CHENNAI: Since the turn of the millennium, five English left-arm spinners — Ashley Giles, Monty Panesar, Ian Blackwell, Samit Patel and Zafar Ansari — have bowled on Indian soil in Test matches. While Blackwell and Patel were all-rounders on paper, Ansari, Panesar and Giles were tasked with containing or wicket-taking roles.
While Giles came over the wicket and worked on India’s patience by drying up the runs in 2001 — his economy rate in India of 1.82 is one of the lowest for a visiting spinner — Ansari tried to keep things tidy at one end in 2016. But he bled runs like most of the English bowlers suffered on that tour.
Panesar, though, had success with the bite he got off the surface in 2012. With Graeme Swann for company, the left-armer bagged 17 wickets at 26.82. Jack Leach, the sixth left-arm spinner to bowl on Indian soil, is hoping to emulate the successes enjoyed by both Panesar and Giles during their travels here. But Leach wants to be his own man. While he didn’t rule out aping their tactics, especially Giles’ negative line, he backed his own methods in the quest to pick up wickets. “It’s about sticking to my strengths and knowing what my optimum pace (is) before going up and down a bit,” he said during a media interaction on Monday. “It’s important to stick to that as much as possible.”
The question surrounding optimum pace and spinners is an age-old one. Panesar was quicker through the air in that 2012 series and reaped dividends. However, the 29-year-old, who confessed to watching videos on spin bowling to learn tricks, said he wouldn’t necessarily do what Panesar did. “Monty and Swann are bowlers I love to watch. I watch a lot of spin videos. Monty bowled at a quicker pace in India and that could be tricky on a spinning wicket. I am probably not going to be bowling the same speed.”
In Sri Lanka, he was slower through the air than Panesar. Even if the tactic didn’t work at times, he still managed to take 10 wickets at 35.50. Those numbers doesn’t really inspire confidence but he is bullish in his abilities. In fact, he said he wouldn’t do what Giles did, at least straightaway, because ‘I feel I have got more dismissals in play’. “That is something we have talked about in Sri Lanka, definitely I guess change in our angles. Bowling over the wicket, for him, for his action, I prefer to bowl round the wicket.”
Spinners are bound to get excited by playing on surfaces that traditionally offer assistance to spin and and Somerset lad, whose career has been blighted by injuries in the last 18 months or so, is no different. “This is the dream you have, to come to places like these. Obviously, it is a fantastic opportunity, and I want to enjoy. I definitely think I can make an impact in this series, obviously we have got three days training and I am not sure what the wicket is going to be like or anything, so not looking too far...”
What Leach does could decide how England fare. India, since the beginning of 2000, have lost 12 matches out of 97. In each of those 12 games, at least one bowler has gone on to take four or more wickets in an innings. Considering this list contains even journeyman spinners like Nicky Boje and Steve O’Keefe, Leach could emerge as an important option for the visitors.