Spinball vs Bazball: India’s home dominance faces England test as five-Test series begins on Thursday
This is going to be a long tour — five Test matches hopping from here to Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Ranchi and finally Dharamsala — but all the signs point to short Test matches. Unless one of the curators gets it badly wrong, this is a series that is going to be played on result-oriented turners.
England made no bones about this, announcing their playing eleven a day in advance, including only one fast bowler, Mark Wood, who is also known for his ability to reverse the ball, alongside three spin options.
Jack Leach, the left-arm spinner, leads the spin attack, with Rehan Ahmed, the leggie, and Tom Hartley, who bowls slow left-arm, making his Test debut. And then there is Joe Root with his part-time offies.
You can be sure India will play three spinners as well, although the difference in quality is immense.
Ravichandran Ashwin is India’s bowling leader and he is closing in on two major landmarks. He has played 95 Tests, and barring injury, will bring up his century in this series. He also has 490 Test wickets and the 500-mark will be breached soonest.
Among spinners, only Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Nathan Lyon have more scalps and Ashwin, who is a statistics aficionado, will know he is set to join some very elite company.
Second to Ashwin, but not far behind in efficacy, especially on turning tracks, is Ravindra Jadeja. While Ashwin has more tricks up his sleeve, Jadeja has metronomic accuracy, an immensely repeatable action and the ability to bowl the straight ball at will on surfaces that aid spin. Jadeja’s record at home is exceptional, and even when he is not taking wickets, he gets through his overs quickly and bottles one end up, making run-scoring difficult.
