Ben Duckett on England preparations for India Test 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇮🇳 | Sky Sports Cricket Podcast

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Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain check in with Ben Duckett as he and the rest of the England squad prepare for their upcoming Test with India in Abu Dhabi.

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Welcome to the second Sky Cricket podcast of 2024 with me Mike Aon NASA is alongside me as ever and we’re going to be joined by Ben Ducket shortly so we might talk about short left-handed openers Nas who’ve retired from cricket recently Dean Elgar is one David Warner

Another but hinry Classen as well only four test matches but has announced his retirement for test test match cricket I guess that’s symptomatic of the way the game is going absolutely I think the two high-profile ones there and you wrote about it a couple of weeks ago Warner

And alar Henrik Classen has played four test matches and I think the Way South African Cricket is going and the side they’ve sent off to New Zealand I sees I think at his age he sees his future in white ball Cricket he’s a fabulous white ball cricketer David Warner and Elgar

Are absolutely Polar Opposites with the way they saw the game the way they came into the game the way they played the game and it’s a sign maybe of there are different ways to skin a cat really have been successful at the top of the order

Elard grind out a score bat for his life tough as they come absolutely tough tough nut cricketer David Warner would be one of Australia’s great all format players he’s what fifth on their test match list of run Getters um maybe a discrepancy with home and away

For I was going to ask that I mean I think he averages 58 at home 31 or 32 away from home in particular struggled in India and England which are the kind of principal tours now for Australia when they go away from home playing long test series is that a product you think

Of how he came in he was ahead of the curve he was a trail bra Blazer in coming in in T20 cricket white ball cricket and continued batting like that in test match cricket now I sound a bit old school do you think in England you

Do have to have a bit more technique you do have to have a bit more first class Cricket behind you to grind out out a score would that be too simplistic well I think his technique’s fine I mean you don’t get 26 test HS without whatever it

Is without without a good technique but I just think the contrasting conditions um between England and India and Australia and I do think that’s one area that you you you can’t probably you can’t put him in the absolute highest rank because he hasn’t got hundreds in England and India and I think West

Indies and Sri Lanka um but I agree with you across formats one of uh Australia’s great players I think Pat cumings said Australia’s greatest all format players probably a good time to bring in Ben actually Ben how are you we were talking about David Warner there I just wondered

Whether you know as as somebody who came in from T20 is is was is a very aggressive player at the top of the order was he somebody you looked at and thought well if he can do it that way I can do it that way as well yeah exactly

Right um a few of the norense lads when I when I started opening kind of compared me to him a bit then but you know at the time I was thinking you know no way but he did give me that belief that you don’t have to you know play

That kind of old school way as an opening batsman he he he liked to take the game on and and that was kind of how I was told to go out and do it when I first did it for offense and and that’s kind of stuck with me ever since um we

Should say congratulations first of all saw over Christmas on social media that you got engaged to your young lady page or not so I mean I think she’s a bit older than you isn’t she um but anyway congratulations first of all yeah thank you I’ve been busy in my my couple of

Weeks off um I saw you got into a spat with somebody on Twitter because when you posted the the photo of your engagement it was kind of in front of a blank one there seemed to be absolutely no furniture in the house can you assure us there’s some furniture there

Somewhere yeah there is too Fair we weren’t sat on the floor at Christmas I think that’s just the beauty of Twitter and people can’t just say congratulations um okay so you’re in Abu Dhabi um that’s where England are preparing for the tour of India which is has raised some

Comment actually I mean in days gone by I only Tau India once in 1993 but I think we were in India for three or four weeks before before we played our first test match uh you get a lot of prep time a lot of not just net time but middle

Time as well and and as you know if you go to India you’ve got so many young Spinners there that would would will at you in the Nets it’s quite a good time to get some preparation in but under Brenda McCullum and Ben Stokes England are looking to do it very differently

This time just explain the rationale and the theory behind that yeah I mean I wasn’t I obviously wasn’t in those those conversations but you know guys are away a lot and and I guess in India you you are pretty Hotel bound um you know the

The luxury of being in Abby dby is you can get out and get out and about for an extra 10 days that we wouldn’t be able to do if we were on tour to India so so I guess that’s one side of it and and the other side is you know there’s I’ve

Seen the schedule and there’s there’s training every single day we’re going to be you know hitting thousands of balls and and Bowlers are going to be bowling to us and and I guess the last point is you know there probably is loads of spinners in India but you know none of

Them are you know judia ax arel and Ashwin you know you might face some 15 yard off spinner in the Nets in India but it’s it’s not really going to equip you for that for that first test match so um yeah I think we we’ve got quite a

Big Squad and and there’ll be there’ll be hours of training each day so um I’m sure that’s the reasonings behind it Steve harmeson in particular made some pretty pointed criticisms I just wondered whether you felt you know that he had a point in in certain aspects you

Know he said well if it was the ashes you wouldn’t do it this way you’d get out to Australia try and get plenty of game time under your belt there what’s the difference this is a five test match tour equally important um you you know

It’s a fair point that he makes isn’t it yeah I mean obviously everyone’s entitles their opinions and I probably got to be slightly careful because I wasn’t the person who made that decision I was involved in those conversations but you know I guess the biggest point

Is you know India can be a be a really tough place to tour I think everyone knows that um and you know it’s such a long tour I think we get back you know middle of March and and a lot of that’s going to be spent in hotels and I I

Guess a big big thing about this team and why we’ve been so successful is you know the way that baz and stesy have led us and and people have probably raised their eyebrows at times but I’d say it’s gone fairly well and I think the the

Mental side of the game is just as important and and as I say it’s it’s I don’t think there’s too many complaints from that Squad who are who are having 10 days in Abby dabby you know rather than 10 days you know potentially stuck in a hotel room and the the the tour

Itinerary is a strange strange one I mentioned again that in days gone by you know you travel around India it’s very different now you’ve got two tests that come back to back then there’s a long n-day break then two more tests then a long break then a fifth test what are

You planning to do in those long breaks yeah um I’m sure the golf clubs will be coming out you know knowing knowing this squad and and the management so I think it’s you know I’ve obviously had a had a tour out there and it it can be really tough at times so I

Think it’ll be you know keeping the the morals high and keeping the group you know what whatever that may be whatever they have in store for us I’m not 100% sure just yet um I’m sure I’ll find that all out very soon but um yeah it’s a

It’s a group of lads who get on so well and and I’m sure there’ll be there’ll be a little bit of golf in there as well as training I’m sure talk about preparation in Abu Dhabi you got to be careful that everyone just presumes it’s going to

Spin and spin big I’m sure it will at times but as an you will have so many different challenges you’ve got to prepare for so many different things first of all Shamy sirj bura so you got to make sure those pitches in Abu Dhabi you’re training on

And the Bowers you face there is enough zip and movement to prepare for that then you’re going to have the threat of spin you may have some very flat surfaces also opening the batting against the new ball with spin bold against you so are you getting all these

Things round in your head are you someone that is meticulous about your preparation for where you’re going to tour um yeah yes I know I I think kind of where my games at is because it’s quite simple and and you know that I don’t overthink too much but I’ll be

Totally honest when I got that call you know kind of around well a few months back this time last year to go to Pakistan I was already thinking about this tour and and not in an arrogant way like I thought I was still going to be playing for England this time but you

Know I remember last time I went to India and it was quite a shock um with with Bangladesh first and I’ve been thinking in my head and and planning a lot about how I’m going to go about it out there more so to more so to spin you

Know you make a good point that you know people talk about how good their spin balling is but in the top of the order against that theme attack it’s it’s going to be tough no matter how flat the pitch is but yeah I’ve obviously just played against in my eyes the best seam

Attack in the world this summer so um you know similar kind of things but but yeah I think the preparations certainly in Abu Dhabi are going to be you know slightly different it’ll be facing that new ball with Spin and and how we’re going to go about it I think it’ll be

It’s going to be interesting I’m certainly not gonna I don’t think I would get out blocking as many times as I did’s last over um and you know that’s that’s been a lot of my thinking about my options and you know what what are my best options going out there low risk

And high risk um I I wanted to touch on that tour 200 16 I think it was 201617 in some detail which was the first time you’d been picked for England so we’re talking what six or seven years ago you’re a much younger man um probably a very different player just

Tell us a little bit about how you see yourself now compared to then both as a player technically wise technically wise and also you know in terms of your maturity and and growth since then yeah I I think maturity is a big one for me in in those years you know I’ve

Played a lot of cricket since then um a lot of learnings and and that was my first real setback and I had to go away and kind of deal with that but you know I think the biggest time you know this time around is that I’ve it’s not going

To be a shock whatever they throw at me you know I’ve I’ve played on those kind of pitches um you know I know full well what to expect when I get out there um yeah it was a it was a really tough time time but you know if you told me back

Then you’re going to get another cracked it however many years down the line and another chance to come out here then you know I’d have been pretty happy so um yeah I think I can take learnings from from potentially how I went about it then um but I think also my game’s come

On a long way since then what could you learn Ben what what would you have done differently I mean you were labeled ridiculously and I know it made you cross that you weren’t a good player of spin it was high quality spin on some absolute buns and burners but what would

You have done diff differently um it’s a tough question because obviously it was a complete you know different team led by a different management um and and to be honest I feel like you know I was actually outdone there by a couple of times by

You know in my eyes the best off spinner ever certainly in those conditions and I I look on since then and I’m I wasn’t the last left-hander to struggle out there against Ashwin I I’ll be totally honest you know he’s he’s so good in those conditions he’s so good everywhere

Um you know I I’d have probably it was just a learning that the way that I see a lot of English players play Spin and that front front leg sorry can go a bit legs side because in England it doesn’t spin that much and you can clear your leg and kind of your

Hands will get you out of trouble and that’s just how I played because I never came up against anything like that um you know I’ve come away and worked on that a lot and you know I’m sure he’s going to get me out again you know he’s

He’s a world class bowler um but I would back myself now on a good pitch or you know a flatter pitch to not feel like I had to just go and you know play aggressive shots or or sweep them every ball and and then on the on the other

Hand certainly with the way that this team have played over the last kind of 18 months you know if those pitches are spinning big and it’s it’s really hard I know what my strengths are and I’m certainly not going to kind of die wondering and and I think it’s just

Going to be about finding a method to keep the keep the board taking over and and it’s times getting down the other end or or picking a bow you feel you feel like you could score quicker against um just go back to that first test in in chiton and clearly um my

Words weren’t particularly inspirational to you given that I gave you your first cap and it didn’t go that well in that game no it didn’t I mean it’s really weird that that seemed so long ago and I couldn’t even tell you what I scored and the reason for that is because it

Obviously wasn’t a great couple of innings but I obviously we won that test which was amazing um and then you know I look at that second test and that is when I went out there after three low scores and when I’m just going to go and try and smack it from

Ball on it and so that that was daaka you went shitong daa and I remember that pitch I mean that would be pretty close in daa to the kind of pitches that I think England went played on in India last time that it spun from ball one

Didn’t it yeah and I think that’s that’s another huge learning that me and Zach at the top of the order we’ve got a kind of realized that in the first couple of balls and kind of Judge that Wicket and you know if we feel like it’s going to

Be a a terrible pitch sometimes getting 60 or 50 or you know whatever that may be is going to be a valuable knock for the team and and certainly with that new ball at times we might have to although they’re an incredible seam attack potentially try and take the seam down

Before the spin comes on um and these are just little things that I’m really looking forward to because I know under under baz and stoky that you know we will have full license to go and do whatever we want and you know it might be a Pitch that doesn’t feel like it’s

Spinning or nipping and we can just play normally it might be you know Green Top early on and we can go and go and express ourselves so I think the beauty of playing under this team right now is almost the harder the conditions are it’s it’s going to be enjoyable because

We know we can go and play however we want to play and and try and enjoy it before we look ahead to India how proud are you of what you have done at the top of the order you know it’s a bit left field I remember Rob ke standing on the

Outfield about a year and a bit ago a bit more longer than that actually telling me you know the one lad we really like I think you’d been called into the oval squad or something and they’d add a look at you and he said Ducket looks a real good player I think

We’re going to open with him how proud you can you can big up the regime you can big up mullum and Stokes and key and all that but how proud are you of what you have done at the top of the order and the way you’ve gone about your

Business yeah I’m just thankful that whenever key I played against M Kent I used to get 100 so that’s probably I think key you know remembers things and they stick in his brain and and I’m thankful that obviously he did back me but yeah it’s one of those things that

Whilst I’m still in the setup and whilst I’m playing for England I weirdly don’t feel like I’ve got time to kind of be proud about what I’ve done you know if I if you’d have told me a year ago I’d have kind of done and achieved what i’ I’ve done probably wouldn’t have

Believed you but that’s just because I hadn’t done it at this level so you know all I’ve done since getting back in is you know trying to prepare for each series and trying to get better you know I know that there’s parts of my game and

And plenty of them that need work on so um you know hopefully I can keep going and and keep keep performing and keep scoring runs you know I don’t know what my ceiling is and um I just want to keep you know playing the way I’m playing and

You know playing playing match winning knocks or or contributing to this team team winning and and hopefully I can be be proud of what I achieve you know when my career comes to an end um just a couple of questions about that 1617 tour

If I may I don’t think you’d been to the subcontinent before then had you in any Cricket had you been there with England on the 19s or not um no been to Dubai and then I’ve been to India obviously a kind of teenager but nothing at that

Level or close to so I mean what everybody talks about in India when you get to India is the kind of overwhelming nature of it particularly when you’re involved in in cricket and you’ve talked about the fact that you know you you may not go out of

Your hotel room very much did you sense that um there in 201617 and because you hadn’t been to the subcontinent before did that come as a bit of a a bit of a surprise and a bit of a shock um chest in my memory which is not

Great now I think I’ve blocked out a a bit of that trip um but you know what I think I was a 20 21 year old and I was on tour with aliser Kirk joeo Ben Stoke Jimmy brought you know all these guys who I’d watched for the previous years

And I was only a kid at the time so I think for me it was it was incredible and and kind of that few months even though it probably was you know the toughest of my career I probably had the most fun even though I was in I’d

Probably be more bored at times now I’m a bit older um but yeah I think I was kind of you know even when I I was netting I was you know being paired with routy or whoever that may be and it was you know I think it’s every kind of

Young young guy’s dream who’s having a net trying to learn off those guys and you know ruy was actually the person who said to me before that second innings in in DACA you know go and go and whack it you know go and switch at the first ball

And I kind of said I can’t do that I’m opening the batting for England and he just said of course you can you know the little things like that that I’ve always remembered and yeah and I just think it was an amazing experience for me I was so young and you

Know it didn’t work out um but yeah I certainly took some learning through it and um yeah I mean I’ve I’ve obviously toured the subcontinent quite a few times since then so you know this will be no shock for me but we’ve got such a tight group of players that you know

It’ll be really enjoyable and I’m actually really looking forward to going out there and I know it’s going to be a challenge but it’s going to be a really good challenge um it’s quite interesting you you looking back talked about the fun that you had and you know the

Enjoyment that you had even though it didn’t go well I mean sometimes when players in this group at the moment talk about the environment under Stokes and McCullum there’s a kind of implication that it wasn’t always like that and obviously we know that it’s a little bit different but it’s kind of

Important to remember that it wasn’t all bad as well under I mean aliser cook and and Trevor bayy Trevor bayy a pretty laid-back coach wasn’t he he wasn’t as though he was uh you know cracking the whip every every two seconds and it was it was radically different I mean it is

Different now but not surely that much different yeah I mean it is it is a lot different and you know Alisa cook was I think most people’s Heroes kind of around my age and you know what he achieved and everything was just incredible but I remember my last

Innings of that series and he basically said on a day five pitch go out and block for the draw and I got KN off 20 caught short leg and I thinking back now if you know him telling me that I may as well have just turn around and kicked

Him over I didn’t have a for defense against and it was day five and it was ragging I was the only way I was going to contribute that day is if I got maybe 100 off 80 Bulls so you know they’re they’re different the different kind of

Messages that you get now you know we obviously in this team speak about you know not wanting to draw games and stuff and we certainly won’t be batting for the draw on on day five of the game and stuff and you know I think there’s there’s so many learnings that this

Group can take from you know previous times and you know even different leaders you know ru’s LED out there you know he he’s to he’s probably learned so many different things but I think that’s the exciting thing about this group is you know it hasn’t worked a lot in India

And you know why not go out and and play in a different way why not go and put them under pressure and and play in this way you know it’ be interesting to see you know if if Shamy has a deep Point first ball of the series to creeps you know

It’ll be interesting to see if they they stick to their guns or if if they do kind of similar things like Australia did are you of the opinion Even in our era I remember playing county cricket with the likes of Mark war and Stuart law that the more it does especially for

A spinner the more you have to Counterattack that and be more positive but there’s going to be a ball with your name around if you do push and prod so do you feel that if it does spin big you do have to be hyper aggressive

Yeah I mean the more it spins my bat’s going to be extremely um horizontal you know I’m going to be but but that that’s kind of one thing I’ve been working on you know I’ve I kind of think to myself now I’ve got over 10 sweep shots you

Know both sides of the wickets and I did it a bit in Pakistan and and it’s not that I’m trying to smack every ball for four you know I’m kind of got different gears to go up in all those different sweep shots and it’s something I’ve been

Thinking about you know if it is spinning sideway ways and they’ve got men all around the backat I might use my reverse sweep as a forward defense you know without trying to give too much away but you know my theory around you know when I watch people get out when

There’s a short leg man around the corner silly point a slip and you kind of get stuck on the Creed I’m jinxing myself here if I play C caugh short leg which is definitely going to happen now but I mean might what I’m going to try

And do is get rid of those guys around me and hopefully then life will be a bit easier if they stay in then fingers crossed you hit a few more boundaries and and and get a little score a just bringing you in here do you think we

Forget as old ERS who didn’t play much under if at all under DRS the difficulty and challenge for the modern cricketer in India in particular against spin going back to that last tour facing AAR Patel with a new ball in our day kick it away kick murle away Jimmy Adams kicking

It away with DRS you can’t do that and you’re just surviving the wi of your bat I think it’s a better game for sure sure because you have to use your bat and not your pad and that’s brought finger Spinners back into the game I was thinking about Nathan lion you know to

500 wickets just before Christmas he’s an off spinner who doesn’t have a decra 10 years ago people were saying you have to have a decra to be a successful off spinner now you’ve only got to spin at the kind of half the width of the bat

Because you got to play with your bat so it’s definitely a better game it’s brought finger Spinners into the game more I think it’s a much tougher game for batters now at the top of the order because umpires give you out more on the front foot they’ve seen how many more

Balls are going to hit the stumps and because you have to play with your bat so I I agree with you I think you always got to bear that in mind in fact when in England were in India last time and they get blown away in one of the games I

Can’t remember which one now whether it was in armad bad or Chennai or somewhere I remember writing a piece or talking about DRS and you did that um you know excellent piece when we went when England were in playing a T20 Series in India where you talked about the the

Differences and the changes that DRS has made so I think you’ve always got to have that in the back of your mind it makes it it it much much tougher for sure um Ben just just to push it forward a little bit on something slightly different you were in West Indies and in

The Caribbean as well recently and about England’s white ball Cricket the challeng is there and your hopes across formats for for the coming year really with a T20 World Cup um coming up in June yeah I mean you know it was obviously not the ideal kind of winter for the

White stuff but you know these things happen and it doesn’t take away what an incredible group of players you know they are and stuff and you know you can see now it you know even though the performances and results didn’t quite go our way you know you only have to look

Outside the squad and you know the talent of English cricket and how you know how how tough it is to break into that whiteall team I’ve I’ve known it for for years and I kind of thought you know I might get a little chance now and

And it’s still you know you know so hard to break into so um yeah I don’t know really and I don’t have any answers I’m not kind of in around that that Squad enough I’d say um you know for me really it’s it’s about wanting to put

Performances in I guess for that that’s the not you know I’m not really playing any franchise stuff at the minute with with prioritizing my Cricket for England so you know I I’ve just got to try and take any chance I can get and yeah I thought it went okay for me in the

Caribbean you know kind of wished that 70 was 100 and stuff but um yeah you know the the the 250 over stuff I’ve played in the last two series it’s been quite a young Squad and really exciting and really really good to play a part of

So yeah I don’t even know if if that Squad in West Indies is going to be the same at back end of this summer you know things can change so um yeah I know it was a very different set of players from the ones that went to the World Cup in

India but did you sense joining up as part of that white ball team did you sense just that the confidence had taken a bit of a hit I mean I’m always amazed in sport how long it takes for a team and individuals to build confidence but

How quickly that can drain away on the back of a few defeats which clearly had happened in the World Cup yeah I mean you know we we probably what did we have maybe four or five lads who were who were there from the World

Cup I think um and I I only have to think some of those guys you know if I’d have gone straight to the World Cup from you know straight from the English season which some of the lads went to the IPL and played in the ashes you know

Having a World Cup at the end of that summer I only took me a few weeks when I was trying to work out you know potentially things that were going on but you know those guys must have been exhausted and I know you know people on

Twitter will be go and that’s their job and stuff but you know I was I remember sitting at home in that break before the Caribbean thinking I was exhausted so you know the guys out there and and then you know a few of them are coming then

Straight to the Caribbean to then play another trip and you know it’s tough and it’s it’s the world we’re living in and it’s it’s it’s amazing that we’ve got all these opportunities to play so much Cricket all the time but you know for some of those guys it must have been a

Pretty Flatout you know 12 months with with not not much of a Break um you you talked there about you know the the kind of calendar challenges or the schedule challenges and the fact that you’re concentrating I think you said for the moment on England cricket which you know

There’s there’s going to be loads of opportunities ahead for you just give uh listeners an idea of the challenges of of the schedule at the moment and indeed for international cricket um given the way that franchise Cricket is in is impinging on the international game and

How you see things not just from your own perspective but the challenges for the game going forward given all the conversations around it yeah I I think you know there’s challenges and it’s and it’s kind of a luxury you know you see class and retiring you know he might not have

Played test matches again and stuff but you know he you know there’s a there’s a lot of good opportunities around the world to play in these competitions that aren’t you know Mickey Mouse tournaments they they you know you’re playing against some of the world’s best and you

Know you only have to look at the Young English lads who have gone around the world playing in all these competitions and how many of them are getting picked up and improving um you know and it’s I feel like we’re just going to have to you know accept that it’s it’s people’s

Careers and and they’re going to make their own decision and you know whether that works or not we’ll find out but yeah I said that a year ago that I was given everything to England and you know for me personally you know these these franchise gigs and the money that’s

Being thrown around is is amazing but you know nothing beats scoring a test entry for your country or you know winning a series or winning winning a game um yeah for me that’s something that I’ve always wanted grow in up it wasn’t to play you know in the IPL

That’s that’s something that I would you know I’d love to do one day and and fingers crossed it it will happen one day but yeah my main focus is on is on playing for England and I think we’ve seen that with quite a few of the guys

With the central contracts how much it does mean for them um you know I think there’s also positives that you know when you do get to an age or you fall out of an England squad and you’re a bit older you know you can go and make this

Money and reap your rewards kind of at the end of that career Ben a couple of minutes with you just thinging ahead to the to the forthcoming tour then we’ll just throw it Forward slightly I’m thinking of the venues actually once upon a time in India tour you know you’d

Look forward to Delhi Mumbai Kata some of the great venues in Indian Creek it’s slightly different this time you’re going to from memory hydrabad rajot vizag Ranchi daram Shala um how many of those venues do you know and what do you expecting not I’m not sure if I’ve went

To any of them but bar charotte I’ve that’s kind of the one ground that whenever I watch the World Cup it looked just like an incredible ground and straight away I was kind of that that’s one ground that I’m kind of looking forward to the most um but yeah you know

I don’t know you know Sunrisers Brookie was obviously there in the IP last year I’m sure he’ll have a few spots we can go to um but but yeah I don’t think I don’t think any of the is the same ground as the last time I was there and

Mentally I was listening to Rohit shammer on the back of that test match in Cape Town where he’s obviously asked about the pitch and he said I don’t mind playing on these pitches but you have to be aware that you know when you come to India you’re not going to complain about

Turning pitches I mean mentally have you geared yourself for this for a kind of no excuse trip regardless of of the kind of conditions that you may or may not have to put up with yeah I mean I I’m never one to really complain too much about that you

Know you’re going to India you kind of know what you’re expecting um and it’ll be interesting you know they’re know they’re going to know the way we play and I don’t know if those pitch can potentially bring us in even more if we’re going to be playing more shots um

You know we’ll just have to see and I think it’s it’s going to be as I said earlier for me and Zach to kind of at the top of the order give that feedback back as soon as possible you know if we realize this pitch is going to be really

Tough and if we get 180200 let’s say then you know we’ll try and do that as quick as we can so yeah I don’t know to be honest it’ be interesting if you know if India and ro ro had lost that test match if there would have been a few

More complaints I know they did win it didn’t they um they did thanks very much for your time we wish you well both in the prep time um in Abu Dhabi and obviously when when you get to India I’m hoping to be there and catch up with you

Good luck with it all cheers guys thank you very much how many of those venues have you been to by the way hydrabad rajot Ranchi daram Chara and vizag I think four I might have commentated on I don’t know if I played I might have played in hydrabad actually very early

In my career Dara is a lovely Place yeah if it’s not spinning but it that’s one of the venues that might go through and I thought it was a good question you asked him about excuses actually have no excuses and I don’t think this team will

If it spins you it’s the same for both sides you’ve got to cope with that also remember that it could just do a little bit you know we were there okay under lights in various venues in India but the way Shamy bowled the way bura bow

The way siraj is just bowled in Cape Town yes it’s South Africa it’s it’s not India but that’s a pretty good SE attack it’s a different Indian management than last time isn’t it it was Ravi and ver last time we were there Rohit and Rahul now two slightly different characters I

Would say do you think um I mean I’m assuming that that they will get the pitches that they asked for do you think they will ask for pitches that how do I put this maybe will likely last longer than two days I I think what they should

Do if I was an Indian management were as asked for good pitches that spin a bit because I think then their Spinners and their batters will out bat and out spin hours if they ask for pitches that are become a bit of a lottery and turn huge then it brings England’s Spinners into

It and the way basball goes about its business and the way England’s batting goes they won’t die wandering so I I think that if england go behind as they did last time oh sorry if england go ahead India go behind as they did last time then I’d expect both those both

Roit and Rahul just to have a little tap on the groundsman’s heart and say we want it to spin and if it does who becomes the key player for England root as ever yeah root as ever root you know Roots batting against spin but also Ducket duckett’s playing of spin um

Stokes is a fabulous player of Spin and their mindset as we saw in Pakistan when different pitches didn’t spin much at all low slow they get 500 in a day or whatever so don’t expect what we saw last time where s where batterers are just pushing and prodding but the

Balance is still there like I spoke last week to swanie about that balance of cook getting 190 in India and Peterson getting 180 or whatever two completely different but both hugely successful so still high risk is high risk so with Ravi Ashwin bowling it and it’s spinning

Out of the rough the big booming Drive is still a high risk shot Jer angling it in and clipping to leg or just using your pad B pad together against AAR Patel these are areas that are just nogo areas whatever mindset your batting lineup is but it it one the other thing

I think India are waiting India waiting there’s been a lot of talk about Indian cricket and there’s been a lot of talk about basball and the two of them are just about to meet and my sense out there in that World Cup a lot of Indian

Fans are waiting to see how B put it to bed you know they’re waiting for that I mentioned the venues there that England are going to which are kind of how how would you describe I suppose second string venues they’re not the great venues uh of Indian cricket are they do

You think that I mean that’s could be simply because a lot of these venues that England are going to didn’t have Cricket during the World Cup and have had international cricket there or does it reflect on the fact that test Cricket a five test match series between England

And India is not quite held in the same perhaps esteem that it would have been or was a few years ago given the rise of the IPL and franchises or do you still think it’s I think it’s actually the growth of Indian cricket I think and I

Did that Cricket in Mumbai thing and I asked Ravi shastry I said to Ravi what do you think’s the biggest change and he says since dony since various now the growth of Indian cricket in the old days it was mumb it was Chennai um it was

Bangalore it was delhi now it’s a Glo you know all around all around India they’re finding players and the big venues got the World Cup and there’s some other venues now and that means probably hopefully the crowds will be good they’ve been waiting for Cricket I

Just hope on the back of that interview with with Ben duck that they do get out in about a bit and that first bit he spoke about we’re going to Abu Dhabi because we’ve Fe we we’re locked in our rooms a bit and we’ve been in India and

We’ve seen that we stayed in Mumbai at the Trident hotel with Indian team apart from getting out and in and out of the lift we did not see them at all because you can’t get out you’re bombarded I just hope they try and get out in Pakistan they had that team room yeah

And they really enjoyed you know they loved it they the one thing about the Stokes McCullum side is they enjoy each other’s company part of touring is getting out and it’d be a shame to do five tests in India and spend it in your hotel room I’d say let’s hope it’s not a

Spin wash similar to 1993 30 years ago when England went down the pan uh 3-0 I was on that to did you do a met you did the main tour of Indian W 200 four 23 yeah yeah The tendulka Stomping Ashley Giles bowling down his backside for half the

Day that was that was under you wasn’t it yeah sorry for being the only Captain to get tendor stumped in a test match ever right we’ll see you next week