LONDON: Ben Duckett, who has come under fire for arriving in India at such short notice, is adamant that England can succeed in their upcoming Test series.
Just three days before the opening Test match of the five series, which starts on January 25, Ben Stokes’ team is due to go to Hyderabad for training.
Experts argue that’s insufficient time for Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum to get used to Indian conditions, as they have avoided warm-up matches for the majority of their tenure.
Even though the seven-week series has already begun and there are no assurances regarding the kind of players they will face in warm-ups, England batter Duckett is optimistic that the choice was the right one.
He said to the Sky Sports Cricket podcast, “We’re hitting thousands of balls and training every day, with the bowlers bowling to us.”
“There probably is loads of spinners in India but none of them are (Ravindra) Jadeja, Axar Patel and (Ravichandran) Ashwin.”It’s unlikely that playing against a 15-year-old off-spinner in the nets will prepare you for the first Test match.”Our squad is rather large, and we will be training for hours every day. You are essentially stuck to hotels in India; however, one benefit of living in Abu Dhabi is that you have an additional 10 days to explore the city.
