Panesar and Swann have turned the series

England have a genuine opportunity to win a series in India for the first time in 28 years as long as they don’t let this big win go to their heads.

England have a genuine opportunity to win aseries in India for the first time in 28 years as long as they don’t let thisbig win go to their heads.

After the batting shambles in Ahmedabad andthe pathetic non-selection of Monty Panesar nobody would have thought that thisvictory was possible, especially after captain MS Dhoni was given the usedspinning pitch he wanted and then won a crucial toss. But still Englandoutbowled and outbatted India in their own backyard.

It is unheard of out here, so whoever said itis a funny old game deserves a medal. After we lost in Ahmedabad I wrote in aprevious piece: “I believe if Monty partnered Swann our spinners will be betterthan theirs.” Why? Because our two bowl the ball quicker, impart greater spinand hit a fuller length more often than the Indian spinners.

Monty and Swanny put more body into theirdeliveries. There is more zip and action on the ball so if it turns and bounceswhen a batsman has to play forward there is hardly any time to adjust.

Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh are slower,loopy bowlers – an action which can, and does, get wickets but it also gives abatsman more time to stay back, watch the ball spin and adjust his stroke. Itis still difficult when you first go in to bat, but the longer you stay in, theeasier it becomes to play the ball.

Ravi Ashwin has 50 wickets in fewer Tests thanany other Indian bowler. But he does not impress me. There is not enough spin,he is too short in length and his direction is all over the place.

Anil Kumble and Derek Underwood would havebeen a nightmare to face here. They bowled the ball quicker, flatter and wereaccurate. They made you worry where your next run would be coming from, but notthis lot.

I think India got carried away with their bigvictory in Ahmedabad and believed their own publicity. They also becameconvinced England were a poor team in the subcontinent. They were sucked in byrecent history. We lost four Test matches out of five this year – three againstPakistan in the United Arab Emirates and one to Sri Lanka in Galle – and byfocusing so much on England’s poor cricket they did not analyse their owndeficiencies.

These three Indian spinners are not in thegreat class of many who have gone before them. England just made them look goodby picking three seamers and by making bad batting mistakes in the first Test.

India also never looked at their own batsmen.Gautam Gambhir was in poor form until this second innings, while SachinTendulkar has not scored a century since January 2011 and there is lots ofspeculation about whether he should retire.

Virat Kohli has played three awful shots inthis series and Yuvraj Singh has never quite shown his one-day talent at Testlevel.

I am well aware that England’s batting has notbeen great. We got away with two fantastic and different types of centuriesfrom Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen in this match. But some of our otherbatsmen have to start putting runs on the board.

Ian Bell will have to come back into the sidebecause, after Pietersen, he has the best range of shot of any other player.But batting coach Graham Gooch and team director Andy Flower have to impressupon him to stay in and trust his technique early on. Irresponsible shots likethat first ball in Ahmedabad should not be tolerated.

Jonny Bairstow or Samit Patel will have tomake way for him. If England believe that Patel can play spin well and that hegives them an option as half a bowler, they have to go with him. It would notnecessarily be my choice but it is logical.

We need to get Jonathan Trott going. He is theone other player who can stick in, seal an end and play a long innings likeCook. Trott is just not getting in at the moment. He has to be more positive.Just trying to defend is not the best way to succeed.

Nick Compton did the right thing in making 30not out as we knocked off the winning runs. He had an excellent defence butlooked to score at every opportunity. This takes the initiative away from thebowler.

Batting will again be the key for us inCalcutta. If we can make enough runs I am confident our spinners will do well.How well will depend on what sort of pitch they prepare for us.

After the match Dhoni was still talking a goodgame about asking for more turning pitches. But will he and the groundsman havethe confidence to give us another turning pitch? I don’t think so.

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