Published: Mar 14, 2025, 04:30 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 14, 2025, 06:33 PM (IST)
The Indian cricket team is coming fresh from a historic Champions Trophy victory, and are headed to a break from international cricket. The players of the national team will be seen in action in the upcoming England tour following the 18th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
However, former Indian batter Navjot Singh Sidhu has advised the team to begin preparing for the tour as soon as possible as he advised the Men in Blue and their struggles in red-ball format. When speaking to Sports Tak, Sidhu emphasized the challenges which await India during the five-match Test series.
“The thing to be worried about is that the IPL is now coming up next. No one is ready to sit out the IPL. They will play the league and then all of a sudden comes the England tour. Conditions will shift from North Pole to South Pole. Completely different. Moreover, India’s last Test series in England had started on August 4. This time, it is ending on August 2. The matches are in June and July. There will be grass and moisture and the air will be so heavy that the ball will gain ample movement. And then it will move more off the seam,” said Sidhu.
Sidhu even warned the Indian team to find some solid players to replace for all-rounders and white-ball specialists Hardik Pandya
“England are sitting ready at home in their conditions and they are like wounded tigers. They have been beaten and defeated. India’s biggest problem is that in the middle order there are no all-rounders the way you see in white ball cricket. Is there a Ravindra Jadeja, or Hardik Pandya or Axar Patel? There is only Jadeja among these three and even he will be limited there. Will he take 4-5 wickets in an innings there? No,” he added.
The 2025 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) is going to begin March 22, with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) facing Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Eden Gardens.
