Steve Harmison picks England as favorites against India, says bowlers are going to hold key

Former England lanky fast bowler Steve Harmison has picked Ben Stokes’ team as favorites against India in the upcoming five-match series. Harmison reckons England would start as favorites in their own conditions.

The former pacer reckons the bowlers will hold the key as both team’s batters are expected to bat aggressively. Harmison believes a team which bowls better would hold the advantage in the series.

“I’m expecting a close series, but I think England are favourites because this series is in England. I think the bowler that stands up on either side will be the one who wins the series. So it wouldn’t surprise me if Man of the Series is a bowler because they will be the difference between the two sides, who have very, very aggressive batting units and want to score. But I think the class of bowlers will stand out,” said Harmison as quoted by IANS.

On the other hand, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their Test retirement during the IPL. Harmison reckons the veteran duo absence will make the dressing room a bit easier as the young players would need to take onus on their shoulders.

He added, “When great players go out of the team, sometimes it makes the dressing room a little bit easier to be in because you’ve now got somebody that’s going to go out there and score all the runs for you. You’re going to have to take some responsibility yourself. So that’ll be the challenge from the India team’s point of view.”

Harmison added that England would receive a mental boost as there would be no Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the Indian team.

“I think it gives (England) a mental boost to have no Rohit Sharma and no Virat Kohli. I think even though the two great players possibly weren’t the great players they were five to ten years ago, the sight of Virat and Rohit being on a team sheet still holds a lot of weight. So with no great players as those two in the starting eleven, that also sometimes galvanises the team.”

The opening Test match between India and England will be played at Leeds, Headingley, from June 20 onwards.