England will be travelling to India next year, and both sides will be battling it out in a five-match T20I series, three ODIs and five Tests. The tour is scheduled to start on January 22, and is expected to be an action-packed thriller.
Ahead of England's tour, former cricketer Michael Vaughan feels that the visitors could modify their batting order to deal with Jasprit Bumrah's threat against right-handers. The former England captain feels that Ben Stokes could move to number three, to negate Bumrah's impact.
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Michael Vaughan's Jasprit Bumrah solution
Writing in his column for The Telegraph, he wrote, "I think that simple swap is perfect for the year England have coming up. In one Test in Australia, I’ve seen live why England need another left-hander in the top three. Jasprit Bumrah fizzily arcs the ball into the right-hander’s pads with the brand new ball, and caused absolute carnage for the likes of Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. Left-handers are better suited to facing Bumrah."
"It would be handy to have Stokes at No 3 in Australia, too, because the extra left-hander might tempt Australia to use Nathan Lyon earlier, which in turn means the quicks are not bowling in the short window that the ball swings," he added.
{{/usCountry}}"It would be handy to have Stokes at No 3 in Australia, too, because the extra left-hander might tempt Australia to use Nathan Lyon earlier, which in turn means the quicks are not bowling in the short window that the ball swings," he added.
{{/usCountry}}Stokes recently led England to an eight-wicket against New Zealand at Hagley Oval on Sunday. He missed four Tests this year due to a hamstring injury.
England toured India from January to March 2024, and played five Test matches. It was part of the 2023-25 WTC cycle, and both teams competed for the Anthony de Mello Trophy. In the first Test, England won by 28 runs, and then India won the second Test by 106 runs to level the series 1-1. In the third Test, India won by 434 runs to take a 2-1 lead. Then India won the fourth Test to secure a series victory. Then India won by an innings in the final Test match.