The former Cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has made his opinion on the Side’s loss in the test series on England’s tour of India 2024.
Geoffrey Boycott Opines on England’s Loss
Former England opener Geoffrey Boycott slammed the England side for their defeat against India.
Despite winning the first test match by a 28-run difference, England failed to secure victory in the rest of the games in the test series.
They were close to winning in the second, third, and fourth tests, but failed due to their bowling attacks. Boycott refused to blame batters and said the inexperienced bowling line-up wasn’t capable of putting pressure on Indian batters.
“Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir wouldn’t frighten any team. Mark Wood just bangs the ball short. James Anderson was not used considering his age. Ben Stokes was unfit to bowl until the fifth game of the series,”
Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir made their test debut during the series where Hartley picked 22 wickets while Bashir picked 17 wickets. But Boycott said they were too expensive.
“Inexperienced kids were never going to outperform experienced Indian spinners in the sub-continent nation. England were lucky that Virat Kohli was unavailable and KL Rahul missed four Tests,” he further added.
“Stokes says they will learn from this tour. I am not convinced. They will go back home and revert to type and beat ordinary West Indies and Sri Lanka teams and India will be forgotten as a distant memory, “ wrote Boycott.
He also pointed out that James Anderson has been less used in the series. “Jimmy Anderson deserves all the adulation and plaudits for staying fit to play 187 Test matches and reach 700 wickets,” said Boycott.
“England cannot keep wrapping him in cotton wool and picking him on sentiment forever. In a year-and-a-half, England’s next big challenge will be going to Australia to try and win back the Ashes.
“Jimmy will be 43 by the next Ashes and I don’t see him being able to do the hard yards on tough, bone-hard pitches and in hot weather. England have to find some young seamers who can bowl 20 overs and come back the next day ready for more.”
He also spoke about England’s batting style in the series. “They (English batters) were not confident of their ability to defend, especially with fielders around the bat, so they looked to attack instead. That idea is fraught with danger against quality spinners,” he wrote.
He pointed out that ignoring Kuldeep Yadav has been the main cause of England’s batting failure in the series.
“I was amazed how many of them could not read the wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and by the end of the series were still no wiser. A bowler can be a mystery to you the first couple of times you have to face him.
“But at international level, batsmen should be able to find a way to work him out. Too many never looked comfortable against him and were reduced to staying back and trying to play him off the pitch,” he concluded.
England will be playing a four-match T20I series against Pakistan and the first T20I match will be played on May 22 at Headingley Cricket Ground.
