England have gambled on many fronts by picking three spinners for the first Test against India in Hyderabad. They have taken for granted that the pitch will turn from Day 1 and turn big. They didn't pick James Anderson, the world's leading wicket-taker among all pacers. With Ben Stokes not bowling, they have only four specialist bowlers with the part-time off-spin of Joe Root being the only other option. Above all, two of their three spinners have a combined experience of one Test. Tom Hartley will be on debut while leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed has just played one match in Pakistan.
India don't have Virat Kohli, who will miss the first two Tests due to personal reasons but in Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer they have many players who love to deal in boundaries, especially against the spinners. Chances are high, they won't let the inexperienced England spin attack settle. Former England spinner Monty Panesar, however, believes Stokes won't mind that. In fact, the former left-arm spinner said England would want India to attack Ahmed and Hartely and give their wicket away.
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“Ben Stokes would invite the Indian batters to hit them for sixes. He’ll be of the mind, ‘Yeah, try and put them out of the attack. These are young spinners. They’re supposed to go and play county cricket and earn these stripes. But we’re picking them on mere potential. Go after them, I’m going to put the fielders in. Everything’s in your favor.’ If they get whacked, maybe he’ll tweak the field just a little bit, and then it’ll be upto the Indian batsmen: do they fall for the bait or do they knock it around for a little bit and wait for the fielders to come inside again? A cat and mouse game,” Panesar told The Indian Express.
{{/usCountry}}“Ben Stokes would invite the Indian batters to hit them for sixes. He’ll be of the mind, ‘Yeah, try and put them out of the attack. These are young spinners. They’re supposed to go and play county cricket and earn these stripes. But we’re picking them on mere potential. Go after them, I’m going to put the fielders in. Everything’s in your favor.’ If they get whacked, maybe he’ll tweak the field just a little bit, and then it’ll be upto the Indian batsmen: do they fall for the bait or do they knock it around for a little bit and wait for the fielders to come inside again? A cat and mouse game,” Panesar told The Indian Express.
{{/usCountry}}Panesar was a key member of the England side that beat India 2-1 in 2012. In fact, that was the last time India lost a Test series at home. Since then, they have 17 in a row, seven of them with a cleansweep. England and Australia are the only teams to have beaten in a Test in the last 12 years. That's how dominant they have been.
But many believe England with its Bazball style have the best chance to topple India. Panesar said Bazball is not only restricted to attacking batting. They have the same mentality with the ball too.
“What Ben Stokes would want from the young spinners is to take 5/100 in 20, even 16 overs. He wouldn’t mind them going for 100 runs. But do that and take those wickets in 20 instead of 40 overs. I reckon that’ll be the Bazball mentality with the ball,” he added.
When asked about Hartley, the Somerset left-arm spinner who will play his maiden Test, Panesar said he is a lot like India's Axar Patel.
“He’s a similar bowler to Axar. He is more of a roller. Axar knows he doesn’t have to put much spin on it. He looks to set the batter up to the non-turning delivery. And then you’ll get the odd one, because his seam is slightly squarer, he’ll get that ball to bite that little bit. Not as sharp as Jadeja. That’s why they complement each other. One’s really tall, the other one is a bit shorter.”