The set-up was meticulous – round the wicket, a lot of rip and dollops of googlies to Saud Shakeel, the left-hand batter. Rehan Ahmed, who was making his Test debut at the National Stadium in Karachi, however, had Ollie Pope stationed at short leg. Eventually a leg-break, a bit slower in the air, would come to deceive Shakeel; caught at short leg by Pope off Ahmed. The England leggie, a callow teenager, had brilliantly planned his maiden Test wicket.
Ahmed returned with a seven-wicket match haul, as England clean-swept Pakistan in a three-Test series in the winter of 2022. About 13 months down the line, their job is a little tougher, for India are a different kettle of fish. Ahmed might be the spin X-factor that England had been searching for, but it could be a baptism of fire for the 19-year-old, against the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. On paper, Ahmed is the perfect supplement to Jack Leach, England’s senior tweaker. In reality, Joe Root might have to fit into that role.
Bowling is nothing new for Root, the former England captain. He made a smart choice when he discarded his military medium pace and opted to bowl off-spin pretty early in his career. Three years ago, he ran through the Indian middle order in a day/night Test in Ahmedabad to return his career-best figures of 5-8 in six-odd overs. The pitch turned square and Root, bowling mainly from round the wicket, consistently hit the right areas, allowing the strip to do the rest. It won’t be a surprise if some of the pitches for the upcoming five-Test series are a throwback to that Ahmedabad surface.
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“I can’t see India not producing bunsens (spinning pitches), especially after the recent comments from Rohit (following the Cape Town Test),” said Jeetan Patel, England assistant coach, in a recent interview with The Guardian, indicating that Root would be donning the role of an all-rounder in India. “And rightly so, that’s the whole point of home advantage. So, we have requested a blend of pitches in Abu Dhabi.”
Root, who has 60 Test wickets, used to under-bowl himself when he was the captain. He called himself a part-timer who bowled a mixed bag from a short run-up. Things have changed under Ben Stokes. The 33-year-old Root bowled 53.1 overs (six wickets at 28.66) in the last Ashes series, as England needed a second spinner to complement Moeen Ali after Leach’s injury. Also, Stokes’s dodgy left knee – he bowled just 29 overs in the Ashes – called for a bowling support to lean on and the current skipper clearly trusted his predecessor. Stokes underwent a successful knee surgery in November last year, but he is unlikely to bowl in India.
England’s specialist spin pack has the uncapped Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley alongside Leach and Ahmed. Ahmed has played only one Test, while Leach is returning from a lower-back stress fracture. They will have to turn to Root for support. The Yorkshireman is expected to bowl a lot of overs, especially with India having three left-hand batters – Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel – in their batting line-up. The England team management expects Root to do well.
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