Former England captain Nasser Hussain is excited to see how Ben Stokes's team fares against India with their new Bazball approach in Test cricket.
India will host England for a series of five Tests in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Ranchi and Dharamsala from January 25 to March 11.
While Bazball has worked for England against teams like Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, adopting the same attacking style of play on the turning pitches in India is going to be a different challenge altogether for Stokes's team and Hussain can't wait to see what transpires when the two teams lock horns next year.
"They said Bazball will work against one side, then they moved on to the next side. Then they moved on to New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan.
"The next challenge is India and everyone knows India in India is one of the sternest challenges in Test match cricket.
"It's Bazball against spin. Bazball against Ravi Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar Patel and that is going to be fascinating," Hussain said on The ICC Review.
England's next big challenge awaits in India
England drew the five-match Ashes series 2-2 against arch-rivals Australia earlier this week and while they were criticised for the Bazball approach in the first two Tests, Stokes and Co. stuck with it for the remainder of the series and were able to bounce back from the defeats in Edgbaston and Lord's.
But the Bazball has so far been effective only on pitches which offer pace and bounce. The tracks in India are traditionally slow and low which offer turn from the first day of a Test match.
Playing in the same vein against the likes of Ashwin and Jadeja is going to be next to impossible for the English but they have proved the critics of Bazball, including Nasser Hussain, wrong in the past well.
