Kohli vs Broad, Ashwin vs Cook battles will be key: Jonty Rhodes

The last time England toured India in 2012, they walked away with a 2-1 series win despite losing the first Test. However, South African cricket legend Jonty Rhodes believes that the upcoming five-Test series against this No.1 ranked Indian team under the leadership of Virat Kohli & playing their aggressive brand of cricket will pose a far tougher challenge to Alastair Cook and his boys. "Everyone is talking about this being a revenge series but the key for me is that it is a 5-Test series, it is going to be a battle of attrition for England to survive the five Test matches but I am looking forward to the battles within the battle. Battle between Ashwin and someone like Joe Root or a Broad vs Virat Kohli, these kind of tussles make Test match cricket really exciting to watch. I think England will be a little concerned about their form in Bangladesh on slow turning wickets where they lost 38 out of 40 wickets against spinners so they would have learnt something and it is just a matter of how they apply that learning process into results and performances against India because let's face it, they are going to face a few spinners in the next month to come," Jonty Rhodes told India Today. Team England geared up for the battle against India by holding their first nets session in Mumbai on Friday and as expected their focus was on facing spin bowling. Alastair Cook's entire team took part in what was an optional nets session. While Cook led his troops admirably on the previous tour of India, Jonty says if skipper Kohli fires with the bat then India will have little to worry about. "They are very different leaders, Alastair Cook has been around for a while, knows the England setup but has a slightly inexperienced team with him. Virat Kohli is in great form himself and that brings in a lot of confidence to the team. He has a very different style to MSD though Dhoni is still around in limited overs cricket so you have these contrasting styles of captaincy. For a guy like Kohli with his aggressive nature he needs to continue scoring runs, because he looks like a frustrated guy if he gets out without scoring or contributing as he believes to the team, so as long as he can keep performing he can then focus all his energy and anger to the opposition which is a good thing for India," said Jonty. Graeme Swann & Monty Panesar spun England to victory in 2012 and it remains to be seen if Moeen Ali & Adil Rashid can have the same impact. However, lack of experience of playing in the sub-continent will be England's biggest challenge. "I do (see Indian spinners troubling the English batsmen). South Africans have been playing a lot of cricket here during the IPL so the likes of JP Duminy, AB De Villiers, Quinton De Kock, Dale Steyn those guys have come here and performed in Indian conditions and I think that is the key. Not many current England players have spent much time in the sub-continent and we have seen that they certainly struggle against spin on slow-turning wickets. If they can take the lessons they have learnt in Bangladesh and apply them in India then they will be a better side but they need to do it quite quickly," Jonty explained. Jonty himself has spent considerable time in India as a player and then with his stints as a mentor in the IPL. One of South Africa's greatest ambassadors of the game has also named his daughter 'India'. "I think I have probably seen more of India, not just my baby India, but more of your incredible country and it is incredible for a reason, it is just fantastic. People get outside and there are such places to explore, from surfing to mountain biking to snowboarding I have been in Kashmir and house boating in Kerala so I have seen quite a lot of India and I can't wait to see more," revealed the 47-year-old. Jonty Rhodes was is in Delhi as mentor of India's Junior Players League, a T20 tournament for under-18 kids.   Source: India Today