Former England spinner Graeme Swann offered a word of advice for the young England spinners ahead of their 5-match Test series against India. Swann backed the England spinners to do well on the Indian tracks during the grueling series. Notably, India will be hosting England for 5 Test matches, that kickstart on January 25 in Hyderabad.
England’s Test squad for India tour
Swann, along with England’s former left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, had run riot on Indian pitches during the 2012-13 Test series. England won the series 2-1 against India, which remains to be their last triumph on Indian soil in Tests. It has been 12 years and the England team will be hungry for glory.
The visitors will look to change their record and win the series after over a decade. On the sub-continent track, where spin will be on offer, for England, eyes will be on Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley, who are expected to make their debuts in the series.
Jack Leach will be spearheading the spin attack for England. He proved to be successful on the spin-friendly tracks in the 2021 series as well, where he picked 18 wickets. Despite a rather inexperienced spin department for the series, Swann showed confidence in the spinners to do well on the Indian tracks and urged them to take inspiration from Australia’s legendary spinner Shane Warne.
“Everyone should look as confident as Warne did in the second innings of any game, because if you can bluff the batter into thinking you’re in control, then you can get wickets.” Swann said on Sky Sports Podcast.
Swann wants the England players to exude confidence when they take the field and not get intimidated by the opposition and the conditions.
“The secret to Test cricket is to treat it as if you are the best player in the world and everyone else has to dance to your tune,” Swann said.
The veteran spinner is expecting Hartley and Bashir to do well on rank-turners and reckoned that they could easily roll through any batting lineup in the world.
“We need big bowlers who are going to be effective on the pitches in India. Hartley and Shoaib Bashir are very tall bowlers. Hartley is six feet four and Bashir has longer fingers than Monty Panesar. They are fairly consistent as well and can be a handful,” Swann said.
“These guys are in no way near as far behind as their Indian counterparts talent-wise. I would try and ram that home that if they truly believe they are good enough to beat these Indian players, they can do it.”
Swann took 20 wickets in 3 Tests in 2012 against India and Monty scalped 17 wickets to help England win the Test series.
