England head coach Brendon McCullum is currently in India for the CEAT Cricket Awards that happened on Monday. A few Indian cricketers attended the event, including Shubman Gill who was named the CEAT ODI Cricket Of The Year.
Brendon McCullum spoke at the event about the next big – and perhaps the toughest – challenge of his England’s Bazball team: a 5-Test series against Rohit Sharma’s India team in India in January-March 2024.
Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes’s England Test team have been revolutionizing Test cricket since the pair joined hands early last year, after England’s struggles under Joe Root, where they had won only 1 out of the last 16 Tests that Root captained in.
In 18 Tests under McCullum and Stokes, England have won 13 Tests, lost 4 Tests, and drew 1 – that drawn Test was because rain washed out more than a day and half of the Manchester Test in the Ashes, something which England were favorites to win before the rain arrived. That also prevented England from making a historic comeback from being 2-0 down to almost winning the Ashes by 2-3, but instead, because of the draw England were denied an epic comeback as the series then levelled 2-2.
Brendon McCullum speaks on taking on Rohit Sharma’s Team India
Nonetheless, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes’s England side still remain unbeaten in a Test series. They would like to keep that record intact in India next year, but it would be really difficult. India have not lost a Test series at home for a decade. But, the motivation for England is that, it was the England team of Strauss, Cook, Panesar, Pietersen and Swann which was the last team to win a Test series in India.
Speaking at the CEAT event, Brendon McCullum admitted that it’s going to be a really tough ask for his team to continue playing in the Bazball aggressive fashion on Indian pitches against the spin trio of Ashwin, Jadeja, and Axar.
McCullum understands how big and mighty the task his side faces against India in India.
“We have a big challenge coming against Rohit’s India in February,” McCullum said.
