"I am a little worried": Jaffer on Indian Test team ahead of England tour

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 1 (ANI): Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer said on Tuesday that he is "a little worried" about Team India following a disastrous Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia away from home and hoped that they will "get their act together" ahead of their England tour which will kickstart their ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle.
Jaffer was speaking on Revsportz to Boria Majumdar.
Speaking to Revsportz about the Indian Test team, which finished third in the WTC 2023-25 standings following a 0-3 clean sweep loss to New Zealand at home and 1-3 loss in the BGT against Australia, Jaffer said, "I am a little worried, without a doubt. After watching India play in Australia, I am a little worried."
"The form of our batters. What if Jasprit Bumrah is not available in that Test series as well? Or if Mohammad Shami is not available for that matter? What will happen? So, I am definitely worried that Dukes ball, our batters have batted in Australia. If that same trend continues, we will definitely struggle."
"So, I am a little bit worried. But I hope they get their act together. And I hope we win a series, which we have not done for a long time in England. But we need to do much better than what we did, you know, in Australia," he concluded.
India's last series win in England came back in 2007 under captaincy of Rahul Dravid by 1-0. Since then, Their last Test series in England ended in a 2-2 draw back in 2022 after India played the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston under captaincy of Jasprit Bumrah, after initially leading the series 2-1 under Virat Kohli.
India's England tour of five Test will kickstart on June 20 at Leeds with the first Test.
However, absence of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who got injured during the final BGT Test in Sydney and has not played any cricket since, and form of two of its most senior batters, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli has been a huge point of concern.
The 2024-25 season of Tests was miserable for 'Ro-Ko' (Rohit and Kohli), who are India's most prolific modern-day stars. While Rohit scored just 164 runs in eight matches and 15 innings at an average of 10.93 with the best score of 52, Virat scored a shambolic 382 runs in 10 matches and 19 innings at an average of 22.87, with just a century and fifty each. Rohit also scored just 3 and 28 on his return to Ranji Trophy recently against J&K. Virat ended the last year with just 655 international runs in 23 matches and 32 innings, averaging 21.83, with a century and two fifties to his name. His best score was 100*.
While Rohit has been India's most prolific run-getter in WTC history with 2,716 runs in 40 Tests at an average of 41.15 with nine centuries and eight fifties, Virat's form in Tests has taken a nosedive in 2020s. In 39 Test matches since the start of 2020, Virat has scored just 2,028 runs at an average of 30.72, with just three centuries and nine fifties to show. His best score is 186. (ANI)