India’s spinners too hot to handle for England: Michael Atherton

PTI

London, January 21

Former England captain Michael Atherton reckons India’s superior spin attack will win them the five-Test home series against Ben Stokes and Co. The first Test begins in Hyderabad on Thursday. England decided to prepare for the tour in Abu Dhabi rather than playing a tour game in India.

England’s Brook pulls out of India tour

England batter Harry Brook has withdrawn from the squad for their tour of India due to personal reasons, the country’s cricket board (ECB) said. England have called up Dan Lawrence, who last played a Test match in March 2022, to replace 24-year-old Brook in the squad.

Only Jack Leach is a seasoned spinner in the England squad with the others being the inexperienced Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed. India boast of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.

“I think India will win. Their spinners are better than England’s and that will be the defining thing in the end,” Atherton said.

England last won a series in India back in 2012 when Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar outbowled their Indian counterparts.

“If you go to India, spin will play a big part, it historically has done and I suspect it always will do. India do have a very strong seam attack as well,” said Atherton.

“India’s four spinners are very different to England’s. They have two left-arm finger spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. They have a wrist spinner in Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the greatest spinners of all time,” he added. “England have a solid left-arm spinner in Jack Leach and then three very inexperienced spinners,” he added.

‘Viratball’ vs ‘Bazball’

New Delhi: Indian great Sunil Gavaskar has backed ‘Viratball’ to counter England’s much talked about ‘Bazball’ approach.

England’s batting lineup has embraced an ultra-aggressive style, often associated with their head coach Brendon McCullum’s approach towards the game in his playing days. “The way he’s (Virat Kohli) been batting, his movement looks good. With the form that he’s in, we have Viratball to counter Bazball,” Gavaskar said.

Kohli, who is 152 runs short of joining the 9000-run club in Test cricket, will be India’s batting mainstay. He has 29 fifties and 30 centuries in 113 matches. “Conversion means having more hundreds than fifties. Kohli has a good conversion rate,” Gavaskar said.

“England have adopted a new approach in Test cricket in the last two years. It’s an aggressive approach where batters look to attack. They just want to play attacking cricket no matter the situation. It’ll be interesting to see if this approach works against the spinners of India,” he added.

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