Former England coach Andy Flower opines about India and England ahead of the Test series starting from February 5 in Chennai.
As the days for the first Test come closer, Flower talked of England team which won a Test series in India back in 2012. During that time, Flower was coaching Team England.
Former Zimbabwe cricketer, Flower, deliberated on the challenges that wait for the Joe Root and his company ahead in the four-match Test series.
“It’s one thing going to Australia and trying to win but a four-match series in India is challenging in a very different way and I think it’s going to be tougher for England now than it was for us. India will be more confident after that win in Australia and they’re also a more confident nation now about their standing in world cricket,” Flower said.
Joe Root has an instrumental role to play
“Joe should be the rock around which we can build big innings, like Cook was in our team,’ said the former England coach. ‘He’s our most skilful player of spin and can combine a really nice, soft defence with the alternating of strike and occasionally jumping out of his bubble and scoring boundaries.
“Then we need guys like Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes to come to the party with a more pro-active game, a bit like Kevin Pietersen did in 2012. Where Root might be playing at a certain tempo, those guys can up it and really put pressure on the opposition spinners,” Andy Flower told Daily Mail.
During the 2012-13 England’s tour to India, Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen shone bright. Cook had scored 562 while Pietersen aggregated 338 runs under his belt. England had sealed the Test series 2-1 in their favour.
