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Veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin feels that the visitors England could be a tough nut to crack, even in Indian conditions although India begin their four-match Test series against England as favourites, having won against Australia despite several key players not playing due to injuries.

In an interview on BCCI’s official website, Ravichandran Ashwin said that India will not take England lightly, adding that he expects the four-match series to be a closely contested one.

Ravichandran Ashwin Is Looking Forward To A Cracking Series As Nothing Less Than Nail Biting Cricket Is Expected

India have not lost a bilateral Test series on home soil since England’s 2-1 win in 2012. They head into the series off the back of a stunning comeback win over Australia recently with youngsters rising to the occasion.

Recognizing the prowess of the English team, the 34-year-old said: “Looking forward to a cracking series. England have always been a very tough cookie to crack. Even when we go there (to England) or they come down here (India), they always play good cricket. England and Australia are probably two teams that come very well prepared here. We expect nothing less than a nail-biting series here. We’ve got to take it one day at a time, one session at a time, and win it. Keep ourselves in the process and not really get too ahead of ourselves.”

Axar Patel was ruled out of the opening Test with a knee injury as India picked standby backup spinner Shahbaz Nadeem instead as Kuldeep Yadav didn’t again get a chance in XI despite being in the squad. Ishant Sharma is playing alongside Jasprit Bumrah who is playing his first Test at home while Ravichandran Ashwin, Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar are the spinners.

For England, as Zak Crawley was ruled out of first 2 Tests, Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley are openers while Ollie Pope makes a return in 1st Test. Both spinners Dominic Bess and Jack Leach are playing while Jofra Archer and James Anderson are pacers in 1st Test.

Ravichandran Ashwin Thought England Played Really Well Last Time In 2016

Ravichandran Ashwin also observed that even though England lost the previous Test series in India 0-4, the result did not reflect how well they played.

He said in this regard: “The last Test series we played (against England) was back in 2016. That was also a great series. I thought England played really well last time. The scoreline might not suggest the real story. We (again) expect a really good England side to give a wonderful series to us.”

The four-match India-England Test series kicked off on Friday, with England winning the toss and batting first. England are 151/2 in 60th over with both opener Dom Sibley and skipper Joe Root scoring unbeaten fifties. Opener Rory Burns (33) perished to Ravichandran Ashwin off a reverse sweep. Soon thereafter, Jasprit Bumrah, playing his first home Test, trapped Dan Lawrence lbw for a duck.

The Chennai Test is England captain Joe Root’s 100th in the longest format of the game. It is also the first time since 1994 that two Indian umpires are officiating in a home Test.