London: Michael Vaughan sounds confident in England beating India in the five-match Test series to be played in England right after the World Test Championship final. Vaughan reckons that with England more comfortable with Dukes balls which are used in the country for Test cricket, they will clearly have an advantage going into the Test series. 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. Also Read - IPL 2021 Shifted to UAE For Remainder Of Season, Says Rajeev Shukla
“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. Also Read - WTC Final: No Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson in Michael Vaughan's List of Players to Watch
“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. Also Read - 'I Have Two Regrets': Sachin Tendulkar Reflects On His Cricket Career
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.
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.
Earlier in the year, India beat England 3-1 in a Test series played in India that helped them to secure a spot in the World Test Championship.
(With Agency Inputs)