same time, you need a bit of a balance in Indian conditions.”
“You cannot just come in with the intent to just hit boundaries; you also need a good defence. That’s something that England will have to watch out for. What the English batters bring — we know that irrespective of the conditions — they come in and look to dominate the bowling and put pressure on the bowlers. It’ll be interesting to see how the Indian bowling lineup responds to that kind of an approach,” Kumble added.
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