London [UK], June 10 : England's decorated quick James Anderson sees India as a "strong" side in the upcoming five-match Test series, scheduled to begin on June 20 at Headingley, despite the absence of their batting bigwigs and the phase of transition that has kicked in as a result.
More than a month before India's high-stakes Test series against England, swashbuckler Rohit Sharma bid adieu to the format. His long-time compatriot Virat Kohli followed the same route a couple of days later.
With India bereft of its torchbearers, the management turned to youngsters to mark the beginning of a new era. In the aftermath of their decision, the captaincy baton was passed from Rohit to Shubman Gill, while the batting combination is something that India is silently figuring out.
Even though India are lining up without their two batting maestros, who exude immense experience on English soil, Anderson feels the touring party is in possession of some "exciting players" and a "strong" squad for the "exciting series". For the ageless seamer, the first edition of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy will be a closely fought contest just like the enticing series in 2022, which ended 2-2.
"I think this series is going to be exactly the same. What you would expect, I know India are going through a little bit of a change with a different captain and losing Kohli and Sharma. But I think they are strong. They have got a strong squad. They have got some really exciting players. England are trying to play a certain way, and I think it lends itself into an exciting series," Anderson said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
During his illustrious career that spanned over 21 years, Anderson scythed more wickets against India than any other Test nation. He tallied 149 wickets at 25.47 in 39 appearances and played a valuable part in England's famous win in Mumbai in 2005-06.
Anderson also featured for the Three Lions during their back-to-back series wins at home and away in 2011 and 2012-13. Despite his prowess, he has also been a part of five series defeats against India, with four of them being away from home.
"After the Ashes, it is the series that England look forward to the most. I had some tough times in India. It is really a hard place to go. But we won there, which was a really special moment. Some of the battles we had in England were great. They have had some amazing players," he added.
India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.