- Jack Leach returns from injury and Tom Hartley makes his debut
- England actually have four spinners in the line-up, including Joe Root
- Questions about the captain over the decision not to use Root’s bowling skills on the opening day
When my fellow Mail Sport columnist David Lloyd was England coach, he told us: ‘Whoever is doing your job in the opposition, be better than him.’
Then think about Phil Tufnell taking on Shane Warne. Or imagine Robert Croft’s face when Muttiah Muralitharan spun it four yards.
Likewise, talking about England’s current incumbents besides the great trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in India is a conversation about chalk and cheese. It must be an unfair comparison given their record of 815 Test wickets in total prior to this match, and the fact that Jack Leach is back from long-term injury, teenager Rehan Ahmed is playing only his second Test and Tom Hartley is on debut.
However, this is international cricket, that’s what they have to deal with and this fledgling England attack will have witnessed their counterparts land it at a sixpence when they would have been everywhere. Given the differences in experience levels, the difference between them over the first two days was obviously quite large. The Indian trio not only offers the potential to take wickets but also control with their extreme accuracy, even against an attacking side like England.
What stood out with Ahmed, in only his 14th first-class match, and with Hartley, in his 21st, was their lack of that, and the huge variations in the lengths they bowled. Full tosses and drag-downs make it very difficult for a captain, because while you know that every now and then a ball is going to spin and bounce, and so you want to catch the men around the bat, the inevitable loose deliveries require men to stop the depth. boundaries and also taking risks — as was the case for half of the six wickets that fell yesterday.
Spinner Tom Hartley makes his debut for England in their first Test match against India
Rehan Ahmed makes his second Test appearance for England and took the wicket of Shreyas Iyer in the second innings
Yet the pair have struggled to find control on the pitch in Hyderabad, creating huge variations in the way they bowl
Considering the fact that these were gifted dismissals and a needless run-out, things could have been much worse for England. I would have run an attack of two players and two spinners in the front line. Remember, Jimmy Anderson is a world great with an in-depth knowledge of bowling on these sub-continental pitches.
And also remember that England don’t have just three spinners in this line-up, but four. Joe Root is one of your better options in these conditions, and arguably England’s best bowler yesterday, and so I couldn’t figure out why he didn’t bowl at all on the opening day, especially with left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal batting throughout.
England ended day two of the first Test with India at 421 for seven after Ben Stokes’ side posted a score of 246 all out in the first innings
It was interesting to see why Ben Stokes didn’t choose to use Joe Root in the bowling attack on day one
The former England Test captain dismissed both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Srikar Bharat on Friday
Although one of the reasons he was kept out of the attack was that Stokes usually backed debutant Hartley to the hilt even when India’s batsmen targeted him.
There’s nothing worse, as we remember during the 2013 Ashes with Simon Kerrigan, than being taken out of the attack and not being seen again, but it’s a good balance between supporting the young lad in the corner locker room and taking care of your team and the match situation.
Joe Root is one of your better options in these conditions, and arguably England’s best bowler yesterday, which is why I couldn’t figure out why he didn’t bowl at all on the opening day, especially with left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal batting all the time . .