India tour is the toughest IIndia tour is the toughest I’ve faced yet, says England’s century man Stuart Broad’ve faced yet, says England’s century man Stuart Broad

Back in the swing: Stuart Broad in training this week as he prepares for his 100th Test
Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Chris Stocks7 November 2016

Stuart Broad will make his 100th Test appearance here on Wednesday and the England fast bowler admits the upcoming five-match series against India will be the toughest challenge he has faced so far during his international career.

Broad will become the 14th Englishman to reach the century landmark in Tests when the opening match of a daunting series against the world’s No1 team gets underway in Rajkot.

Broad’s career started against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2007 and has included four Ashes series wins. On the way, he has taken 360 Test wickets at an average of 28.48, making him the third most prolific England bowler of all time behind only Ian Botham and James Anderson.

England will begin this series without the injured Anderson, who is scheduled to arrive in Rajkot tomorrow ahead of a potential comeback from a shoulder injury in the Second Test at Visakhapatnam next week.

Yet the task facing Alastair Cook’s side would have been daunting even if Anderson had been available from the start of the series given India have won 12 of the 13 Tests they have played on home soil since England won here in 2012.

Asked if the series to come was the toughest he had faced in almost 10 years at the top, Broad admitted: “Yes, without a doubt. I think we are coming as massive underdogs, there’s no doubt about that.

“Obviously, India have got to No1 in the world and played some brilliant cricket here, so we’re very aware this is a huge challenge.

“But also we’ve got nothing to fear, because not many of our side have actually played cricket over here. That’s a positive in that you go out and try to play your natural games and take the game to India.”

England’s confidence was hit by their recent defeat against Bangladesh in Dhaka, a Test Broad missed after he was rested by England’s management. It means the 30-year-old will make his 100th appearance here in Rajkot and it is a proud moment made even more special by the magnitude of the task ahead.

“I’m aware how special an achievement it is,” said Broad. “But actually, I think what excites me more is we hope this game will be the start of a huge series for us as well. There’s no bigger occasion than the start of a series in India against the world No1 team.

“It’s great to get a milestone, being in such an important game. It’s always a dream, isn’t it, to play as much for your country as possible? There’s not many of those Test caps with the little 100 below the Three Lions. My character has always been someone who likes playing in big games, and that makes this extra-special.”

Unsurprisingly, Broad admits his favourite Test of the 99 he has played so far was last year’s Ashes encounter at his home ground of Trent Bridge, where he blew Australia away inside a session with a barely-believable haul of eight for 15. “It’s hard to look past that game,” he said.

However, Broad is keen to carry on for a while yet and has targeted playing at least two more Ashes series, with next winter’s tour Down Under followed by a home series against Australia in 2019, when Broad will be 33.

“I certainly want to play in big series, and that counts at least two more Ashes in my view,” he says.

“Big series are what you play for. It’s amazing to be part of series like this and Ashes series, so that makes you want to keep going.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in