England at home with Dukes balls, will beat India: Michael Vaughan

By IANS

LONDON: England will beat India in five-Test series in August-September since they are more comfortable with Dukes balls which are used in the country for Test cricket, said Michael Vaughan.

The former England skipper, who led his team to their first Ashes series win in two decades in 2005, added that Joe Root and Virat Kohli are going to be the top-scorers in the Test series while Jasprit Bumrah and Chris Woakes will be the top wicket-takers.

“England will win. Every time England have gone to India, they have been hammered. And every time, India have come to England, the opposite has happened. England are a team at home that are very tough to beat with the Dukes ball,” Vaughan said in an interview to crictracker.com.

“I’m going to go with Virat Kohli and Joe Root [as top run-scorers], and Jasprit Bumrah and Chris Woakes [as top wicket-takers],” he added.

The 46-year-old, who is now a commentator picked New Zealand pace bowling all-rounder Kyle Jamieson and India wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant as men to watch out for in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

“First is Kyle Jamieson as he’s had a magnificent start to his Test career. Next is Rishabh Pant as he is the star of the world game. He has been incredible over the last few months, especially against Australia and England. Next, I’ll go with BJ Watling in his swansong as he’s been a fantastic servant for New Zealand cricket,” said Vaughan in the interview.

Watling will retire from Test cricket after the WTC final.

India play New Zealand in the WTC final at Southampton from June 18-22. They then stay back in England playing intra-squad matches and having net sessions for the next one-and-a-half months before getting on with the five-match Test series against England, beginning August 4.