With Team India all set to take on England next year, Michael Vaughan said that England could change their batting line-up. Keeping the threat Jasprit Bumrah could possess against the right-handers in mind. Vaughan also added that England must have two left-handers in their top three, suggesting that Ben Stokes can bat at number three as well.

Notably, Bumrah set the tone for Team India’s convincing 295-run victory over Australia in the first Test in Perth where he took eight wickets in the Test, including a fifer in the first innings as well.

Writing in his column for The Telegraph, the veteran wrote: “I think that simple swap is perfect for the year England have coming up. In one Test in Australia, I’ve seen live why England need another left-hander in the top three. Jasprit Bumrah fizzily arcs the ball into the right-hander’s pads with the brand new ball, and caused absolute carnage for the likes of Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. Left-handers are better suited to facing Bumrah.”

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“It would be handy to have Stokes at No 3 in Australia, too, because the extra left-hander might tempt Australia to use Nathan Lyon earlier, which in turn means the quicks are not bowling in the short window that the ball swings,” he again shared.

With England set to play India and Australia next year, Vaughan also stated that Harry Brook doesn’t need to change much and backs him to do well against pace bowling.

“Brook is very special, a wonderful player. He has that rare gift of total stillness, of making the ball look like it is coming down at 55mph, when it obviously isn’t. As we saw in Pakistan, Brook’s only weakness is when the ball spins big. In these conditions, and against pace more generally, he is superb. I don’t think he needs to change much, looking ahead to India and Australia. There are two areas I’d bowl to him – wide of off-stump and at his left shoulder,” Michael Vaughan concluded.