Former England spinner Monty Panesar has backed the experienced Moeen Ali to play in the opening Test of the upcoming four-Test series against India, starting Friday (February 5) in Chennai.
He has further reckoned that the left-arm spinner Jack Leach is going to play in the first Test since India has a lot of right-handers, but went with Ali over young and in-form spinner Dom Bess as the second spinner for England against Virat Kohli and his team.
Leach and Bess, both of whom have played 12 Tests each but none in India, whereas Ali, who has so far played 60 Tests, has a vast experience of playing in the sub-continent conditions and even his second-best figures – a 6-wicket haul coming in the home series back in 2014 against Team India.
While Leach and Bess recently featured in England's 2-0 series sweep in Sri Lanka, Moeen missed the series after being infected with COVID-19 and Panesar believes that the veteran is fresh and hungry to take the bowl and the tourists must pick the latter as India would not like to face him.
Panesar told PTI: “Jack Leach is likely to play since India has a lot of right-handers and I will pick Moeen Ali over Dom Bess as the off-spinner in the eleven as he has done well in India and has the required experience.
He can also bat. Having not played in Sri Lanka, Ali is fresh and hungry. India would not like facing Ali, they would be happy facing Leach and Bess.”
The Indian-origin former English cricketer was among the architects of England’s rare Test series win in 2012 when the expectations were high from a formidable pace attack, but Panesar (17 wickets from three Tests) and Graeme Swann rose to the occasion.
Well, he further suggested England spinners consistently flight the ball and avoid bowling flatter lines to make Indian batters do mistakes during the upcoming Test series.
The former spinner further added, “They should be aiming to bowl good length but how it is getting there also matters. Bowling too flat will make things easy for the batter, so I would flight the ball.
The margin of error also increases if you flight the ball at a good length. Give the ball some air and bring the batsman forward. You can bowl arm balls and cross seamers to mix things up but not too frequently especially when the ball is soft.”
Panesar also stressed the importance of field placements, saying: “Joe Root should tempt the Indian batsmen to step out and go for big hits. You have men in the deep and have close-in fielders at the same time. Have long-on, a man on the drive, have your close-in fielders.”
He added, “The more the Indian batters try to accelerate, the bat acceleration will increase, and the probability of getting the edge increases. I would also want to ensure the Indians defend with hard hands. That will happen when you will encourage them to go aerial.”
Panesar signed off by saying, “Our spinners are used to bowing with the much harder dukes balls so let’s see how they fare with the SG Test.”
(With PTI Inputs)
