Former English player Ian Bell came in support of his former colleague James Anderson to perform well in India as the England team under the leadership of Ben Stokes set to travel to the subcontinent for a five-match series, which is scheduled to begin on January 25 next year. Since veteran speedster Stuart Broad declared his retirement, all eyes will be on Anderson to see whether he will follow suit.
Anderson also cleared the air and said that he has no plans of saying goodbye to the game in the coming times. Bell said that Anderson can be a good option with the dry ball in India and can also help the next generation of English pacers.
“One player England don’t need to worry about losing just yet is James Anderson. Just because Stuart has retired doesn't make him more likely to follow suit in my opinion. England will need his experience in India, not to mention his reliability to bowl dry. He will have a big job helping this next England seam attack develop,” Bell said while talking to Betfair.
In the recently passed series against Australia, the English side lost the first couple of matches of the series, but after that, they bounced back in style and won two out of the last three matches.
Talking about the same, England captain Ben Stokes said that they have changed their Bazball strategy a bit and hence got the success. Bell also feels that England needs to be smart and will have to adjust well when they will be taking on the Indian team.
“As Ben Stokes said in the press conference the other day, he's been asked whether Bazball would work against Pakistan, South Africa, Australia. So, yes, it will be used in India. But it will be an adapted Bazball. That's what was so good about the Ashes. England showed they could learn and adapt as the series went on. In India they will need to be smart,” Bell added.