'A problem England will have is...' - Former England legend concerned over chances of 'Bazball' in Test Series against India

England’s fearless ‘Bazball’ approach under the captaincy of the star all-rounder Ben Stokes are set to take on India in the upcoming five-match Test series against India. The aggressive approach of the Three Lions will be put to a test on the turning tracks of India, which would be a quite different experience for them in comparison to the pace and bouncy tracks of the SENA countries.

Meanwhile, the former legendary England skipper Alastair Cook expressed his concern about the preparations of England for the upcoming five-match Test Series against India. interestingly, Cook was a part of the English side that beat India by 2-1 in 2012; since then, India haven’t lost any Test Series at home against any team.

“I can understand why England want to practise in a controlled environment” – Alastair Cook

“A problem England will have is a lack of match preparation. It is the nature of the modern tour. When we won in India in 2012, we had three warm-up games against good sides -- Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay were in the top four in the India A side we faced and Cheteshwar Pujara played in one of the other games,” wrote Cook in his column for ‘The Sunday Times’.

“I can understand why England want to practise in a controlled environment where they know what the nets and facilities are going to be like and there's nothing too unpredictable. It would be good if there was some sort of unwritten agreement between countries to put on decent practice matches in decent conditions for touring teams....at the moment too many series are dominated by the home side and I don't think that's healthy for Test cricket,” he added later.

Notably, India and England will take on each other in the first Test of the five-match series, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, starting on Wednesday, January 24, 2024.