England’s left-arm spinner Jack Leach while praising Indian spin twins R Ashwin and Akshar Patel's performances against England in the ongoing four-match Test series said that he is eager to learn the nuances of spin bowling from the Indian duo.
The four-match Test series between India and England stands at 2-1, with visitors winning the first Test match and then hosts bouncing back to claim the next two matches.
One of the main reason behind India’s comeback after their big defeat in the first Test was the spinning duo of R Ashwin and Akshar Patel.
Ashwin is the leading wicket-taker of the series with 24 wickets, while Patel had a dream start to his Test career, picking up 18 wickets in his first two games and is also the second-highest wicket-taker in the series.
However in the third Test match R Ashwin and Akshar Patel ran through the England’s batting line-up by picking up 18 of their 20 wickets and helped Team India clinch the third Test match by 10 wickets.
In his column for Sky Sports, English spinner Jack Leach wrote that he is eager to learn a few tricks from R Ashwin and Akshar Patel.
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"When you see players having so much success, like Ravichandran Ashwin, who has just got to 400 Test wickets and has a lot of experience in India, and Akshar Patel, who has had a great start to Test cricket, of course, you try to learn from them," Jack Leach wrote.
Leach said albeit he wants to learn from Ashwin and Akshar, he can't take it too emotionally. He jokingly added that it will be impossible to imitate their skills give one Ashwin is a right-hander and Akshar is way taller than him.
"It's important not to look at it too emotionally though and think 'I just want to bowl exactly like them!'. Ashwin is right-arm, for a start, so I'm not going to bowl like him! Even Akshar, he's a left-arm spinner, but he's taller than me - I can't change my height!" he said.
Leach further praised R Ashwin for his tricky changes in seam position and added that Akshar Patel’s seam position has helped him succeed.
"He (Ashwin) will bowl to the same spot but the way it gets there and whether it hits the seam or hits the lacquer varies and the ball reacts very differently Then Akshar is someone who seems to present every ball the same, a squarish seam, then a few skid on and the odd one grips — that has been so effective on the wickets we've played on." he concluded.
Jack Leach is England’s highest wicket-taker in the ongoing four-match Test series against India.
The fourth and the final Test match will take place at Narendra Modi Stadium on 4th March.
(PTI/ Skysports inputs)
