'England were on back-foot last year but now...,' Rahul Dravid warns Indian team

Rohit Sharma-led Team India is all set to take on England in a one-off Test starting from July 1 at the Edgbaston, Birmingham. India are currently leading the five-match series against England 2-1 before the fifth and final Test at Old Trafford, slated to begin on September 10 last year, was postponed abruptly due to a fear of a Covid-19 outbreak in the visiting party. 

Hello from Leicester and our training base for a week will be @leicsccc  #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/MAX0fkQcuc

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 20, 2022

There are massive changes in the team mangement of both sides as Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy from Virat Kohli while Rahul Dravid was named head coach after Ravi Shastri's tenure got over this year. On the other hand, England also have a new captain-coach duo in Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. As both teams gear up for the Test at Birmingham India head coach Rahul Dravid has warned his side not to be complacent against this England side who are coming into the series on the back of two wins against a strong New Zealand side. 

“In terms of the Test match, it is going to be exciting. For us, it is a one-off Test match, but it’s World Test Championship (WTC) points. It’s a series on the line for the guys who played a part in it (last year), and they are very keen to try and win that series and do well. So looking forward to that," said Dravid after the fifth T20I at Bengaluru was abandoned due to rain.

The Indian Test team, which had a couple of training sessions after it arrived in London last week, has now shifted base to Leicestershire ahead of a tour match against the county side from June 24-27 at Grace Road in Leicester.

“It is always lovely to play a Test match in England; the crowds are going to be fantastic. You expect really good crowds in England when you play Test cricket there. And England is playing really well at the moment. I mean they are playing some really good cricket. It’s probably a bit different to when we were there last year when England was probably a little bit on the back foot. But they have played a couple of good games (against New Zealand), and we have got a pretty good squad as well. Hopefully, it will be a good match. I love watching Test cricket, love playing it, love coaching it. Looking forward to it," concluded Dravid.