'3-2 in favour of...': Dale Steyn drops bold prediction for India-England Test series

Team India, now led by new captain Shubman Gill, is preparing for a five-match Test series against England, which begins on June 20 in Leeds. After the retirement of key players Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from Test cricket, Gill was appointed as captain last month, with Rishabh Pant to serve as his vice-captain. This series will be Gill's first Test match as captain, following his impressive leadership during the Indian Premier League (IPL). Currently, Gill and his team are engaged in a closed-door intra-squad match.

As the first Test approaches in Headingley, Steyn has forecasted that the series will be fiercely competitive, although he has predicted that England will emerge victorious with a 3-2 scoreline.

"All games will be close. But all will have a result. I think it will be 3-2 in favour of England. There will be a result in every Test match. There will be no run away win for any team, all five games will be very close," Steyn said on JioHotstar. 

Steyn, in the meantime, lauded South Africa for silencing their critics by achieving a significant victory over Australia, winning by a substantial margin of five wickets in the WTC final.

“From the start of this World Test Championship cycle, South Africa knew they had to win a certain number of games to make it to the final — and they did that, winning seven in a row, regardless of the opposition. It doesn’t matter who you’re up against, anyone who’s played Test cricket will tell you that winning even a single Test match is never easy. To win seven consecutively, earn a spot in the final, and then go on to get over the line today — that’s absolutely huge,” he said.

“These are two massive teams. They’ve been fierce rivals for years. Australia commands a lot of respect from every South African cricketer for all that they’ve achieved, especially their world titles. So South Africa knew this was going to be one of their toughest tests," he added.

The forthcoming tour of England by India signifies a crucial new phase for Team India as a revamped squad gears up to face one of the toughest challenges in cricket, particularly in English conditions.

Traditionally, India's achievements in Test series on English grounds have been infrequent, with the team managing to win a Test series in England only three times over the last century.

These historic victories occurred in 1971, 1986, and 2007, each time under the guidance of a new or first-time captain - Ajit Wadekar in 1971, Kapil Dev in 1986, and Rahul Dravid in 2007 - underscoring the essential influence of fresh leadership in these remarkable successes.

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