India is playing against England in the first Test of the five-match series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. The Indian spinners spun their net and took on the England batting attack, bowling them out for 246. However, the England spinners failed to create the same impact as they are being hit for runs and are being bowled easily by the Indian batsmen. Former Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha explains why English spinners are not successful.
England have played with an inexperienced lineup and only Jack Leach has previous experience playing in India. Rehan Ahmed has only played one Test before this one, which was against Pakistan in December 2022, while Tom Hartley makes his debut. Meanwhile, Joe Root is also used as a part-time spinner and has delivered results for England with the ball in his hand.
“We need to understand that Joe Root is not a regular bowler and he is working on himself and Jack Leach is the only bowler who has a bit of experience and has played in the subcontinent. If we talk about Tom Hartley, I think he has only played 20 games for his county. So 20-24 matches is not a county cricket season, which means he hasn’t played more than one or two county seasons and the more he plays, the more he will develop as a bowler.”
“England spinners would top spin and undercut the ball, while when Indian spinners bowled, the ball would spin due to the seam position. The way Indian spinners bowled with the seam position along with rotation. “English spinners need to improve their seam position if they want the ball to spin because most of their deliveries were high spin.” said Pragyan Ojha on Cricbuzz.
Watch: Pragyan Ojha explains why English spinners can’t spin the ball like Indian spinners
Why have #EnglandThe spinners have not been as effective as #IndiaThe trio❓
Look @pragyanojha give a master class on spin bowling, on #CricbuzzChatter #INVENGE pic.twitter.com/c79vdcBjEj
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) January 26, 2024
The Indian spinners wreaked havoc on the first day by taking eight of ten wickets in the first innings. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets each and Axar Patel also took two wickets. England were bowled out for 246 in the first innings and as of now, India is already leading by 132 runs and England’s spinners have been struggling to take wickets at regular intervals. Joe Root and Tom Hartley took two wickets each, while Rehan Ahmed and Jack Leach have one each.
India are moving towards a big lead and as the days go by, batting is becoming more difficult in Indian conditions. England need to defeat India quickly if they want to make an impact on the game. Bazball’s strategy has backfired for India’s Three Lions as they were unable to handle the Indian spinners early on. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja became India’s most successful pair in terms of wickets as the duo took 505 wickets together in Tests.