India hungry for revenge against England
29 Oct 2012 6:37 AM IST
England jet into Mumbai on Monday under new captain Alastair Cook, striving to win their first Test series in India in 27 years against a home team desperate to make amends for last year’s 4-0 drubbing.
The four-Test series, starting in Ahmedabad on November 15, will be further spiced up by Kevin Pietersen’s return to the England fold after his exile and hints that Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar is on the brink of retirement.
The series gives the home side an opportunity to make amends for the humiliating 4-0 whitewash in England last year that saw them dethroned as the number one Test side and their replacement by England.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team then suffered another 4-0 defeat in Australia, capping a miserable six-month period that took the shine off India’s 50-over World Cup triumph in 2011.
But with the series against England followed by four Tests against Australia in February-March, India, ranked fifth in the world, will look to take advantage of familiar conditions to haul themselves back up the rankings.
Dhoni has urged groundsmen to prepare wickets that suit spin bowling and selectors refused to pick a spinner for England’s three-day opener in Mumbai from Tuesday, denying the tourists early exposure to the turning ball.
‘When we go to England, we get wickets that help the seamers and in Australia you get tracks with bounce,’ said Dhoni. ‘In the subcontinent, spin is what matters and we should stick to that.’
England, who last won a Test series in India under David Gower in 1985 and lost their no.1 status to South Africa in August 2012.
Meanwhile, the plans of the 39-year-old superstar are in the spotlight after the admitted earlier this month that the clock was ticking on his run-filled 23-year career.
‘I don’t think I have plenty of cricket left in me,’ said Tendulkar, the highest run-scorer in the game.
The four-Test series, starting in Ahmedabad on November 15, will be further spiced up by Kevin Pietersen’s return to the England fold after his exile and hints that Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar is on the brink of retirement.
The series gives the home side an opportunity to make amends for the humiliating 4-0 whitewash in England last year that saw them dethroned as the number one Test side and their replacement by England.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team then suffered another 4-0 defeat in Australia, capping a miserable six-month period that took the shine off India’s 50-over World Cup triumph in 2011.
But with the series against England followed by four Tests against Australia in February-March, India, ranked fifth in the world, will look to take advantage of familiar conditions to haul themselves back up the rankings.
Dhoni has urged groundsmen to prepare wickets that suit spin bowling and selectors refused to pick a spinner for England’s three-day opener in Mumbai from Tuesday, denying the tourists early exposure to the turning ball.
‘When we go to England, we get wickets that help the seamers and in Australia you get tracks with bounce,’ said Dhoni. ‘In the subcontinent, spin is what matters and we should stick to that.’
England, who last won a Test series in India under David Gower in 1985 and lost their no.1 status to South Africa in August 2012.
Meanwhile, the plans of the 39-year-old superstar are in the spotlight after the admitted earlier this month that the clock was ticking on his run-filled 23-year career.
‘I don’t think I have plenty of cricket left in me,’ said Tendulkar, the highest run-scorer in the game.
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