Ashwin, Jadeja Double Act Braces For Counter-Attack

Going into the five Test series, England captain Ben Stokes made no bones about how difficult it is to play in India. The last time England came, two years ago, they lost 3-1. In 2016-17, they lost four of the five Tests.

- Sanjjeev K Samyal

England's brand of batting has changed since. They now pride in taking on the opposition bowlers with aggressive batting. Their confidence will be high after whitewashing Pakistan in an away series last season. But playing a certain brand of cricket in pitch conditions which favour it and doing it in conditions which don't, against the best bowlers in the world in those conditions, is an entirely different ask.

In the five Test series starting on Thursday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, the main focus will be on how England's Bazball batting approach works against spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Can they be brave to take on the Indian spinners, have that conviction to play strokes on tracks that resemble minefields? That will be the challenge for Ben Stokes and his team.