After Ben Stokes was named captain and Brendon McCullum was named head coach of the England Test squad, the side adopted a more aggressive style of play in red-ball cricket. The Three Lions have excelled in the longest format because of this, but they will face challenges in the forthcoming India trip, which is scheduled to start in Hyderabad on January 25. Former cricketer Steve Harmison believes that the team will err if they travel to India just three days prior to the first Test.
The Ben Stokes-led team has not yet been put to the test in spin-friendly conditions. Before traveling to India on the evening of January 21 or the early hours of January 22, England is reportedly scheduled to train in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In addition to saying that players like Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, and Kevin Pietersen would make fun of the current squad for arriving in India so late, Harmison also said that the team cannot go into the opening test unprepared.
England should be defeated 5-0 if they arrive three days early. They actually do. They’re going to argue that I’m an old man and that the game and the times have changed, but preparation hasn’t, I promise. It is impossible to enter India unprepared. Actually, you can’t go to India unprepared; even if you spend six weeks there beforehand, you won’t be ready for the first test, Steve Harmison stated in an interview with TalkSport.
“I’d be curious to know what Pietersen, Strauss, and Cook—three players from that outstanding team—would think when they learned that England would be traveling to India three days ahead of the series—since they were the only team to win there in 2012.” The 45-year-old continued, “I believe they would make fun of you.
Furthermore, according to Steve Harmison, the players have a major role to play in England’s delayed arrival in India, not the new reality where the visiting team arrives late.