With 99 Test matches, 360 wickets and 15 five-wicket hauls under his belt, Stuart Broad has many spells of bowling and memorable matches he can look back upon with fondness.

From his two Test hat-tricks to his 6-17 against South Africa at the Wanderers, where he took 5-1 in a single spell, there are no shortage of memories for the 30-year-old.

The right armer says he feels fortunate to have played in an era where ‘selectors have looked after players’, and the Nottinghamshire fast bowler certainly repaid them on home soil last summer. 

“It’s two-and-a-half days I’ll remember with huge fondness,” Broad said of his record-breaking spell at Trent Bridge in 2015.

"I feel very fortunate I've played in an era where selectors have looked after players.

"They almost pick characters and techniques that they feel will succeed at international cricket.

"There's no doubt if I was a bowler in the 70s or 80s there's a huge chance I'd have played two or three Test matches.

"My first 15 to 20 Tests I was almost fourth seamer with Freddie Flintoff in the side, thrown the ball when nothing was happening - trying to make something happen.

"When you become more experienced in the team you get given the responsibility to bowl at the better times, bowl with the new ball, and that makes a big difference."

Broad has had nine man-of-the-match awards in 99 matches to date, sitting behind only Kevin Pietersen and Sir Ian Botham on the all-time list for England.

His impressive career has also seen him take his Test five-fors at a strike rate of just 18.8 and an average of 9.69, better than anyone who has played ten innings since 1965.

Many of those matches have been alongside long-standing new ball partner James Anderson, and Broad reserved special praise for England’s leading Test wicket taker.

"There is no way I would be sat here without Jimmy Anderson, because every bowler needs a partner that you feed off," said Broad.

"The amount I have learned from him. The amount of spells I've taken wickets that I've owed to him, where he has created pressure at the other end.

"There is no doubt the partnership has gone from strength to strength in the past five years and he has become a friend for life as well.

"I owe a huge amount to Jimmy and hopefully I have a few more years learning off him. We have always talked and tried to learn off each other, but we have never had that competiveness against each other."

"It's going to be an exciting week," he added. "It's a huge game. We all know how important it is to start well in India.

"I'm only 30 and it's another game really. I've got a lot of things to achieve. I want to play for a lot more Test matches.

"We are coming as massive underdogs, there's no doubt about that.

"Obviously India have got to number one in the world and played some brilliant cricket here so we're very aware this is a huge challenge. This is a tough place to come and play.

"We'll have to learn very quickly. It was quite a tough experience, losing ten wickets in that one session in Dhaka, and actually, confidence is a tricky one to know because we've not had any warm-up games here to test out in the middle.

"But also we've got nothing to fear, because not many of our side have actually played cricket over here.

"This is a chance to show what I can do. I think I only bowled 25 overs in the series the last time we were here. It was a frustrating period for me, but I feel in a pretty good place at the moment.

"I feel I've been a bit more consistent in the English summer without taking a big haul. I've felt really good in the nets and I'm excited to get going."

 

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