England captain Ben Stokes revealed that he had told his predecessor Joe Root, that he will make a bowler out of him. Joe Root has been excellent as a spinner for England on the last two tours of India.
Last time, he had picked his career-best 5/8 in the Ahmedabad Test and on this tour, he bowled excellently to take 4/79 and 1/41 as England won the first Test by 28 runs. His crucial wicket of KL Rahul in the second innings played a significant role in England's memorable triumph.
Root got the ball to turn at a good pace and his straighter one also troubled the Indian batters. With Jack Leach out of the second Test Shoaib Bashir set to make his debut, and the other two spinners being relatively new, the onus of shouldering more responsibility in the spin department will fall on Root.
"I did always say to Joe I thought he under-bowled himself as captain, and when he walked off with four-fer I did say to him, 'see, I told ya I'd make a bowler out of ya. Having someone like that out here who is not only someone to throw the ball to and change the pace of the game up - he's bowled me lots of overs, Joe has - then having him batting at four and the runs he's scored and how important he is to us.
To also have the benefit of Joe's bowling out here is massive. I'm surprised he's not mentioned he's nipped above me, but I think we're just two people who don't care about stuff like that," said Stokes on the eve of the second Test.
England has also brought in James Anderson as the sole pacer in the XI in place of Mark Wood, who went wicketless in the Hyderabad Test. Stokes said Anderson contributes to the team even when he is not playing like it was the case in Hyderabad.
"Bringing Jimmy's experience, the class that he has, is great and I think it also goes under the radar how good his record in India is. Considering what Jimmy is going for - 'the swing king' and all that - it just proves how good a bowler he is. He has different skill sets that I will be able to exploit in Indian conditions.
It's not just picking Jimmy for the new ball, it's the other stuff he possesses as well. It's great that Jimmy is doing good things for the old boys out there. It's huge credit and lots of people should look up to Jimmy considering he is where he is at 41,” Stokes added.
The second Test in Vizag begins on February 2nd.
(PTI inputs)
