‘Ultimately, the hardest place to play in the world is India and..’- Former England skipper warns England ahead of India Test series

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has warned against potential threat for England in their upcoming Test series in India, emphasizing India’s formidable spin-bowling attack. Vaughan speculates England’s aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach facing challenges against India’s spin trio of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel.

While England won the first Test during their 2021 tour, they eventually lost 3-1 to India, with Ashwin and Patel dominating in the absence of Jadeja. Vaughan’s warning underscores the significant threat posed by India’s spinners, urging England to be prepared for a tough battle in the upcoming series.

England have been in different look under Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. The team have shown improvement since their Ashes 2021-22 defeat. Despite dominating India in a rescheduled 5th Test in 2022, former captain Michael Vaughan anticipates a challenging series for Stokes and their aggressive ‘Bazball’ style of play in India next year. The ECB announced a 16-member squad for the 5-Test series starting on January 25.

The hardest place to play in the world is India: Michael Vaughan

In the first two Ashes Tests, England faced difficulties against Australia, with Nathan Lyon proving to be most effective. However, an injury setback forced the off-spinner out of the remaining series. Despite England’s comeback efforts resulting in a 2-2 draw at home, they conceded the series to Pat Cummins led Australian side

“Ultimately, the hardest place to play in the world is India and if you actually go back to the Ashes when Nathan Lyon was fit and bowling nicely, Australia were 2-0 up in the series. Now that’s just one spinner, if you look at that five-for he got at Edgbaston and the field was spread and England got out to him by playing ridiculous shots at times,” Michael Vaughan told Fox Cricket.

The former England skipper also said that if India add in Ashwin, Jadeja, and Axar Patel on spinning wickets in India then England may get blown away. Vaughan also said that the England team will go out and play exactly the same way. In addition to this, there have already been discussion about the impact that the team are going to try to achieve in India with the way they play.

“It will be great watching, but you will have to fancy three quality spinners might do a job on England when one quality spinner in Nathan Lyon did the job in English conditions. It’s going to be very tough for them to win in India,” he concluded.