India might have lost the recent ODI series against Pakistan but former England captain Geoffrey Boycott feels that the host still stands a better chance of winning the five-match series against England, starting in Rajkot on January 11.
“...it’s about 60-40 in India’s favour, I would say, in this series to come,” said Boycott.
“They’ll still be tough in their own country, they’ve still got a lot of good players.
“(MS) Dhoni is a fantastic player, there’s (Virat) Kohli — they are good players. It just gives England a bit more of a chance, maybe, but I believe India are right to try and plan ahead and move forward,” Boycott told ESPNcricinfo.
“India are trying out one or two new fast bowlers.
They are making Ravindra Jadeja a major spinner; we all know about his batting, and his triple hundreds, but you make him like a spinner, get some young fast bowlers in, because Zaheer Khan is more or less past it,” he said.
The ex-England cricketer said the Indian team should not get too worried as the recent slump of form could be attributed to the transition phase it was going through after the retirement of seniors such as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
“I like young batsman (Ajinkya) Rahane, he looks promising.”
