"No real reason why they couldn’t have spent three weeks in India" - Mark Butcher questions England's preparation for India Tests

Former England batter Mark Butcher called out the side's lack of preparation for the upcoming five-match Test series in India. It will get underway in Hyderabad on January 25.

Barring an 11-day training camp in Abu Dhabi, England will not play any practice matches in India before the first Test. They will arrive in Hyderabad only three days before the opening Test, a seemingly less-than-ideal preparation for arguably the staunchest challenge in red-ball cricket.

Since the advent of Bazball, England have been in terrific Test form, winning 13 of their 18 games with a solitary draw. Yet, they have performed poorly in India, losing the previous two Test series by 1-3 and 0-4 margins.

Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Butcher feels losing the Test series in India would further raise questions about England's lack of preparation.

"Everybody believes going to India that you’re unlikely to win a five-Test match series in India right? But what people will be less likely to be gentle about is if you go there without having done the requisite getting ready for it and then get battered. That’s kind of inexcusable. Particularly given the huge gap that there has been for the Test team between July and now whereby there’s no real reason why they couldn’t have spent three weeks in India leading up to the series," Butcher said.

Butcher added:

"Frankly I’d be a little bit terrified if I was playing. Most of the guys haven’t played any long form cricket since July. Very few of the squad were involved a great deal in the rundown of the County Championship which finished at the back end of September. We’re now three months down the road with nobody having had any sort of middle practice at all."

The Ben Stokes-led side have not played any Test matches since the 2-2 drawn Ashes series at home in July.

Despite being the last team to win a Test series in India, the result came over a decade back in 2012-13.

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"It’s totally in keeping with the way England are doing things" - Mark Butcher

The Stokes-McCullum combination has worked wonders for the England Test outfit.

Mark Butcher admitted similar preparation has been the norm for the current England side yet remained concerned about the lack of competitive red-ball cricket for the tour of India.

Since Brendon McCullum became the head coach of the red-ball side, England has foregone practice matches before a series. They had no warm-up matches before their 3-0 series win in Pakistan and had a short run heading into the home Ashes series last year.

"It’s totally in keeping with the way England are doing things, and their motto is, ‘Just because you’ve always done something before doesn’t mean you should always do it forever and a day’. But I think, from a playing point of view, I would be a little bit concerned about not having felt that competition, being out in the middle and taking guard on something where the runs you make and your wicket are important," Butcher said.

Butcher pointed to the last couple of Ashes series as evidence of how the lack of practice games proved detrimental.

"England did a similar thing in the lead up to the last Ashes series away from home and we saw how that went. They did a similar thing leading into the Ashes series at home during the course of this summer and were 2-0 down before they got going. You certainly couldn’t say for sure that this England side with a lack of experience, or a lack of hot shot spin bowling options in particular, would be in a position to do anything like they did against Australia, coming back from 2-0 down, against this India team who simply do not lose series at home," added Butcher.

Meanwhile, India are coming off an impressive series-leveling win against South Africa in Cape Town.

England are yet to lose a Test series under the Stokes-McCullum combination, dating back to June 2022.