Cricket legends Matthew Hayden and Graeme Smith predict India will face significant challenges in the upcoming five-match Test series against England starting Friday at Headingley, citing the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as a major loss of experience for the touring side. The series will see Shubman Gill leading India in testing English conditions.The Indian team’s batting lineup will be notably less experienced following the retirement announcements of both Kohli and Rohit from Test cricket last month.“I feel India are really going to struggle. Shubman Gill is a young captain coming to this hostile environment, seaming conditions, bouncing conditions. It’s going to be a real challenge, it’s actually absolutely the litmus test as a touring team,” Hayden told the ICC.
“Generally touring teams come here and it is polar opposite conditions to what you are used to as fundamentally as a player, be it young or old. So lots of adjustments, so I predict that England, let me tell you, are a going to have a pretty good party at the end of that series,” the former Australia opener added.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player?“England at home, they really do play well at home. They understand the conditions and get the best out of it. I think it’s going to be a challenge for Shubman and his team, lost a lot of experience, got to come here and that pressure shifts onto different people…” Smith said.“I think Bumrah is going to carry a huge amount of the bowling attack. So I think England will have the better of India in these conditions,” Smith further stated.The Indian team will also be without R Ashwin, who retired after the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Brisbane last December.India’s Test series victories in England have been rare, with only three successful campaigns in 1971, 1986, and 2007 since bilateral engagements began in 1932.
