'England Deserve to Get Beat 5-0 in India': Ben Stokes Responds to Criticism from Steve Harmison

England will be touring India for a five-Test series that starts in the last week of January next year and considering the tough assignment at hand, they will be gearing up for it with a week-long camp in Abu Dhabi with no tour match scheduled.

The last time England were in India for a Test series, they returned home with a 1-3 defeat.

England haven’t won a Test series on Indian soil since 2012-13 and incidentally, they were the last team to have beaten India in their own backyard.

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With England expected to arrive in India days before their latest Test challenge, former fast bowler Steve Harmison has thrashed their plans, claiming the team deserves to get a 0-5 thrashing since they will be grossly underprepared.

“If England go in three days before, they deserve to get beat 5-0, they really do,” Harmison said on talkSPORT Cricket. “I’m an old man. And that’s what they’re going to say: ‘Times have changed, the game has changed.’ But I tell you what, preparation hasn’t changed.”

England will play their first Test of the tour from January 25 in Hyderabad.

“You can not go into India underprepared. You can not go into India overprepared. You could be in India six weeks before and still not be prepared for that first Test and the emotion of that,” Harmison added.

Harmison says he admires England’s aggressive approach in Test cricket which has resulted in a terrific turnaround for the team’s fortunes in the format since Joe Root stepped down and Ben Stokes took over the rein.

But the Ashes winner feels that’s no excuse for not arriving three days before a series of such magnitude.

“To be honest, I love this new approach. I love Ben Stokes, the Brendon McCullum approach, obviously Rob Key, and everything that they have done, ECB have done. But I’m sorry, going in three days before, you would never do that for an Ashes Test series,” he said.

England Test captain Ben Stokes, who is recovering from a surgery, responded to the criticism on X (formerly Twitter).

“Good job we’re going to Abu Dhabi for a training camp before we go to India for even more training before that 1st test then isn’t it,” Stokes posted in response to Harmisson’s comments.