If they perform against India like they did against Bangladesh, it'll be 5-0: Michael Vaughan

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan fears that England will suffer a series whitewash against India if they don’t improve their batting dramatically from the first Test win over Bangladesh. England relied on their bowling and an in-form Ben Stokes to bail them out against Bangladesh and claim a 22-run victory on the final morning in Chittagong on Monday.

In the first innings, debutant off-spinner Mehedi Hasan ran through the entire top order to leave the visitors in a lurch before Stokes and Bairstow came to the rescue. Later, Stokes again had to steady England’s second innings after the top order again collapsed on day three.

Vaughan said England cannot afford to put themselves in a similar situation against the world’s top-ranked Test side later next month.

“If they perform like they did against Bangladesh, it’ll be 5-0. It doesn’t matter who goes first. England for such a long time is always 30 or 40 for three. If they’re 30 or 40 for three against India they’ll get blown away,” Vaughan told the BBC.

“Yes, you celebrate a win, but hopefully England, in the background, is being honest with themselves that they can play better.”

Vaughan’s worries are legitimate considering the dominance of India’s spin bowling pair of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Ashwin, in particular in great form and as Vaughan said can run through the English batting order if they bat recklessly.

The second and final Test against Bangladesh starts on Friday in Dhaka. England will travel to face the bigger and a sterner test when they play India in the first of five Tests from Nov. 9.