Trevor Bayliss admits there is some soul searching to be done before England take on the world’s top ranked Test team.
A chastening end to the second Test with Bangladesh in Dhaka saw England lose all 10 wickets for just 64 runs in pursuit of their victory target of 273.
The hosts recorded their first ever Test victory over England and squared the series in the process. Now thoughts turn to India, with the five Test series starting on 9 November.
Despite playing some excellent cricket in patches, England battled hard to get to grips with the conditions, and will be confronted by similar pitches for the five-match series.
“It’s going to be difficult that’s for sure, we’re going to have to play some very good cricket but we’ve got that in us,” Bayliss said of the challenge his side will face.
We’ve shown in previous series we’ve lost to Australia and South Africa and been able to come back and win. We’ve got to dig deep to play a very good team playing in their home conditions.”
England made two changes in Dhaka, Zafar Ansari and Steven Finn replacing Gareth Batty and Stuart Broad from the side that won the first Test in Chittagong by 22 runs.
With a busy schedule ahead that sees England play five Tests in the space of 42 days in India, team selection will perhaps prove an even more important consideration than usual.
“To be honest I haven’t even really thought about it at this stage,” Bayliss added.
“Cook and I will sit down in the next few days and discuss that. Some have obviously cemented a spot and others there’s still a bit of a question mark over.
“It could come down to who we’re playing, what sort of wicket we’re playing on and the conditions will have to be taken into consideration.”
Ansari and Ben Duckett were handed their debuts during the closely fought series and with Lancashire opener Haseeb Hameed also in contention there is fierce competition for places.
“That’s one of the other positions we knew before the series started that he was waiting in the wings - he can obviously play and he’s an option for us.
“We’ve got two or three options in the batting but also in the bowling as well so there’ll have to be some soul searching over the next few days.”
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