"Ashwin and Jadeja will be the biggest threat for England," says Sam Billings
The five-match Test series between India and England begins on January 25 in Hyderabad
Sam Billings. (Photo: ICC)
DUBAI: Ahead of the first Test match between India and England on Thursday in Hyderabad, English wicketkeeper batter Sam Billings on Wednesday said that Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will be the biggest challenge for the visitors.
While talking exclusively to ANI during ILT20 in Dubai, Billings said that English batter Ben Duckett will have a very good tour since he can play spin well.
The 32-year-old added that he loves watching Ashwin and Jadeja bowl. "For England, the best player will be Ben Duckett because he is a very good player of spin, reverse sweep and sweep shot and I think he will have a very good tour. The biggest challenge for England will be Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, I love watching them bowl," Billings told ANI.
He added, "India is a fantastic place to play cricket and it is unique in its challenges with spin bowling, so it will challenging but I think for everyone in world cricket it will be a very exciting series to see how England come out from this," he added.
When asked about Bazball, he said that hopefully, it would work even though it would be a big challenge. He further said that Ben Stokes's side is going to play the first Test match with a positive approach.
"I hope so, but I think it will be a big challenge, my opinion is they are going with a positive approach because last time the opposite approach did not work at all. I hope this approach will be good and work out, there will be bad times but also there will be a lot of good times to put India under pressure," he added.
The five-match Test series between India and England begins on January 25 in Hyderabad with the next four matches to be played in Vizag, Rajkot, Ranchi and Dharamsala.
England Test squad for India series: Ben Stokes (C), James Anderson, Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoib Bashir, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes (Wk), Dan Lawrence, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood.