Follow UsIt is very strange that an Englishman would suggest an Indian team not just play one or two spinners, but all three of them in a Test in England. But it did happen as a former England captain felt that the Indian team, led by Shubman Gill, should play not just Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar as they did in the third Test at Lord’s, but also Kuldeep Yadav in the fourth Test at Manchester.
Michael Atherton, former England skipper turned sports journalist, in a podcast for Skysports, said that the pitch at Old Trafford in Manchester, will be as flat as they ever get in England as it has been throughout the season, as informed by legendary England pacer James Anderson, who is still playing county cricket for Lancashire, whose home ground in Old Trafford.
“I had a chat with Jimmy [James Anderson], who said the pitches were flat. Since they turned around the pitches, they haven’t had the pace. There are a couple of pitches in the end with some zing, but in the middle, the televised pitches are flat, flat this season,” he said.
“If Kuldeep is going to play, Old Trafford is the place. I was wondering if they could go with Bumrah and Siraj and play their three spinners in Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep. I just don’t know about the forecast. There is the other thing, if it's cooler and showery, then fast bowlers come into the picture,” Atherton cautioned India ahead of the Test that begins on July 23.
While India might look to play three spinners alongside the pace of Bumrah and Siraj, with either Nitish Reddy or Shardul Thakur or Akash Deep being the third pacer, England could be aided by the availability of Gus Atkinson and Liam Dawson, both of whom are proven lower-order batters.
Similar sentiments were shared by another former England captain, Nasser Hussain, who said the English tail would look superbly formidable with “Liam Dawson at 8, Gus Atkinson at 9 if he comes in, Brydon Carse at 10 and Jofra Archer at 11.”