Farokh Engineer isn't impressed with the Indian team yet

Indian cricket, especially in Tests, has been in the middle of a purple patch of its own, they are consistently winning one series after another, making all oppositions look ordinary especially in the sub-continent but legend Farokh Engineer is not entirely impressed with the team just yet. He thinks success in Sri Lanka is not as great as we’re perceiving it to be.

An utterly dominant Indian team completed a whitewash over their sub-continental neighbours in the three-match Test series, but for them, the real Test lies overseas. They will be truly invincible when they are successful against Australia and England in the opposition’s home ground.

“Don’t get carried away by the results in Sri Lanka because it looked like we played against little schoolboys there. They (Sri Lanka) didn’t have a clue,” Engineer who resides in England said.

“The real test will be the England tour because England have always been a nemesis for Indian cricketers. In England, the ball swings in the air, off the pitch and they have bowlers who can do that like Jimmy Anderson, Broad and the others. And that’s where our true test will come. Unfortunately, we didn’t perform too well that last time we were there,” the man who played 46 Tests between 1961 and 1975 said.

“English bowlers in English conditions will be the real test. England are playing reasonably well. Australia are always a challenge. So, England and Australia are the two biggest challenges and they will have to overcome that,” he said, in an interview with Khaleej Times.

Engineer was one of the first Indians to play County cricket when he turned up for Lancashire and is of the opinion that stints in English County cricket will help the players prepare for those Tests. Cheteshwar Pujara was one of the Indian cricketers to hold the same opinion as his multiple stints in County cricket suggest.

“(Cheteshwar) Pujara, for example, has just had a few days or a month or two off and then he’s off to England to play county cricket. He knows that the experience will be invaluable to him. Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman all played County cricket and served our country better, without a doubt. So, I would encourage more Indian players to play County cricket,” Engineer said.

On the Kohli-Kumble saga

He also felt that the Anil Kumble-Virat Kohli episode was unfortunate and said Ravi Shastri shouldn’t have been replaced in the first place, especially because Kumble’s style of coaching would naturally be very different because he is a known disciplinarian.

“(Anil) Kumble is a very nice man. He is a great bowler and has been a great servant for Indian cricket but his style has been a bit different which may not have agreed to Virat’s style. Whereas, Ravi is more aggressive. It is just unfortunate that it didn’t click or something happened and it culminated with the Champions Trophy loss, and a defeat to none other than Pakistan. That was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, so to say. Kumble did a very good job but his era has ended.”

“In fact, Ravi Shastri did such a good job earlier that they didn’t need to replace him. But they replaced him. These are the politics of Indian cricket which you and I can’t stop,” he concluded.