Stuart Broad, a cricketer not prone to hyperbole, has conceded England’s five-Test series in India will be the toughest challenge of his career but views Wednesday’s opener in Rajkot, where he will win his 100th cap, as the perfect chance to “right some wrongs” from Bangladesh.
Alastair Cook’s side go into the gruelling six-week tour without any warm-up fixtures and after the 1-1 draw in Bangladesh that included a first defeat to the world’s ninth-ranked Test side and created question marks in the batting and spin bowling departments.
India, led by their firebrand captain, Virat Kohli, are top of the world rankings and have won 12 and drawn one of their past 13 Tests at home – including a 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand last month – since Cook’s tourists claimed a historic 2-1 victory here in 2012.
Broad said: “I think we are coming as massive underdogs. India have got to No1 in the world and played some brilliant cricket here so we’re very aware this is a huge challenge.”
All being well Broad, whose involvement in the series four years ago was curtailed by injury, will on Wednesday become the 14th England cricketer to win 100 caps. He will be third in the side after his captain, Cook, and regular new ball partner, Jimmy Anderson, who arrives in India on Monday night in the hope of being fit for next week’s second Test in Visakhapatnam following a shoulder problem.
“I’m aware how special an achievement 100 caps is because of the players that have come before me and the amount they’ve given to English cricket,” said Broad, who has taken 360 wickets in 99 Tests and is third behind Anderson and Sir Ian Botham in England’s all-time list.
“But actually, I think what excites me more is we hope this game will be the start of a huge series for us as well. We know how vital it is to start these tours well. We’ve been training really hard the last couple of weeks since [the defeat to Bangladesh in] Dhaka, to put some wrongs right. We’re about ready to go.”
Broad added that he had not considered retirement yet: “Well, I’m 30 now but I try not to think about the end of careers, because I think that makes you slow down as a player; set those targets and you stop chasing to improve. I certainly want to play in big series, and that counts at least two more Ashes series.”
With Gary Ballance expected to be dropped from the No4 position, Jos Buttler could earn a recall to Cook’s side as a specialist batsman a year after losing his place as the wicketkeeper to Jonny Bairstow. Haseeb Hameed, the uncapped 19-year-old Lancashire opener, is England’s only other option in reserve.
Of equal concern to England’s fragility with the bat on turning surfaces is the potency of their own spinners, with three from Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Gareth Batty and Zafar Ansari to be picked without any inspiring huge confidence.
India’s vice-captain, Ajinkya Rahane, ruled out complacency. “Playing England will be a challenge here. Yes, their bowling is comparatively new, especially their spinners, but their batsmen have played here before and I’m sure it will be a good series.
“I always believe you have to give respect to all opponents, whether their bowling attack is new or experienced. For us it’s important we focus on our strengths, not thinking about their bowling attack or lack of strength. We want to dominate this series, because we have been playing some good cricket in the past one and a half years.”
India will use the decision review system in a Test series for the first time since 2008 – their only experience of the system during this time has come in ICC tournaments – following a thawing of the country’s scepticism towards the technology as a result of improved accuracy.
Rahane said: “It’s a completely new concept. We have to wait and see about DRS. We have been discussing this from the last series [against New Zealand] and we have some plans. We will spend some time explaining about DRS [to team members], how it works and how we should approach it, but the main focus is to play good, attacking cricket and DRS will come later on.”
Broad said: “It will play a big part in this series. One thing is sure – you are in danger of being hit on the pad because DRS brings in the opportunity to overturn decisions. So I really enjoyed playing with it. You get right decisions a lot of the time. But communication within the team is so vital for it.”
