Anil Kumble predicts scoreline for the India-England Test series

Indian legend Anil Kumble believes Rohit Sharma and company will win the five-match Test series against England by a 4-1 margin. The first Test begins in Hyderabad on Thursday.

England are the last team to win a Test series in India, clinching the 2012-13 rubber by a 2-1 margin. After that, India won the home series against England by 4-0 and 3-1 margins in 2016 and 2020-21, respectively. The last time these two sides met in red-ball cricket was in the five-match Pataudi Trophy in England which ended in a 2-2 draw.

"I'm not a guy with a crystal ball, but I can certainly see India winning the series," Kumble said on a Jio Cinema interaction. "I am thinking all five Tests would provide results because of the approach that these two teams have towards Test cricket. Unless and until the weather intervenes, all five Test matches would have results. I would give one to England and four to India."

If India come true to Kumble's prediction, it'll be their 17th straight Test series win at home. The second best is 10 series wins by Australia between November 1994 to November 2000 and then again from July 2004 to November 2008.

"You cannot just come in with the intent to just hit boundaries" - Anil Kumble on BazBall

On BazBall, England's new ultra-aggressive batting style, Kumble said the approach is needed on spin-friendly surfaces in India but not without the right balance.

"We'll have to see whether it's going to be basketball or bus-ball - bus as in (the) Hindi (word) bus," he quipped during the interaction.

"The approach certainly is needed. If it's a spin-friendly surface that they're going to encounter, they certainly need to have that kind of a mindset coming into a game, you can't be looking to survive. But at the same time, you need a bit of a balance in Indian conditions," he continued.

"You cannot just come in with the intent to just hit boundaries; you also need a good defence. That's something that England will have to watch out for. "What the English batters bring -- we know that irrespective of the conditions -- they come in and look to dominate the bowling and put pressure on the bowlers. It'll be interesting to see how the Indian bowling lineup responds to that kind of an approach," Kumble added.

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