Wrist-Spin Is India’s Prime Weapon Against England

In white-ball international cricket in recent years, the Eoin Morgan-led England have emerged as a team to beat, especially at home. Bowling against their power-packed batting line-up on those flat English tracks has been nothing sort of a nightmare for any bowling attack. In fact, overall, England have 29 scores in excess of 300 in 69 matches since their catastrophic outing in the last World Cup. In the recently concluded series, in an ODI in Nottingham against Australia, they almost reached 500.

Such is their destructive prowess!

Amid this scenario, India are all set to lock horns against England in a three-match T20I and ODI series against the Brits starting from today (July 3) in Manchester. Many experts consider these six games as a dress rehearsal for next year’s World Cup. Hence, both teams will have a point to prove.

Meanwhile, considering the quality and class in both batting line-ups, we are most likely to see the bat dominating ball throughout these six games. Well, from India’s point of view, their bowlers will go through a stiff test against the merciless English batsmen. The envious depth and fearlessness in their batting will be the biggest nemesis for the visitors, who won’t have the services of Jasprit Bumarh, arguably their best death bowler during the T20Is. It means that apart from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, there is not much experience to look forward to in India’s pace bowling department.

Under these circumstances, naturally, the much talked about wrist-spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav will be India’s prime weapon in the bowling department. In fact, the performance of these two bowlers, can very well turn out to be the difference between two teams. And in the recent two fixtures against Ireland, we have got the glimpses of what the Chahal-Kuldeep pair is capable of.

However, across the Irish sea, against the emphatic English boys, it will be a different game altogether.

Traditionally, English batsmen fumble against quality spin. But their current limited-over’s side has the likes of Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow — who are well capable of handling the tweakers with some authority. Also, the English wickets won’t have much turn on offer, which will be a huge advantage for the home side.

However, often it has been noticed, when threatened by spin, these English batsmen have swept their way out of trouble. Well, against finger-spin that might be a good ploy, but wrist-spinners always get an extra bounce from the track and sweeping against them is always going to be more hazardous, even on non-turning tracks.

Also, knowing Morgan’s boys, I feel they will try to dominate both Kuldeep and Chahal, right from the word go. England know, attack is the only way they can neutralise the spin-threat. But against the accurate leg-spin of Chahal and unorthodox left-arm wrist-spin of Kuldeep, English batsmen won’t get much opportunity to dominate. So, actually, neither the bowlers nor Kohli should mind much, if Morgan and Co. tries to take on the Indian spinners early, as it will invariably provide wicket-taking opportunities, especially during the middle overs of the 50-over matches. Even during the T20Is, the eight overs of wrist-spin by the Indian duo will be the key phase for both the teams.

Both Chahal and Kuldeep are known as attacking bowlers. So, they will give the ball air and invite the batsmen to take them on. And the English power-hitters are most likely to accept their invitations. Hence, across these six games, we can expect an intense contest between the street-smart Indian spinners and merciless English batsmanship.