England look all set to face India in a four match Test series beginning from February 5. They are here after a 2-0 series win against Sri Lanka. This has done wonders to the confidence of team and has taken the morale high.
India are also playing this series in the backdrop of a famous win against Australia in Australia. Virat Kohli’s boys would be eager to get on the field in their own backyard against the World Champions. India haven’t lost a series in India since 2012 and guess who were they playing against? England! So, the Indian team would be well aware of the potential of the English team and would prepare accordingly.
The England team are currently in an institutional quarantine for six days and they are going to get only three days to prepare before the first Test. Root said, “We’re going to have seven or eight days with no cricket, then three very important days of preparation. But what we have got is a huge amount of confidence coming out of these two games.”
“We have to look at this win as a platform and a starting position, not be happy with what we’ve achieved. India are arguably the best team in the world in their own conditions. We’ll have to play right at the top of our game to win out there but we couldn’t be in a better place to go and challenge them,” he added. Root also accepted that to play in India would be a different challenge than Sri Lanka but the team looks confident and the skipper expects the same confidence to carry forward in the series.
The first Test will be played on February 5 from Chennai’s Chidambaram stadium.
(With inputs from The Guardian)