Facing India best way to gear up for Ashes: Swann

New Delhi, Jun 17: Former England spinner Graeme Swann believes England need to convincingly defeat India in the five-Test series, which is scheduled to begin on June 20 at the Headingley Cricket Ground, as a build-up to the Ashes, which will be played in Australia later this year.

England finished the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle in a dismal fifth place, having won only 10 of their 22 matches, with 11 defeats and one draw to their name.

The series against India will provide an opportunity for their relatively inexperienced bowling attack to find their groove. Meanwhile, India too will be without its two most experienced batters, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who retired from the longest format ahead of the tour of England.

“It's kind of the perfect warmup for the Ashes, to be honest. India is a huge series, and the last two or three times we've gone to India, we've been thoroughly outplayed. So in our own backyard, our home turf, we need to beat India. We need to play well.