Rashid may find his big chance to attack
Richard Edwards talks to a former England spin bowler about the strategies the tourists may use over the next weeks
INDIA remains the spiritual home of spin bowling – but for spinners from outside of the country it has often been anything but a hospitable place to ply their trade.
As countless England spinners have found over the years, the unforgiving nature of Indian pitches, coupled with the enduring excellence of the home side against the spinning ball have often turned tours of the country into the stuff of nightmares.
Before Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar turned the tables on the home side in the last series between the sides on Indian soil, no English spinner could justifiably claimed to have out-bowled the hosts own stable of slow men.
Little wonder then, that Ian Salisbury – who toured India with England back in 1993 – believes that fellow leg-spinner Adil Rashid faces the biggest test of his career in a five-Test series that will stretch Alastair Cook’s men to the limit.
Rashid is a likely starter for Cook’s side having taken seven wickets in two Tests against Bangladesh in addition to the ten he took in the three one-day internationals that kicked off England’s winter.
With 15 wickets in five matches at an unremarkable average of 51, Rashid has enjoyed a steady start to his Test career. Against the best players of spin on the planet, though, the Yorkshireman will need to be at his best to make an impact in India.
“It’s as tough as it gets but it’s also as good as it gets,” Salisbury tells The Cricket Paper. “Bowling at Indian batsman in their own backyard will be a massive test but he should enjoy it because he’s doing it in a country that truly appreciates his art.
“India have been playing some superb cricket, with their spinners bowling well and their batters batting well so, ironically, the pressure is less on England for this tour than it is for the home team.
“They’ve got an incredible record at home but we’ve had some tough cricket in Bangladesh, which has really been the perfect build- up for this tour. I think Adil will be ready for the battle despite the fact that there are no warm-up matches before the first Test.”
All England’s spinners were outbowled by the magisterial Mehedi Hasan in Chittagong and Dhaka, with the 19-year-old claiming 19 wickets in a series that will take pride of place in Bangladesh cricket history.
He was ultimately the major difference between the two sides. That said, Salisbury, below, believes that the experience gained by Rashid in favourable conditions will provide a sizeable boost for his career over the longer-term.
“I would love to know how many overs Mehedi has bowled in those conditions, it would be fascinating to know,” he says.“You compare that to the number of times Adil has bowled in conditions that have really suited him.
“He’s a Yorkshire lad and everything is controlled in terms of the overs that spinners bowl and the amount of one-day cricket they play. I think you would be absolutely amazed.
“That’s why spinners in Asia are so attuned to those conditions whereas Adil has played loads of one-day cricket and the nature of cricket in our country means that spinners just don’t get the overs they need.”
Rashid should get plenty of opportunities to increase his over count in India, although his ability to take wickets rather than simply contain India’s batsmen should see him used in an attacking manner. That’s also an approach that Salisbury believes will see England get the best out of him.
“We saw how important (Ben) Stokes, (Chris) Woakes and (Stuart) Broad were in Bangladesh and they really have to help the spinners,” he says.“If they can nip a wicket out and then get a spinner on straightaway for the new batsman then it helps an awful lot.
“It looks like England are trying to use Adil in the right way. The habitual thing he has got used to in the last couple of years is, because he’s bowling alongside four seamers on pitches that favour them more than him, he only sometimes gets to bowl at the lower order.
“The good thing is that Cook is using him as the third spinner to be introduced and is asking him to really attack the batsmen.
“Moeen is taking some wickets, too, which is going to help Adil and England – you need a spin attack that’s full of confidence, particularly in India.” Rashid’s 4-52 in Bangladesh’s second innings in Dhaka was his best Test innings return since his five-wicket debut haul against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi back in October. Moeen’s 11 wicket series haul, meanwhile, has taken him to within 12 of 100 Test wickets for his country. A reprise of the heroics of Panesar and Swann back in 2012 appears unlikely, but if Rashid is going to make the step-up, he couldn’t have chosen a more perfect place to do it.