ROOT TO SUCCESS
England batting coach Thorpe pins hope on Joe
Spin is the most dreaded word for batsmen touring the subcontinent, but England assistant coach Graham Thorpe firmly believes that India’s attack is not just about the slow bowlers. “Their seam attack is also strong and will be very much in play so we can’t get sidetracked completely by the spin side of things but it will be important, there is no doubt about that,” said Thorpe.
India’s spin twins R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared 54 wickets between them in five Tests when England suffered a
0-4 drubbing in their previous tour (2016-17). “When you come to the sub-continent you will have to deal with spin. More so with Indian attack, we are aware. The training time will be used to strike a fine balance practising both. It’ll be a bit of a learning curve for some of them as well,” said Thorpe who played
100 Tests for England. Unlike last time, England are high on confidence after posting a stunning 2-0 win over hosts Sri Lanka in challenging conditions. Thorpe said England can do something special if they continue to rack up big first-innings totals. “India have been very strong at home and are coming off the back of a win in Australia so it presents a real challenge but that is where you want
to be as a player. We have to embrace the challenge and have a lot of belief that we can do something special,” said the 51-yearold.
England would be pinning their hopes on inform skipper Joe Root to replicate what Alastair Cook’s team achieved in
2012-13.
No other side have managed a series win in India since then. Root ended the Lanka series with 426 runs at an average of
106.50. When he walks in for the toss at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in
Chennai, it will be his
100th Test, having made his debut during the 201213 tour in India.
Thorpe said it’s no mean achievement because of the longevity. “I think you need a good sense of humour to play that amount of cricket. Root has had an awful lot of highs but there will also be some moments where you have your lows and you have to show a bit of character and resilience. You have to adapt to the next situation and sometimes you are going to tinker with your technique,”
said Thorpe.
Thorpe said Root remains humble and a great student of the game. “What I saw early on with Joe was character and temperament and then when I was around him he had a great work ethic and tried to work things out for himself. That has really continued throughout his career. He showed in the series in Sri Lanka that he wants to be a good example and the players in the team have a very good example to watch of how he goes about his business,” he added.
India skipper Virat Kohli who averaged 109 during England’s previous tour would be their main target, but Thorpe conceded that it’s not easy to plan against a “fantastic player.”
“He has shown that for many years now. Virat is in one of that batting orders which understands home conditions very well. The key for our bowling attack will be to bowl our ‘best ball’ as often as we can. I don’t think we can ask for anything more from our spinners and seamers,” he said.