England will travel from Sri Lanka to India for an all-format series from February 5 that starts with the Test leg in Chennai. While the English spinners picked wickets in the first Test in Sri Lanka when the home side wasn't at their best, they did not get any in the first innings of the second Test.
The England tweakers will find it even tougher against the likes of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, and others when they travel to India.
Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann, who's been there, done that, has advice for Jack Leach and Dom Bess. He has suggested them to bowl well enough for long periods of time.
Graeme Swann said on the Hussain and Key Cricket show, "The one thing that I used to say to myself is, it's going to spin and it does spin, even on day one where they are fairly flat pitches. If you bowl well enough, especially against India, they play you very respectfully. There is not a Virender Sehwag in that current team; Virat Kohli when he bats against spin waits for the bad ball."
"India is very, very patient but if you are willing to be patient and bowl all day you will take wickets. You might have to work very hard for them and you'll lose some timber, which isn't a bad thing," he added.
Swann believes that Jack Leach will be England's primary weapon against India. He will need to do the hard work to ensure that the home side doesn't get away with quick runs. His advice for Leach is to keep bowling on the stumps and wait for his wickets.
He said, "Jack Leach is the one for me in India, he has to run up and be prepared to bowl nothing but straight deliveries, pitching middle stump and hitting middle stump."
"If Jack Leach can do that and almost tie one end up bowling 40 overs a day, then you can rotate the strike bowlers in Wood, Anderson, and Broad and get the other spinner attacking more. I do think this India team is getting better and better. I honestly was thinking until I saw the squad 'yes, India are good but are they that good?" the 41-year-old concluded.
(With inputs from PTI)
