Indian wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha has hailed the atmosphere in the Indian dressing room ahead of the five-match Test series against England.

Saha, who has cemented his place as India’s Test wicket-keeper, feels that a jovial attitude has helped India in recent times.

The West Bengal cricketer mentioned that Anil Kumble’s appointment as the coach has helped the mood in the dressing room. Since Kumble took over, India have won two Test series – 2-0 against West Indies and 3-0 against New Zealand, and are the number one ranked Test team in the world.

“The dressing room atmosphere with the Indian team is better than what it is here with Bengal and in form of club cricket you can say. Like it is very serious here (with the Bengal team), it’s not like that when I am with Team India,” Saha said.

“He (Kumble) is always willing to guide you. He has a sense of humour and that reflects in the dressing room which is so relaxed. We have won two Test series on the trot so everything is goring well as far as Virat and Anil bhai is concerned.”

Saha has also contributed a fair deal with the bat recently. He registered his first Test century during the tour of West Indies, and followed that up with a Man of the Match performance against New Zealand at Kolkata where he scored two unbeaten half-centuries.

“Every batsman has his own approach. Some score few runs playing a lot of balls and some cannot survive a lot of balls. I like to play a lot of balls when I am batting,” he said.

There has been a lot of talk recently about sledging in the game, and Saha feels that it is best to stay away from it. The 32-year-old, though, feels that the upcoming series against England and Australia will likely see such incidents unlike the recently concluded series against New Zealand.

“Well if you react they do it more. That’s the plan. We didn’t sledge against New Zealand. England and Australia like to sledge and we know that,” he added.

Asked about India’s chances in the Test series against England, Saha said: “At home, we are the favourites.”

India and England face off in the first Test at Rajkot on November 9.