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Former Australian cricketers Brad Haddin and Tim Paine have weighed in on the situation England find themselves in in the ongoing Test series against India. Trailing 1-3 and the series slipping out of their hands, England play proudly in the fifth Test in Dharamsala, but given their position in the game, it will take a lot for that to happen. That said, win, lose or draw…regardless of the result in Dharamshala, the only thing Ben Stokes got right in the series is his claim that the scoreline does not reflect how competitive the series has been.
Much like India’s tour of England in 2018, where Virat Kohli’s team lost 1-4, Stokes’ young brigade finds itself in the same boat. They won the series opener in Hyderabad, had their moments in Visakhapatnam and Rajkot, before running very close to India in Ranchi. But in the end, Stokes, Brendon McCullum and England will have to deal with three ‘L’s.
Perhaps it is the same reason that led Stokes to say that England have not been “docile” like some of the teams in the recent past. Calling it a “sledge”, Haddin said that while he thoroughly enjoyed watching the captaincy’s masterstrokes and his handling of the youngsters, there is no hiding the fact that this Indian team is not at its best with some of its main players. Star power is missing.
“It sounded like thinly veiled sledging, didn’t it? You can’t blame Ben Stokes because he has been tactically superb in this series. England have a very young spin attack in difficult conditions on the subcontinent, but young Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir have been fantastic and Ben Stokes deserves a lot of credit for that,” Haddin told Around The Wicket.
“But they have been playing against the Indian B team because there has been no Kohli, no Shami, Bumrah rested the last Test, KL Rahul is out and Rishabh Pant is still coming back from that accident. They are not their strongest team. but this just shows “The depth of Indian cricket is huge because there are some big names coming into this next era of Indian cricket. Jaiswal is leading the charge; young Jurel was also magnificent in the last Test. So India are looking very hard.”
Tim Paine agrees with ‘India B team’ comment
Nobody knows better than Tim Paine what it’s like to lose to a second-rate Indian team. He captained the famous 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, where India achieved one of, if not the best, Test series victory of all time. With Kohli flying home after the first Test, Shami and Umesh Yadav injured, and without Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah available at the Gabba, Ajinkya Rahane led a group of energetic youngsters, including Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant and Mohammed Siraj, to give him gave India cricket its biggest victory in a long time.
Paine completely agrees with Katich that this is a weakened Indian team and revealed that while he loves seeing England finish at the other end of the stick, their approach, affectionately known as Bazball, has been more of a success for him. what to lose
“Yes, I think Katich has got it completely right. I totally agree with him and I know what it’s like to be beaten by an Indian B team. Unfortunately, it happened to us at home. But yes, there are some big names in play. India who definitely should have helped the English. I really enjoy watching England play, I love the way they approach it. I love watching them lose. Don’t get me wrong, but they are entertaining and exciting. They have been for Test cricket “Paine added.