After the completion of the home T20I series against South Africa, India are scheduled to play the fifth rescheduled Test match against England, starting from July 1, 2022. The T20 series against South Africa saw big players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah rested in a bid to make them fully fit for the Test against England.
Indian players had already reached London for the preparation of the series while a few players will join them in the coming days. Now, Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has opened up on the upcoming challenges ahead of the England Tour.
“But they have played a couple of good games [against New Zealand]” – Rahul Dravid
Speaking about the upcoming series against England, Rahul Dravid said that the England team is quite a bit different than last year when India played them. Under the new captaincy of Ben Stokes and a new coach in Brendon McCullam, England played two good matches against the reigning World Test Champions, New Zealand.
“It’s probably a bit different to when we were there last year when England was probably a little bit on the back foot. But they have played a couple of good games [against New Zealand], and we have got a pretty good squad as well. Hopefully, it will be a good match. [I] love watching Test cricket, love playing it, love coaching it. Looking forward to it,” Dravid said.
He also added that the upcoming Test match will be an exciting one as it brings an opportunity for the boys to win a Test series in England.
“In terms of the Test match, it is obviously going to be exciting. For us, it is a one-off Test match, but it’s WTC points. It’s a series on the line for the guys who played a part in it [last year], and they are very keen to try and win that series and do well. So looking forward to that,” India’s head coach concluded.
Apart from this one-off Test match, India will also play three T20Is and three ODIs against England along with one 4-day warm-up match and two T-20 warm-up matches.
