Former Zimbabwe gloveman, Andy Flower reckons that as the English team had defeated India back in 2012, Joe Root and his men will find it tougher to beat India in the upcoming 4-match series. The 52-year-old said that India is high in confidence after their 2-1 triumph in Australia and also they are more confident about their stature in world cricket. Further, he stated that Joe Root will have to do what former English skipper, Alastair Cook did during the 2012 tour — “Be the rock around which big innings can be built”.

Talking about the same, Andy Flower said, “It’s one thing going to Australia and trying to win but a four-match series in India is challenging in a very different way and I think it’s going to be tougher for England now than it was for us. India will be more confident after that win in Australia and they’re also a more confident nation now about their standing in world cricket.”

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He further explained, “Joe should be the rock around which we can build big innings like Cook was in our team. He’s our most skillful player of spin and can combine a really nice, soft defence with the alternating of the strike and occasionally jumping out of his bubble and scoring boundaries.”

During a chat with Daily Mail, talking about Jos Butler and Ben Stokes, Flower acknowledged that they need guys like Buttler and Stokes to put their hand up and churn out some match-winning performances, a bit like Kevin Pietersen did in 2012. Where Root might be playing at a certain tempo, the above-stated players will need to put pressure on the opposition spinners.

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Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen had amassed as many as 562 and 338 runs respectively during the 2012-13 tour as the Three Lions sealed the Test series 2-1 in their favor. A young Joe Root had made his debut in the last Test at Nagpur.