Steve Harmison, a former English bowler, questions the power of India’s batters before the upcoming five-Test series. He implied they lack the fear-factor of past teams. Harmison isn’t convinced by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill’s skills in the Test format, despite their success in shorter games.
India’s squad now includes younger, less tested players, as Ainkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara aren’t on the team. Both Gill and Shreyas Iyer have faced difficulties recently, but Jaiswal transitioned effectively to Test cricket with an average of 45.14 in four Tests, including one hundred runs and a fifty.
Harmison told IANS that India will lean a lot on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He thinks they don’t have the same caliber as Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dravid, and Laxman. The 45-year-old further explained:
Harmison also highlighted England’s weaknesses and said that, with a young lineup, Joe Root and Ben Stokes should be the ones to carry the load when it comes to scoring runs.
When England previously toured India, Root led the team in runs scored, with 368 runs over four Test matches. But after the first Test, when he scored two hundred and fifty in the opening innings, the wheels came off for the Yorkshire batsman.
“He will be a big miss for India in the initial period” – Steve Harmison on Mohammed Shami
Steve Harmison believes that even though Mohammed Shami missed the first two Tests, India has a lot of fast bowlers on its roster.
In relation to England, Steve Harmison believes that visitors should make prudent use of the resources at their disposal.
Hyderabad kicks off the first Test on January 25. The rest of the games? They’re in Vishakhapatnam, Rajkot, Ranchi, and Dharamsala.