Former England spinner Graeme Swann is hopeful that English greenhorn spinners will be able to deliver in favorable Indian conditions in the upcoming five-match Test series. England has picked a spin quartet of Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed, Jack Leach, and Shoaib Bashir.
Barring Jack Leach, the trio is unknown to the cricket world and Swann feels England can take advantage if they bowl in the right areas on helpful pitches.
Bashir has picked 10 wickets in six first-class matches, whereas Ahmed has scalped 24 wickets in 13 first-class. Ahmed, a leg-spinner, had made a terrific debut against Pakistan back in 2022, picking seven wickets.
Tom Hartley has snared 40 wickets in 20 first-class matches. Ergo, the spin battery doesn’t have much experience but Swann feels they can deliver if they make the most of the conditions.
“They can bowl, put it that way, and the guys that are on that trip in India, if conditions suit and they get the chance and they can handle the pressure of it, are genuinely exciting. Hartley and Bashir could be genuinely exciting on the sort of wickets that are going to be produced by India, or you think are going to be produced,” Swann said on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
“They’ve been picked very much for that purpose and they could be brilliant. We saw things in Abu Dhabi that genuinely had me grinning like a Cheshire Cat and I’m very excited. They’re complete unknowns to the rest of the world so should they get the chance on the sort of pitch that we played India on last time in Ahmedabad, they could easily roll through any batting line-up in the world. I think it’s very exciting,” the former England spinner added.
England spinners don’t have a lot of experience under their belt and Swann admitted that this is the current state of English cricket.
“They’ve not got the years of experience that spinners used to have, or used to be a prerequisite of getting in the England team, you had to have done it for years and years. Such is the game and such is the state of English spin over the last few years that they’ve just not got it,” Swann said.
The first Test match between India and England will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad from 25 January onwards.
