Michael Holding: India should win series handsomely

Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding finds no reason why India cannot win the ongoing fiveTest matchesIndia gained a significant upper hand during the drawn first Test at Nottingham The caravan now moves to Lordrsquos for the second Test which starts on Thursday Team Indiarsquos last three Test tours to England have been disastrous losing 04 in 2011 before the 13 and 14 scorelines in 2014 and 2018 respectively India last registered a series victory in England in 2007 when Rahul Dravidrsquos men beat Michael Vaughanrsquos team 10 in a threeTest serieslsquoIndia are favouritesrsquoHolding who is also one of the commentators for the Pataudi Trophy said India remain firm favourites ldquoIndia started the series as favourites and they remain favourites India should win the series handsomelyrdquo he told midday from the UKMichael HoldingldquoI find no reason why India cannot win the series They have already acclimatised with the conditions the team have been in the UK since June for the WTC final They should concentrate on playing without worrying about the result They have a wellbalanced side of young and experienced cricketersrdquo he addedHolding felt the Indian pacers are better equipped to make most of the English conditions ldquoIndia are looking good with Jasprit Bumrah returning to form Shardul Thakur Mohammed Siraj look promising Mohammed Shami is an experienced campaigner I am sure the Indian pacers will be able to utilise the English conditions wellrdquo he saidOne of the major worries for England according to Holding is the lack of batting depth ldquoThe ball will swing here and have lateral movement The batsmen will have to be watchful The English batting is not solid They do not have good batting depth And it may cost them theseriesBurden on RootldquoThe burden is now on captain Joe Root They are missing Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes They have become weak in batting as well as bowlingrdquo noted HoldingHe reckoned England are overdependent on Jimmy Anderson 39 to restrict the Indian lineupldquoEngland are now trying to restrict India from scoring big The Indian batting strength is better than England So Virat Kohli and his men have an edge here tooldquoAnderson is trying to do his best but how can one or two bowlers restrict a team like Indiardquo wondered HoldingMoeen Ali recalledEngland on Tuesday recalled allrounder Moeen Ali to the squad ahead of the second Test against India at Lordrsquos The spinning allrounder will train with the squad on Tuesday according to an ECB statementAlso Read Former New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns on life support Report