Former England captain Nasser Hussain said India are the favourites ahead of the upcoming five-match Test series against England starting on January 25, but added that considering the success of Bazball over the years, the visitors’ can't be written off entirely.
India secured a 3-1 series win when the two teams last met in the country in 2021, after England had won the opening game. England are yet to lose a Test series under the Stokes-McCullum leadership group and will arrive in India to win the series since their remarkable 2-1 triumph in 2012.
The upcoming tour will begin from Hyderabad on January 25, followed by other matches at Visakhapatnam (February 2-6), Rajkot (February 15-19), Ranchi (February 23-27) and Dharamshala (March 7-11).
"India are the favourites, but every single challenge Bazball has faced they've stuck to their guns and Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum's record is seriously good, I wouldn't write them off. Bazball has been very successful especially at home and the two toughest places to tour are India or Australia."
"It's going to be a massive challenge for England. India want to see how this new approach will work at home. It will be fascinating cricket and will be interesting to see how this particular side will go against what is one of the great cricketing outfits at the moment, which is the India side," said Hussain to Sky Sports.
England’s last overseas triumph was in Pakistan, where they won the series 3-0 in December 2022. "Last winter in Pakistan, Stokes' captaincy was magnificent in the way he waited for reverse swing and brought himself on and then saw the wicket turning and left it to his spinners," added Hussain.
England are yet to decide who between Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes will be the wicketkeeper, which will be a tricky call considering Stokes won’t be bowling in the series after undergoing left knee surgery last year. Foakes had earned plaudits for his expectation wicketkeeping on Indian pitches on the 2021 tour.
"Bairstow got better with the bat and gloves as the Ashes went on. He admitted he was undercooked after that serious injury and the balance of the side with Stokes not bowling is going to be even more challenging."
"Bairstow is probably the one they'll look to unless it is spinning big in which case England will want Foakes because he is an incredible gloveman," concluded Hussain.