While a typical turning pitch could be on offer, former captain Sachin Tendulkar said that pace bowlers could play a big part in the India-England Test series beginning in Chennai on Friday while adding that the visitors spin attack won’t be able to replicate the success of the 2012 unit.
The Indian cricket great said that he expects the Chennai track to have bounce due to the red soil content and in the humid conditions, the ball could start reversing as early as 15th over and continue till the 60th.
“I think fast bowlers are going to play a big role here, and more so, reverse swing could be a factor. I believe that the ball will reverse from 15th over to 60th over. When the ball reverses, it skids off the surface and there is less reaction time,” Tendulkar told PTI on Thursday.
“From 60-80th over, ball can still reverse but due to its softness, the batsmen find more time to adjust off the surface,” he added.
As Virat Kohli and Co return to action at home, a brief history of India vs England Tests
Tendulkar also expects reverse swing to play an important role in the series with the England pace attack having enough firepower to exploit that aspect of the game.
“Good upright seam position makes a huge difference when you have to bowl reserve swing and someone like a Jofra Archer, whose seam position is upright, will get the ball to reverse, and James Anderson has always been a good exponent of swing, reverse swing bowling.
“Ben Stokes will also chip in with few important overs, and so will (Stuart) Broad, on the whole their bowling attack is a decent bowling attack, it’s a bowling attack with great experience and couple of youngsters who have just started their career,” he added.
Talking about the spin department, he said that the secret of England’s 2012 success was largely down to Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar bowling at a quicker pace than usual, something he has not seen Jack Leach do often.
“That (one in 2012) was a different attack, and Graeme Swann was one of the leading spinners in the world back then. Monty, given the style of bowling, he was not one of those bowlers, who believed in tossing up the ball. He was more of a hit the deck bowler,”
“Monty would really bowl fast, so it was completely different and Jack Leach, unlike Monty, I think he is slightly slowish bowler,” he said.
Tendulkar also felt that Leach doesn’t vary his pace a lot which will be required on tracks that offer turn.
“Whatever I have seen, he bowls at that same pace. So if the wicket is offering turn and considerable help, then varying your pace does matter because then batsmen get much lesser time to react, something that Swann and Monty effectively did with us in 2012,” Tendulkar said.
Talking about adjustment, Tendulkar finds it easier to adjust to SG Test from Kookaburra rather than vice-versa.
“To go back from Kookaburra to SG is a much easier transition than going from SG to Kookaburra. You need some adjustments after playing with kookaburra for so long but I don’t see that as a problem,” the legendary batsman said.
“Adjustment would have been a factor if there was a big break between two series and we are to play a Test match literally with a couple of days of practice, so not a big problem as far as I am concerned.”
With PTI Inputs