Botham believes England will have to dig deep in order to pull off a series victory against India

Former England captain Sir Ian Botham has revealed that it will take a special all-round team effort if the national team are to break their 27 year losing streak against India.

Both nations have already clashed in two Test matches with India taking the first and England coming back to win the second Test.

However, Botham noted that England cannot start celebrating yet since there are still two more Test matches remaining.

Writing in his column for the Daily Mirror, Botham said: “This may be a four-Test series, but if England want to make history by winning, the batsmen need to do the business from their very first innings, they have to set their stall out against India from the outset. That doesn’t mean batting aggressively – they can leave the fireworks to the fans celebrating Diwali. It just means putting a big total on the scoreboard, if they are rolled over cheaply then they could be goosed. It will be extremely tough to get back in the series if that happens.”

Botham believes this series is make or break for England after having lost their world number one Test team ranking to South Africa over the summer.

“With England’s underwhelming record playing on their minds, they must assert themselves with the bat and go big,” Botham added. “Anything less would hand India all the cards. This is sink or swim for England’s batsmen. They’ve got plenty of experience in that lineup and they should have proved themselves as good players of spin or not by now, they have a small array of shots, they don’t like to leave the crease and their shot selection has been poor.

“England have got it all to prove, and India are waiting to pounce. They will still be smarting from being walloped all around the UK last year and they will see this as the boot being on the other foot. I’m hoping to see something special from this team, because that is what it will take if they are to win.”