Engineer warns India ‘true test’ will come in England

MANCHESTER: India great Farokh Engineer has said the “true test” of Virat Kohli’s current side will come when they tour England next year.

Under the captaincy of star batsman Kohli, India have risen to the top of the world Test rankings.But much of their success has come in home or sub-continent conditions, with their recent 3-0 Test series win in Sri Lanka being a case in point.

Engineer, an outstanding wicketkeeper-batsman for both India and English county Lancashire, said the real worth of Kohli’s men would be judged far away from home.

“The present Indian team are very good indeed,” Engineer told AFP in an interview at Lancashire’s Old Trafford headquarters on Tuesday — shortly before England played West Indies in a One-day International at the Manchester ground.

“Virat Kohli is an excellent captain, MS Dhoni is looking fitter than ever, Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the great off-spinners, (Ravi) Jadeja, we’ve got a very good team, Murali Vijay, the opening batsman,” Engineer added.

“They have been scoring a lot of runs against Sri Lanka, but the true test will be when they come to England.

“Don’t get carried away by the performance against Sri Lanka, against Australia we are doing pretty well, but that’s in India again.”

The 79-year-old Engineer, a veteran of 46 Tests for India from 1961-75, said next year’s five-match series in England would “sort the men from the boys”.

“India’s real test comes when they go abroad, especially England. England is the true test for any cricketer and Indian cricketers are no exception,” he said.

“You need a real sound technique to play in England where the ball moves about a lot more, both in the air and off the pitch.“Your technique is really stretched to the limit — it sorts the men out from the boys.”