Former England spinner Graeme Swann has asked the England players to move over their obsession with Ashes win since Australia is not the stronger team they used to be anymore. Swann’s comments come after India beat Australia 2-1 in a Test series in their own backyard recently. Swann said that beating India in India is a far tougher thing and that the team should focus on doing that in the upcoming Test series against India. The series is a part of the ongoing World Test Championship series.
England will tour India between February 5 to March 28 for four Tests, five T20Is and three ODIs. Chennai will host the first two Tests. The final two Tests will be played at the newly built stadium in Ahmedabad. It has a crowd capacity of 110,000 spectators, making it the biggest-capacity cricket ground in the world.
“England always saying ‘well the Ashes are coming up’. Australia are not the best team in the world anymore. They used to be, by miles, … they’re not now, but we’re obsessed with this,” Swann told tabloid The Sun.
England Should Look Forward To Beating India: Graeme Swann
Graeme Swann further said that England should look ahead of the Ashes and focus on beating India in their own backyard which will be a real challenge. Incidentally, the last time England defeated India at their home ground was almost nine years back.
“We have to move away from looking forward to the Ashes series. I think beating India in India is a far higher thing to strive for right now. They’re virtually unbeatable in India since we beat them in 2012. Why isn’t that the whole thing?” he asked.
He said if England wants to be the best in the world, they should move away from the fixation of just trying to beat Australia in away series. The Ashes is scheduled to start in December this year in Australia. Graeme Swann took 255 wickets with his off-spin from 60 Tests between 2008 and 2013.
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