Ian Chappell Predicts Winner Of England Tour Of India

Former Australia captain Ian Chappell believes India "will start as favourites" in the upcoming Test series against England owing to their "quality pace bowling" attack and a consistent batting top-or

The former Australia captain feels India's formidable top-order may tip the scales in favour of the hosts in the Test series which gets underway from February 5 in Chennai.

"India's top three feature an impressive Shubman Gill, a talented but flawed Rohit Sharma and the indomitable Cheteshwar Pujara, which places them well ahead of England's top order."

According to the 77-year-old, the middle order of both the teams is equally strong.

"Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant and the possible addition of Pandya have India well placed to take full advantage of any good start. The ability to swiftly accelerate the scoring is nearly as important to winning Test matches as the capability of taking 20 wickets," said Chappell.

"England are similarly placed with Stokes and Jos Buttler as their lethal weapons. The possible return of Ollie Pope would add some dependability to the threatening nature of that section of the batting order. However Buttler's departure after just one Test and the possible return of Ravindra Jadeja to the Indian line-up would swing the scales further in favour of the home team," he added.