Former England wicket-keeper batsman Matt Prior believes that winning a Test series in India is bigger and tougher than winning the Ashes. The comment comes prior to England’s four-match Test series against Virat Kohli & Co starting from February 5 in Chennai.
All eyes will be on the forthcoming series that will decide the second finalist of the ICC World Test Championship, who will face New Zealand at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in June. A 2-0 series win or higher will see India through while England should at least win the Test series 3-0 to go through.
Beating India at home is tough – Matt Prior
In what will be a gruelling Test series, Matt Prior has rated it way above the winning against Australia. The former English cricketer believes that although the Ashes has all the hype around it, winning in India requires a lot more attrition.
“It’s certainly right up there. The Ashes gets all the publicity and everything that goes with it but India is an equally tough – if not tougher – place to go and win a series. It might even pip it for me: we won in Australia [in 2010-11] for the first time in 25 years but we won in India for the first time in 28,” Matt Prior told ESPNCricinfo.
Incidentally, Matt Prior was a part of the Test squad the won the series in India in 2012. It was after 28 years that the visitors had won a Test series in India. Reliving that victory, Prior said that he was so drained after the day’s play that he went off to sleep soon after coming back to the hotel.
“I remember coming in, taking my kit off, and before I knew it, I was asleep. I was just so drained from the whole experience. That’s why you do it, and that’s what made it such a good victory (in 2012). It is so mentally and physically draining to get a result out there (in India). To go there and be successful is a real privilege [so] it was a very proud moment in all of our careers,” he added.
