In 2012, Andy Flower and Alastair Cook constantly broke into anxious smiles and fidgeted with the water bottles placed on the table as they attended the arrival press conference in Mumbai. Ahead of a major tour, they defined nervousness.
England had not won a Test series in India for close to three decades. Almost always, spin had been their nemesis. And to kickstart their 2012 sojourn, the captain and then coach had been bombarded with questions on how they planned to tackle the Indian spinners. They were reminded about their weakness against the turning ball and their struggles in India. Their battle had commenced even before they had taken the field.
India were expected to steamroll England over the course of the four Tests. MS Dhoni’s boys were expected to avenge the series loss in England a year earlier. The win in the first Test in Ahmedabad assured the hosts that the plan was on track. Little did they know that the assurance was false.
Post the defeat in the first Test, India demanded that the tracks must offer more turn. They wanted them to turn from day one. They wanted to destroy England with spin. But the hosts, in the process, had underestimated the quality of spinners that the visitors had brought along.
Turning the tables
Graeme Swann was the best off-spinner with the red cherry. And in Monty Panesar, he had the best accomplice. As the wickets offered increased turn, as per the demand from the Indian camp, the English spinners ran wild. If Dhoni’s spinners bowled well, Cook’s bowled better.
India were in a state of shock as England took a 2-1 lead over the next couple of Tests. They had worked themselves into a position from where they could not lose the series. When the teams moved to Nagpur for the fourth and final Test, India had pressed the panic button. Along with the pace of Ishant Sharma, Dhoni fielded four spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha and Piyush Chawla. The move was laced with desperation – to save the series – and disbelief that England had managed to stave off India’s spin challenge thus far.
It was India’s last throw of the dice. It was a move that stunned everyone at the toss on day one of the Nagpur Test. But even four Indian spinners were not good enough. The sight of so many of them on the team sheet could have disturbed England teams of the past. Not the batch of 2012, though. They had just won the battle of spin in two consecutive Tests and were on the cusp of history.
Subsequently, England survived a barrage of spin for five days in Nagpur and clinched the series. It sent shockwaves around the cricket world because earlier that year, England had succumbed to Pakistan’s spinners and crashed to a 3-0 loss in the United Arab Emirates. This was England's first triumph in India in 28 years. India had not lost a Test series at home in eight years. But England had come to India and beaten them at their own game.
Now India look to set the record straight
England now arrive for their first Test tour of the country since 2012. But apart from the confidence of their last visit’s conquest, they lack much else. They bring along with them quality spinners, but that quality is pale in comparison to what Swann and Panesar had to offer. Their batting wears a fresh look, and lacks the experience of Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell from the last trip. And less than a week ago, they were blown away by Bangladesh’s spin. In short, spin could return as their nemesis to haunt them.
Even India will come at them better prepared – with fresh vigour and a determination to show England who the boss is, at least in India.
Harbhajan Singh’s guile and spin was lost in the interim between 2012 and now. It meant India’s most successful off-spinner lost his place in the side. Piyush Chawla never graduated into a Test regular.
Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Aswhin remain constant from four years ago. But they are hardly the Ashwin and Jadeja that the English came up against then.
Ashwin was only a year into Test cricket, while Jadeja walked out in Nagpur for his debut Test. It was Harbhajan Singh who India were dependent on, then. But the experienced off-spinner could not run through sides like he once used to. At the same time, Ashwin and Jadeja’s naivety was exposed by the English batsmen, primarily by Pietersen and Cook.
The Ashwin-Jadeja threat
Ashwin and Jadeja, today, are lethal. On Indian tracks, they are the nightmare batsmen dread.
Against South Africa last season, they knocked the visiting batsmen over on 54 instances between them in four Tests. Against New Zealand in the last series, they accounted for 41 wickets in three games. In both the encounters, the last two on Indian soil, Ashwin topped the wicket-takers' chart and Jadeja was second best. That both are in the list of top-ten bowlers and all-rounders in Tests reaffirms their impact.
Ashwin’s variations in flight and pace and the revolutions he imparts on the ball make him a shrewd bowler. And with the Decision Revision System to be trialled when England visit, Jadeja’s delivery that slides through with the arm towards the pads could cause mayhem.
If Cook and his men do manage to survive Ashwin and Jadeja, they may still have little respite. While Jayant Yadav, coming off strong domestic and India A performances, is yet to make his Test debut, there is Amit Mishra in the squad too. The leg-spinner’s services may not have been availed of in the New Zealand Tests, but he was effective in crunch situations against the Proteas last year. And he will be high on confidence, having topped the wicket-takers’ chart with 15 scalps against the Kiwis in the One-Day Internationals last month.
Another trial by spin looms for Alastair Cook
It has taken Mishra 13 years, but the 33-year-old’s bowling now defines maturity. He appears to have understood that a leg-spinner can be a team’s best bet to make inroads. That realisation has seen him toss the ball more in an attempt to allow it an opportunity to turn. And a leg-spinner who can turn the ball can be a handful.
With the impetus on spin, and India’s objective to stifle England into submission against it, the tracks for the five games could offer glaring turn.
Chepauk in Chennai and the Wankhede in Mumbai are known to keep the spinners interested, while Visakhapatnam is the venue where Mishra struck on five occasions in the fifth ODI to rattle New Zealand.
Mohali will have bounce for the pacers to start with, but as the Test progresses, it will be an illusion that transcends into a turning wicket. Rajkot, the city where the first Test will be played next week, opens its doors to Test cricket for the first time. But going by the trend of welcoming visiting teams with generous spin, even the traditionally strong batting wicket there could adhere to the demands of the Indian camp.
Finally, with spin legend Anil Kumble as head coach of the Indian team, the team’s spinners will never be better prepared. In the five months since he has been in charge, almost every spinner has spoken of his contribution their game. Now they need to put into practice his spoken words. And what better occasion than against England, the only team they have lost a Test series at home to, in more than a decade.
When England went down to Bangladesh at Mirpur last week, they lost all their 20 wickets to spin. Bangladesh had not won too may Tests up until then, which meant the meek surrender to them would have left Cook & Co deep mental scars.
Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, even admitted that the Indian tour could be “even more difficult” than their trip to Bangladesh.
After such a damning loss, England would have preferred a trip back home. The next series after some contemplation and self-inquest is what they would have hoped for. Instead, they jump into the fire.
This Indian tour - on rank turners against salivating Indian tweakers, will be their real trial by spin. The Indian team, on the other hand, will be aware that the trap to put the record straight has been well laid.